Designer Kidnapping: Game, Adventure or Strange New Sport?

It's been around for years and yet you would probably be completely caught off guard if you saw it happen on a street or in a parking lot near you. People casually going about their everyday business, when suddenly they are bushwhacked and hijacked right before your very eyes, kidnapped off the street in front of you. Do you scream for help? Do you quickly dial 911 on your cell? No, relax, stay calm, and laugh along with the kidnap victim. This is designer kidnapping.

If you've seen the 1997 Michael Douglas/Sean Penn thriller "The Game" or enjoy the head-to-head struggles on reality T.V. shows like "Survivor," you'll understand. For the right amount of money you can buy add a bit of excitement to your life. The difference between Hollywood and reality is that designer kidnapping is a service purchased by the intended victim just to experience the thrill.

The typical designer kidnapping process begins when a client contacts a service for a consultation and screening. This allows the kidnapping service to both custom design a kidnapping scenario and to determine if the individual is psychologically prepared. In addition, it offers the consenting client the opportunity to offer input regarding their personal desires and fears. Providers of designer kidnappings typically will not perpetrate any action upon an unknowing third party.

Once everyone is in agreement with regard to the parameters, a liability waiver and contract is signed and a time frame for the kidnapping is established. Remember, to make it truly thrilling the client cannot know exactly when the kidnapping will happen. Once the client is abducted the requested scenario plays itself out over several hours based on the package the client purchased.

Depending on whom you ask, there are a variety of ways to play it. Adam Thick started his www.extremekidnapping.com out of the Detroit area after learning about Brock Enright's kidnapping service -- www.semagoediv.com - in New York City. Both use psychological tactics to interrogate and terrify clients that may include tickling and bondage, depending on the service. While Adam keeps his business geared toward sports enthusiasts looking for their next high-stakes thrill, Enright takes his personalized service to a whole different level.

In fact, his pet phrase is "Find'm, Blind'm and Bind'm." His service appears to offer more tantalizing features including allowing the client to choose another option such as being an observer to a kidnapping instead of the victim. So while both men insist that safety is foremost in their minds, Enright is willing to push the envelope a bit further saying that as long as it's legal, anything is possible.

The whole idea is to provide the client with a unique experience that may involve role-playing, psychodrama, and espionage. So if you think you might like being grabbed and thrown into an SUV by a femme fatale or dream of getting over your phobias by having someone bind and blind you before tossing you into a closet and you don't mind the $1000+ price tag, designer kidnapping may just be the adventure you've been looking for.