The main page for Flynn Lives updated with a link to a new puzzle, Gygax, which featured a cut-out pattern for a 3-dimensional Bit from the original Tron film as an homage to Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax’s love of multi-sided dice. Additional information in the read-only Flynn Lives discussion forums helped players crack the puzzle in no time and in turn discover flynnlives.com/epiphany. With a few additional twists and turns players found themselves staring into pulse of a count-down timer.

End Game has begun with flynnlives.com/digitalpulse, a a call to action to retrace Kevin Flynn’s steps during his final book tour. The site advises all Flynn Lives operatives to be prepared to hit the ground next Wednesday, at 11 am EST, in a final push to retrieve the remaining evidence and finally uncover what has happened to Kevin Flynn. A total of sixteen cities will take part in the final mission but the cities themselves have yet to be identified (excepting Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco which were named on the poster), a tactic reminiscent of the beginning of this viral and its first outing, Operation Zero Hour.

Flynn Lives is going out in style, so make sure you have your shoe laces tied and your GPS units handy, because when the time comes next week, Flynn Lives operatives will finally get the chance to find out what happened to Kevin Flynn: and that’s one ride you do not want to miss out on. Keep your finger on the digital pulse, and be ready to hit the ground running next Wednesday.

It has been a busy two months for Flynn Lives, which has been a nice change of pace for players who had been growing anxious for activity following the two month lull post San Diego Comic Con. In early October players noticed a new puzzle on the Flynn Lives Facebook page that, once cracked, led to tickets for a screening of twenty minutes from Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D in theaters across the country for Tron Night, October 28th.

Ordinarily such a screening would be prize enough for most players but Flynn Lives did not stop there. Just days before the Tron Night screening, the Flynn Lives website updated, letting players know that the game was back with a vengeance and that the endgame had begun. Players began frantically searching the site for updates, and it was quickly discovered that Zack’s popular Arcade Aid puzzle game from months past had been updated with new titles of classic video games.

Players worked together and beat the updated game, earning new achievement badges within just a few short hours, but it was the message with the final achievement badge that left the forums buzzing. Titled End Game, the unlocked achievement let players know that something was coming in the mail soon from Flynn Lives.  A screening and swag? Players speculated that this was surely the Endgame hinted at on the Flynn Lives main page and as Tron Night came and went, everyone anxiously awaited their package, their final parting gift from Flynn Lives.

In early November the first packages began arriving containing not one, but two pins depicting game titles found within the Arcade Aid Challenging Stage v.2.0. Players received either a Face Off, Punch Out, Tron or Tron Sentry pin and were prompted to wear them proudly as a badge of honor as a true gamer. Just as players began to calm down from the excitement generated by the arrival of the new pins, another discovery was made. The first 999 players to complete the challenge began receiving a second package that contained Arcade Aid posters that were hand numbered, reflecting what number the player was to finish the game, and embossed with the Arcade Aid logo.

During the weeks of activity with pins and posters Flynn Lives updated fairly regularly prompting new players to check out the updated Arcade Aid and even showing off the pin swag that had been sent out.  It was no surprise then for players to see an update following the poster discovery where FL mentioned their recent swag mail out. No, the surprise was the hidden code in the image attached to the post. Intimately familiar with the Arcade Aid artwork at this point, players realized immediately that the image depicted a new, previously unseen message. Once the code was deciphered gamers discovered a new URL that led them to the Arcade Aid: Bonus Level page, and a new puzzle.

It took the better part of a day but the group mind would not be denied and the newly discovered puzzle yielded even more information and URLs. Following the digital trail players found Poptech75, which quickly led to FlynnFrontier and Hydecker Designs. Within the three sites players also found codes that, once entered on the interface at HelloFlynn, offered a treasure trove of information that further explained the history of Kevin Flynn and the projects he was working on prior to his disappearance. Between the information found on the three websites and the media unlocked at Hello Flynn, players got to know more about Kevin’s wife Jordan and her past while also getting a chance to listen to audio of Kevin reading excerpts from his books. There was even a glimpse into the Flynn household through a video of the family playing at the beach that foreshadowed things to come for Sam Flynn.  A newly unlocked achievement badge let players know that the trail had been followed to its end, but Flynn Lives also offered kind yet cryptic words to players on the Flynn Lives Facebook page indicating that there was still more to come.

