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Let the Games Begin!

January 14, 2006 / Guy Parsons

The Perplex City ARG is branching out again – this time, the Academy of the puzzle-obsessed city is bringing its famous Games to both sides of the Atlantic.

On February the 15th, New York will be playing host to the first PCAG contest, where players will be locking horns in deadly puzzle combat… all in the convivial surroundings of a central Manhattan bar.

The London ‘freestyle Academy event,’ however, is significantly more ambitious. Billed as “the largest, smartest and most sophisticated live action urban game” and due to take place in late February/early March, teams of players will be roaming Central London in a bid to complete a series of challenges and seize victory.

Both events are open to everybody (no specialist Perplex City knowledge required), but you need to pre-register on the website, which also has more details on these exciting events.

Preview: Find Araya

January 12, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

The 2006 batch of Alternate Reality Games is upon us, and coming soon to a computer (and telephone, and cell phone, and real world mail box) near you is Find Araya, set to launch on January 26th. While not much is known about the game at this point, action will center around helping a detective locate a woman named Araya. The game has already established in-game forums and a chatroom for players to talk with the detective character, so we expect this to be a very interactive experience. Currently, there is a pre-game element that allows players to do some preliminary research and preview what Find Araya has in store, and there is already an active group at UnFiction working on the case. Head on over to get involved — perhaps you will be the one to Find Araya?

It’s all about the Benjamins

January 11, 2006 / Dee Cook

A post on Unfiction mentioned a new trailhead for Who Is Benjamin Stove. Investigation of the site indicates that Tucker Darby, a 29 year old collections agent living in Tampa, needs your help. Over the holidays he found a mysterious painting of a crop circle, dated 1913, which has exhibited an almost supernatural hold over him. He’s been trying to identify the artist and the story behind it ever since. A note inside the painting indicated that the event depicted was real. He’s asking for help finding the man who originally owned the painting, Benjamin Stove, and figuring out what the painting means.

What makes this especially interesting is the fact that blog ads were bought for several high-dollar sites to advertise Who is Benjamin Stove. Meta information indicates that this site may be the rabbithole into the next big professional game.

The Tulse Luper Journey

January 10, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

If you had to archive your entire life history into suitcases, how many do you think you would fill? Tulse Luper needed 92. Tulse, a recurring character in projects by film director Peter Greenaway, is currently appearing in an ambitious game by production company Submarine. We first caught wind of the Tulse Luper Suitcases back in 2003 at UnFiction when it was released at the Cannes Film Festival. This new incarnation of the journey certainly appears to have several key Alternate Reality Gaming elements to it, including collaborative community play, puzzles, and interactive online gameplay.

From the tip we received, The Tulse Luper Journey is free and will “continue to grow for the next 18 months.” If you are interested in going on “an extensive journey through Europe’s 20th century history” by becoming “a detective determined to reconstruct the eventful life of… Tulse Luper, who led a life shrouded in mystery and doubt,” then you should definitely check it out — from what we’ve read about the game, people are really getting into it.

2005 In Review: Alternate Reality Gaming

January 7, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

The year 2005 has gone by, and as we venture into another new year, we at ARGN feel that it would nice to look back at the year’s events and games and remember the year for what it was — one of the most successful and eye-opening years in the short history of Alternate Reality Gaming. As the world became more familiar with ARG through hit games The Art of the Heist, Perplex City, Jamie Kane and Last Call Poker, the community was also treated to many interesting and in-depth grassroots projects like Omnifam and Seen Steve. Overall, the year was very good for the genre, and the community is thriving and growing very day. Here are some of the highlights of 2005, as our staff saw it:

Welcome to Push… North Carolina?

December 30, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

Take a trip down memory lane, back to a simpler time — a time when Alternate Reality Gaming was still in its infancy. In 2002, ABC television featured a little show called Push, Nevada that caught the attention of the ARG community because the series was designed to include a puzzle that, when solved, would earn one person a million dollars. Unfortunately, the show came to a premature end after only a handful of episodes.

Come back to the present and head over to Push, NC, a new game from CM: Gaming Complex. The site looks simple enough to navigate, but there are already some secrets to be discovered. Mysterious puzzles on secretive websites always earn a blip on the ARGN radar, and even if the game ends up being something other than an ARG, it looks like it could be a lot of fun to play anyway.