One of the appealing facets of playing a video game is imagining yourself actually being a part of the game world and often running for your life. It was only a matter of time before the two were married in new run-and-hide competition show, "CHA$E." In the game, based on a successful Japanese format from Fuji Television, ten runners not only run for a final cash prize of up to $50,000, they also run for their lives. Host Trey Farley and Executive Producer Rick Telles explained the ins and outs of the heart pounding game to our Jim Halterman.

As each "CHA$E" episode commences, ten runners are set free in various locations in Los Angeles and, as the real-time 60-minute clock ticks down, they frantically search for money and utilities that will help them along the way to the finish line. To make things complicated, however, the runners must avoid the deadly �Hunters," whose only goal is to "kill" the contestants and keep them from winning the prize. With so many game components to keep track of for the contestants, Telles shared that it's just as intense for the production team but once the game starts, there's only one thing they can do. "Reality TV is like controlled chaos. You have to trust the [contestants] to be themselves. You set everything up and get out of the way and let them do their thing but it first has to be set up properly."

"The runners are pretty much running for their lives," Farley chimed in, "and hunters are chasing them. But, still, as excited as they are, as much adrenalin that gets pumping through their veins, everybody knows how to be safe and how to run safely through all the areas if they're crowded or not." Farley added that while the game can go in many directions depending on the actions of the runners and hunters, all participants are aware that with the game come the inevitable rules. "Everybody is briefed before the show about what to do and what not to do... if there's a crowd of people don't run into them. And, also, all the runners and all hunters are briefed beforehand that they must adhere to all traffic laws and pedestrian laws."

Farley also mentioned that the emotions of the runners change dramatically once the clock begins ticking. "When runners start this competition," he said, "all the runners have a kind of pre-plan... Oh, I'm going to start [and] just hide out. I'm going to take it easy. But as soon as I shout �GO!' something within them snaps and triggers and that kind of primeval feeling of being chased kicks in and they turn into 12-year olds. It's incredible to me."

However, it's a childhood game that "CHA$E" bears a strong resemblance to. "That's the brilliant thing about this show," Farley suggested, "is that I think everyone at some point in their childhood has played tag... and so they can just jump right in and feel that kind of feeling how they were when they were children."

Besides the tag-like composition of "CHA$E", the spiking of each runner's anxiety level is anything but child-like. The runner often talks out loud to themselves and breathlessly voice not only their plans to survive the game but also the intense emotions that are coursing through their bodies. Do the producers only pick contestants who like to talk to themselves? Not really but it doesn't hurt if they are vocal. "There's a camera guy and a producer with [each of] the runners at all times," Telles laid out. "For the most part, most of the runners are pretty chatty so they don't really need anything. If the story point needs asking, they'll ask [the runners] a question as they're running or hiking. Prior to the show, we explain to them the look of the show that we're going for and the hunter-esque movement. Once the game starts, they're on their own."

Farley expressed his shock at the unexpected anxiety level of the runners during the course of the game. "Oh, it's crazy! You know, people just get so into it and what I was kid of surprised to see was the amount of anxiety that a lot of the runners go into. I've been on the game board and seen some runners literally just give themselves up to a hunter because they just can't take it anymore... they just walk up to a hunter and say I'm done. It's really intense."

Speaking of the eight hunters that are unleashed at various stages of the game, not only are the physically fit men and women identically dressed in black suits with white shirts, dark ties and sunglasses (a la the bad guys in "The Matrix") but they are expressionless and move with robotic precision as they hunt the runners. But can the runners beat the hunters? Farley doesn't think so. "I think [with] the perfect contestant, the physicality of it... isn't a real priority because no matter how fast they are, believe me, the hunters, they're faster."

Another element of the game that can keep the hunters at bay is the variety of utilities that are scattered around the game course but, of course, come with their own restrictive limitations. The deflector, for example, can only be used once so the runners need to decide the best time to use it. Once used, though, the deflector forces the hunter to run 180 degrees from their prey and move in another direction. Other utilities include the freeze ray, invisibility glasses and the sonic stunner that can also be utilized once in the course of the game. While there might have been a time when these objects might seem foreign to players and viewers alike, the popularity of such videogame devices as XBox, PlayStation and Wii have made them more familiar to viewers. "That's what I got excited about when I came onto the project," Farley gushed. "Everybody has kind of grown up on videogames now and it's videogames that are really at the forefront of our pop culture. So you're running around being chased but you also have these kind of tools like invisibility glasses and deflectors and sonic stunners."

Assuming "Cha$e" sparks viewer interest and is renewed for a second season, Telles was asked where else he'd like to go besides Los Angeles. "I'd like to go do it in Rome and other cities in the world. Obviously New York City would be a great place."

Online comments about reality shows like "Scare Tactics" and, now, "CHA$E," popping up on the Sci-Fi Channel have regularly been complained about on the network and show's web forums. However, Farley feels that "CHA$E" has more in common with the genre than might be initially realized. "There are very strong sci-fi elements to the show. The way the hunters are targeting the runners and the utilities the runners have... a deflector pretty much looks like a �Star Trek' phaser... so there are real strong sci-fi elements to the show which is why I think it has a home on Sci-Fi."

"Cha$e" begins airing the first of six episodes tonight at 10:00/9:00c on the Sci-Fi Channel.