As December 17th rapidly approaches players have little time left with Flynn Lives. Judging by the past few weeks, though, it will be a thrilling ride that will give players all the game they can handle while preparing them for the true reward, the release of Tron: Legacy. There is still time to take part if you are a Tron fan, so sign up at Flynn Lives and get on the grid at the Unfiction forums before it’s too late to help your fellow programs, because the Endgame will soon be the END OF LINE.

Flash forward again to 2010, where the Flynn Lives alternate reality game ramped up through the release of online mini-games leading to live drops, movie screenings, digital badges, and real-life TRON artifacts. Meanwhile, buzz for the movie increased as Comic-Con approached and TRON banners and signs appeared around San Diego. The news media started referring to Comic-Con as ComiTRON, which generated even more excitement and anticipation from the ARG community following the Flynn Lives campaign as they started to wonder: would Flynn’s Arcade return?

About three weeks before Comic-Con, players started receiving post cards from the Flynn Lives organization with pictures of Encom games made during Kevin Flynn’s tenure as Encom CEO, and a mysterious black bar. Players quickly noticed that a series of black dots appeared on the black bar when it was exposed to a black light. Six different cards were mailed, and when the dots were overlaid, the words “ENCOMGAMESDOTJP” appeared, leading to a Japanese Encom game site. The site revealed a new game, Circuit Cycles, a lightcycle puzzle game where players had to move 2-5 lightcycles through the grid, connecting similar-colored dots while neither blocking other cycles from connecting their dots or walling them in. As players completed levels, they were awarded digital badges. Once they completed all 32 levels, they were awarded a final digital badge and soon afterwards received a full set of the game postcards.

Players soon discovered the final Circuit Cycles digital badge contained a series of flashing dots that spelled out “SLASHIDENTITYRAID”, leading to a new page on the main Flynn Lives site: a countdown set to expire on Thursday July 22rd at 11:30AM: the date and time of the Comic-Con TRON panel, and Encom’s 38th anniversary.

As the Comic-Con panel started in Hall H in San Diego on the 22nd, the Identity Raid counter expired to reveal a combination lock puzzle. As Comic-Con attendees watched the new 3D TRON: Legacy trailer, players solved a puzzle to unlock a special clip from the movie, which was also shown to the panel attendees.

Players had also been following the OperationTron twitter account, and shortly after the TRON panel ended, a set of instructions were sent: locations pairs were to be tweeted, and players were to proceed to the first location and take a photograph of themselves with the TRON artifact found there. They were then instructed to proceed to the second location given, and the first 32 players who arrived with their picture with the artifact and a valid ID were given access to an exclusive event – a special 10PM opening night event at Flynn’s Arcade. In addition to receiving two wristbands to the event, players received a small identity disk containing a USB flash drive with a copy of the new trailer unlocked and shown in the panel earlier. Throughout the day, a total of seven location pairs were given leading to approximately 450 invitations for that night’s special event.

At 10PM, the doors to Flynn’s Arcade opened, and as the lucky wristband recipients entered, we were presented with a coin purse containing seven Flynn’s Arcade tokens, one for each of the Kevin Flynn-designed Encom games displayed on the postcards received earlier. Inside, everything looked pretty much the same as it did at the Arcade’s premiere last year except the machines were all covered with plastic sheets, just as they were in the TRON: Legacy trailer released at the panel that morning. Suddenly, the lights on the machines and neon signs started to flicker on and off, and at the back of the room the House of Tron light flashed on. As before, the wall behind the Tron game swung open to reveal a chamber behind it. Entering the chamber and turning a corner, another sight out of the trailer appeared, with Kevin Flynn’s workstation on the left, and the digitizer on the right. At the far end of the room, an eerie blue glow emanated along with the faint sound of techno music. Following the light and sound, the end of the hallway opened into a futuristic club filled with LED screens and techno music: the End Of Line Club.

At the door we were greeted by white-clad “programs” offering metal bottles of Coke Zero, while scattered around the room were other “programs”, adding to the ambiance. A DJ spun tunes in front of a giant screen which was in constant motion. People lounged on couches, or perused the many TRON movie artifacts and tie-in products around the room. But there were a smaller group of people who knew there was more to this room than the amazing sound and light show being presented. Our first clue were the coasters being handed out with the Coke Zero – pentagon shaped with an arrow-like cutout in the middle, and odd lines on the edges – three on one side, and three more on the other. In various places around the room were similar shaped placards with a matching arrow design in the center. It was quickly discovered the lines on the edges of the coasters matched up to similar lines on the placards. When the arrow design was matched up with the arrow cutout on the coaster, it revealed six codes which, when relayed to the waiting players online, unlocked additional game content and earned players another digital badge. A separate code on the wristbands awarded yet another digital badge.

