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You come off the night bus into Barcelona with nothing. Word is there is a frog on top of the Sagrada works, and whoever licks it has the city for good. The foreman who guards the stair wants €10,000 — banked, and you calm when you pay. Between here and there: other people's pockets, and the streamers who hunt pickpockets for their viewers.
Look toward a person nearby: a small marker above them shows your lock. Press ELIFT and you close in behind them and match their pace; the lift starts when you are at their back.
Their bag opens as a row of locked cards, cheapest first. An arrow sweeps a bar: stop it in the green with ESTOP and the next card is yours. Walk away with QWALK to keep what is open. Stop it outside the green and you are made — and everything you had drops back in the bag.
Every card's green is narrower and its arrow faster than the last. The green shrinks further as heat rises. Heat rises with every lift and every time you are made, and cools off over about a minute. Some marks are simply harder: the iaia, the latero and a rival carterista have the narrowest greens in the game.
Three streamers in black gis walk the neighborhood, hunting pickpockets for their stream: one in each plaza, one round the church. Each sees ahead of them — their cones are on the map — and walls block it. A lift they watch, or a mark who catches you and shouts, earns you a star (their viewers) and brings them. While one can see you it is a chase, and they run faster than you. Lose them round a corner and they search a red circle: once the search has run a while, get out of it unseen and you are clear. More stars, up to five: a bigger circle, streamers cutting you off ahead, and from the second star another streamer for each. One of each crew hangs back filming; the rest reach you and hit hard. When your health runs out you are dead and the run starts over from nothing. Health never comes back on its own: eat the bocadillos on the street (yellow on the map when you are hurt).
A mark who catches you usually screams: a wide circle, and streamers come running fast. Some square up instead: a small circle, and the streamers take their time.
QPUNCH throws a punch. Three (two at a run) put someone down, and they drop what they carry: walk over it to take it. Anyone near screams (two stars), and a punch someone sees may be called in. Half the people you hit fight back, and may shout after you if you run. A streamer takes five punches to floor; hitting one is a star, flooring one two, and brings every crew.
Cash on you is at risk. Walk it to the flat (the green marker) and press Gtap Bank — banked money cannot be taken. Spend it there on Hands, Nerve and Shoes with 1 2 3, tapping the row you want, which is how the hard marks become possible.
Open the neighborhood map with M, scroll to zoom and drag to pan. Clickfrom the button top left, pinch to zoom and drag to pan. Tap to mark a route. Shaded streets are outside the neighborhood; construction hoardings close those exits. Reach your destination on foot or by moped.
a pickpocketer’s life