At the time of the 2013 Wall Street Journal article that inspired the movie, the group of men had been playing the game of tag for 23 years, starting in 1990. The year of the movie's release, 2018, marked 28 years of playing tag. The movie rounds up and states that the men have been playing the same game of tag for 30 years, which isn't all that far from the true story.
The Tag movie's true story reveals that the decades-long game of tag began in Catholic high school in the early 1980s on the campus of Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Washington. Back then it was mainly a slap on the shoulder or arm while going in and out of classrooms, or strolling down the halls. The first iteration of the game concluded when high school ended. Joe Tombari, who went on to become a high school teacher in Spokane, was last to be tagged. At that point, he was essentially "It" for life. Eight years later when the group was gathered together for a weekend, they reminisced about the game and the fact that Joe was still "It." Someone suggested the idea of starting the game up again. -WSJ
No. Instead of chasing each other around the playground, the men have literally chased each other around the country, traveling by plane, car, etc. Like in the 2018 Tag movie, their wives at times act as spies and coworkers are recruited to be on the lookout for other players and bar them from entering the office. -WSJ
Yes. The Tag true story confirms that the contract exists and was drafted in January 1990 by lawyer and tag participant Patrick Schultheis. -WSJ
No. Like in the 2018 movie, there are no tag-backs, meaning you can't immediately tag the same player who just tagged you. You also have to answer honestly if someone asks you if your "It." -WSJ
Yes. Mike Konesky waited until 2 a.m. and broke into the house where two other players lived. He did so by sneaking through the garage and finding an unlocked house door. He burst into Brian Dennehy's bedroom and quickly switched on the light. Brian's girlfriend (now wife) yelled, "Run!" but there was nowhere for Brian to go. In seconds, he was "It." -WSJ
Tag movie producer Todd Garner told Nerdist, "In real life, there's been tags at births, funerals, inceptions of kids, for real." No exact details were given on how the tag at the birth unfolded, so the movie's version could certainly be stretching the truth (in the 2018 movie, Ed Helm's character's wife's legs are spread open in the hospital room as Jon Hamm's character comes into the room for the tag.
The movie does leave out a tag that happened when one of the guys' wives was in the hospital going to chemo. "They came to be around him and support him, and they tagged him," Garner said.
Yes. On one occasion in the mid-1990s, Father Sean Raftis flew 800 miles from Seattle to San Franciso just to get a tag so he could shed the "mantle of shame" as they call it. He curled himself up in the trunk of his friend's new Honda Accord. They had pulled up in front of Joe Tombari's house, a fellow player. Sean's friend knocked on the door and told Joe to come out and see his new car. Joe and his wife came out, and when the trunk was opened Sean Raftis popped out and tagged Joe. His wife was so startled that she stumbled backward off the curb and tore a ligament in her knee. "I still feel bad about it," says Sean, who today works as a priest in Montana. "But I got Joe." -Mirror Online
A more severe injury happened to actor Jeremy Renner on the movie's set. While filming a stunt on just the third day of production, Renner fractured his right elbow and left wrist at the same time. He was supposed to fall with a stack of chairs and then run, but the chairs didn't fall and he ended up plunging about 20 feet, sticking his arms out to break the fall. He had to wear green screen casts that were removed during editing. -The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Yes. "Sometimes we allow friends a grace period," says participant Joe Tombari. "Chris [Ammann] is currently enjoying time off as he has two-year-old triplets and a four-year-old son." In the Tag Brothers movie, Jeremy Renner's character has never been tagged and wants to retire since he's getting married. The other players attempt to do everything they can to make him "It" and break his streak. -Mirror Online
Expand on what you know about the Tag movie's true story by watching the interview below featuring the real group of friends.