While players were dashing around the room deciphering the codes and relaying information to the online players, the room suddenly went dark, the music stopped. The screen behind the DJ started to display a selection of scenes from the movie, including a new scene with Sam after his entrance into the world of the Programs, where he meets his father’s program, Clu. This repeated every twenty minutes or so, and was just as exciting to watch the fifth time as it was the first.

All too soon, it was time to leave. On our way out, we were given an exclusive hand-numbered poster from the End Of Line Club, dated 07-22-10. Looking back at Flynn’s Arcade and the End of Line Club was tinged with a bit of sadness knowing this is probably the last time the Arcade would be reborn, but also left us flush with the feeling of accomplishment for completing another successful Flynn Lives mission.

While the Flynn’s Arcade chapter of the game was a huge undertaking, there is still four months to the opening of the movie and it’s highly unlikely the good folks at 42 Entertainment are through with us yet.

Click Here to sign up and play at FlynnLives.com
Click Here for the Flynn Lives discussion at Unfiction
Click Here for the Flynn Lives wiki at Wikibruce.com

As a prelude to its release, a special countdown teased the game’s release. Players who visited the countdown splash page were able to click and destroy Recognizers that appeared and hovered across the screen. It served merely as a timewaster, but if players had the patience to keep clicking and destroy 99 Recognizers, they received a badge on FlynnLives.com. By persisting further and destroying 999, they received another badge.  Finally, when the countdown ended on May 6th, Encom published their much-anticipated Space Paranoids Online arcade game, just as Alan Bradley had announced.

At the same time, a member of the Flynn Lives Organization who had previously worked for Encom revealed an interface into one of Kevin Flynn’s old servers which he set up at HelloFlynn.com, although no one had found a way to retrieve content from it beyond two light-cycle blueprint files already available for viewing. It was soon discovered that hidden within each of the 15 levels of Space Paranoids Online were graphic barcodes left by Kevin Flynn, that once retrieved and decoded provided additional file retrieval codes. These new secret files showcased new blueprints and illustrations of digital Tron vehicles – a behind the scenes look at the creation of vehicles that will be making an appearance in Tron: Legacy.

Within days, reports started rolling in of people receiving packages in the mail from Flynn Lives!, containing pins, stickers, and a thank you message. Even players who, by word of mouth, out of curiosity, or just for fun, registered at FlynnLives.com to play around and earn some badges were unexpectedly rewarded with highly sought-after Tron swag.

As of this writing, a more recent update posted to the Flynn Lives forum seems to hint that the Flynn Lives! ARG will be sitting quiet for a few weeks.

Tron: Legacy is still 7 months from theatrical release, so expect much more yet to come from Flynn Lives! as the film’s release date draws near.  Watch ARGNet for news and updates!

• Sign up for FlynnLives.com and join the movement!
• Join a community forum such as Unfiction or Tron-Sector
• Keep up to date by visiting the community wiki
• Be sure to look for Tron: Legacy‘s big screen debut Christmas, 2010

Several weeks ago, the enigmatic Zack challenged the group to a little game called ArcadeAid - a site filled with pictures of clever (and sometimes groan-worthy) puns representing several generations of video games, from Pong to Asteroids, Space Ace to… well even Discs of Tron. As players named video games, they were awarded badges at certain levels. Naming all 56 earned them the opportunity to acquire their very own Encom security badge, and as we were to find out later, the ability to attend an exclusive press conference hosted by Alan Bradley himself (played by Bruce Boxleitner).

So if you’re one of the intrepid numbers who completed the ArcadeAid challenge and received an Encom badge, the place to be is the Justin Herman Plaza in the Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA at 8PM, April 2 2010. No word yet on whether non-badge holders will be able to find other ways to attend, or if the event will be aired online either live or after the fact. However, Wondercon will be occuring this weekend, and Disney does have a panel there: so if you are going to Wondercon, take it from an old San Diego Comic-Con pro and keep an eye out for opportunities to attend, either at the Disney booth (if present) or at the panel. You can also follow along on the Unfiction forums thread .

Good luck to all FlynnLives Infiltrators!

UPDATE: Zack from FlynnLives is asking all participants to meet at the Hyatt Regency (across the street from the press conference venue) from 6:15-7:45PM. t-shirts and posters will be handed out to participants, and the group will march to the press conference site en masse in order to get a good location in front of the stage.

It has also announced been announced that while there is going to be a VIP area for Encom employees (hence the infiltrators having Encom badges), the press conference itself is open to the public. So if you’re in the area, get down there and check it out!

As the day went on, more cities went live and more drops were collected.  Except for a glitch or two (the Toronto package was taken before the player could reach it, and the Madrid drop was never recovered) the drop collections were rapidly collected and the codes were entered.  Finally, when Las Vegas and Sydney were the only locations left, the “No” Bit under the card icons changed to a “Yes” Bit.  Clicking on the Bit led to a new site, The Pit Cell.

The Pit Cell contains information on an “exclusive limited event” to be held this Saturday in 4 different IMAX theater locations – New York, Los Angeles, London, Toronto; and a fifth on Sunday in Sydney.  Ticket distribution starts today at 4PM EST (9PM GMT), on a first-come, first-served basis.

However, that wasn’t all – clicking on the card icons revealed a piece of a picture on the reverse side, in much the same way as the original Tron trading cards did. Once all the cards were collected and reversed, the image resolved into the picture shown on the Pit Cell page.  At the same time, a small graphic next to the “Yes” bit started flashing a code in binary, similar to the one used for the countdown clock.  After a bit of trial and error, the solution was discovered, leading to a new in-game discussion forum.  The forums are scripted, containing posts from Flynn Lives organization members, but there are several interesting posts with links to two pictures which, when put together, appear to reveal another drawing of a lightcycle.  There is also an interesting video that shows how the Bits several players received were made.

That’s a lot of information to get in one day, and there is every indication that there is plenty more to come – a number of players now possess phones, and the character-driven message board is likely to reveal more information as we approach the Tron: Legacy release date on Dec 17, 2010.   So be sure to stay updated with the campaign here on ARGNet, and at the discussion at the Unfiction forum.

Click Here for Miss Selector’s bilingual recount of picking up the Paris drop.
Click Here for pictures from the San Diego drop.
Click Here to visit the wiki at Wikibruce.com.

Players can now manage their profile information to provide contact information to “[g]et information, assignments and important artifacts through regular post/mail” and “[g]et quick updates via phone and text for important coordinated activities on the ground.”  These profiles can then be linked to players’ Facebook accounts to post Badges and Honors. 

Stay tuned throughout the day as events unfold!

According to Creativity Online, this viral campaign was created by 42 Entertainment. 42 Entertainment previously received numerous accolades for its alternate reality gaming campaign Why So Serious, which created a series of discrete live events and challenges to immerse players within the seedier side of Gotham City that had players finding cellphones in cakes, campaigning for Harvey Dent, and locating customized bowling balls.

It seems as though 42 Entertainment is trying for a repeat performance, as ComingSoon.net has reported that Puerto Rican tipster Angel Bidot has received a package from Flynn Lives containing an origami a plastic Bit and the message “/zerohour.” RobMagus also reported receiving the package earlier today. At FlynnLives.com/ZeroHour, a binary countdown is counting down the seconds until February 24 at approximately 11AM EST (8AM PST, 4PM GMT).

Click Here for the discussion at Unfiction.com
Click Here for the Tron wiki at Wikibruce.com 

Image courtesy of RobMagus

Speaking of countdowns, remember you only have until 11:59pm EST tomorrow (Tuesday, February 16) to enter to win an iPod Touch, courtesy of Running Press Books.

It all started July 21 when players noticed an article on ComingSoon.net that featured an article on Flynn’s Arcade – apparently they had received arcade tokens and a nondescript flash drive with an animated .gif (labeled “Tron3.gif”) loaded on it. Other sites received similar coins and flash drives with other .gifs on them – 5 in total. The .gifs contained scrolling HTML-like code that, when decoded and compiled, displayed a matrix that were then combined with the numbers at the bottom of the .gifs, leading players to www.flynnlives.com. The arcade tokens also had “Home Of Tron” on them, which led to another site: www.homeoftron.com.

A quick background: Kevin Flynn was the main character in the original Tron movie, a visionary who designed a game called Space Paranoids, was fired by ENCOM after a dispute with CEO Ed Dillinger, and was then sucked into the game in order to battle Dillinger’s “program”, the Master Control Program (MCP) alongside fellow programer Alan Bradley’s “program”, Tron. Together they defeat the MCP and Kevin is released back into the “real world”.

FlynnLives.com is a site operated by the Flynn Lives Organization, a group who have dedicated themselves to the investigation of Kevin Flynn’s disappearance in 1989. According to the newspaper article links on the Flynn Lives website, after the events of the movie Kevin Flynn was rehired by ENCOM as the VP of Creative Development and led the company to greatness before retiring in 1985 and disappearing in 1989. Also, while working at ENCOM, Flynn opens his own arcade, Flynn’s Arcade, and fills it with the games he developed at ENCOM. The HomeOfTron.com site is dedicated to the memory of this arcade.

Players soon discovered a bouncing spider .gif at the bottom of the FlynnLives website that, when clicked, displayed a countdown that would expire at approximately 9:30PM Thursday July 23rd – conveniently during ComicCon. The countdown page was updated Wednesday the 22nd with a message: “Meet us at the cul de sac near the corner of 1st and J when the numbers run out. You’ll know who we are.” – which happened to be right across from the Convention Center. Does this sound familiar?

Meanwhile at ComicCon, the lucky few that managed to squeeze into Hall H with the Twilight fans and attend the Disney 3D panel were treated to a new 3D version of the Tron:Legacy trailer from ComicCon ’08, but with a new added bit: a scene in where Sean Flynn (Kevin’s now-adult son) returns to the old, shut down Flynn’s Arcade, finds an old Tron machine in the back of the arcade and spins it away from the wall, revealing a passage to a secret chamber behind the game into which Sam disappears into. Hmmm, forshadowing perhaps?

That evening, the countdown expires – and a large group had formed at the location listed on the countdown page. Flynn Lives Organization “volunteers” presented players with release forms and upon signing and returning, participants were presented with an envelope containing a number of items: an instruction sheet with map, translucent paper with 3 columns and a grid (which could be placed over the map on the instruction sheet), a handheld torch/black light, a blue Sharpie, and a Flynn’s Arcade token. The instructions were for the players to find three different Tron posters placed in the highlighted area on the map, and using the black light, find hidden coordinates on the posters which would then be inserted into the columns and then mapped on the grid. Once completed, the grid would lead to the final destination (as yet unknown, but due to the coins it was assumed to be Flynn’s Arcade). A merry pursuit throughout the gaslamp, finding and flashing blacklight on Flynn Lives posters ensued, and once all coordinates were acquired, mapped out on the grid, and grid overlaid on the map, it revealed a winding path through the city – the endpoint of the path, sure enough, was Flynn’s Arcade.

The line to get in was huge, and took awhile to get in. The arcade staff ran groups of people through, and took approximately twenty minutes per group. Once inside, a full-fledged arcade is present with a jukebox playing Journey, and all your favorite 80s arcade games, including Ms. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Battlezone, and of course Tron. However, five special Space Paranoids machines were also present. The arcade staff (and prior groups as they exited the arcade) strongly suggested playing Space Paranoids, and playing each machine successfully through the first round displayed a unique code – five in all. This was not an easy task as the game was rather difficult to play, and required several groups working in succession and coordinating online to finally acquire all five codes.

After about fifteen minutes, the jukebox music died and gave way to an techno tune (apparently some of the Daft Punk music created for the new movie). A hologram-like design appeared over the “House of Tron” neon sign (similar to the poster’s secrets revealed by the black light), and the wall behind a Tron machine in the back wall swung open to reveal a secret chamber… just like the scene in the trailer at the earlier Disney 3D panel. Drawn like flies, the players moved into the darkened passage beyond, which revealed several production drawings of the new lightcycle and, around the bend, a life-sized rotating version of the cycle itself, spinning slowly in time with the techno. Once the players were able to draw themselves away from the mesmerizing sight, Flynn Lives staffers were there to present posters and t-shirts to participants as they left, still in a daze as to what they had witnessed.

The T-shirts turned out to be more than just nice swag – holding the same black light to the t-shirt revealed the words “slash derez” – leading to FlynnLives.com/derez, where the previously acquired five codes could be entered. Entering each code revealed what appeared to be a picture of the lightcycle model displayed in the Arcade but in a “derezed” state, and .mp3 files of statements from Kevin Flynn (it is unclear if these were taken from the movie or created for the ARG). Combining all five .jpgs in Photoshop revealed the full picture of the lightcycle, and entering all five codes unlocked a hi def version of the trailer shown at the Disney 3D panel.

While the URL of the trailer (“0xendgame”) may indicate this was just a short viral with no more ARG-ish content, the movie itself isn’t due to be released until sometime in 2010, there is a great possibility of some Dark Knight-like interaction down the road – so keep your fingers crossed and your eyes on the game’s Unfiction thread. Pictures of the ComicCon event can also be found here.