Tag: puzzles (Page 2 of 3)

The DaVinci Code: Googlefied!

April 13, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Those of you longing for an Alternate Reality Game set in the universe of The DaVinci Code are in for a small, but somewhat satisfying treat. Google has rolled out a code quest tie-in with the upcoming film adaptation of the popular novel by Dan Brown, which involves fabulous fun and prizes for those lucky people in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

If you have read the novel, you’ll know that Brown used puzzles and visual trickery as the story progressed, and hopefully this campaign will offer more of the same. The quest doesn’t start until April 17, so we will take a more comprehensive look at the project once it goes live.

PCAG: New York

March 3, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

The Perplex City Academy Games were not just a phenomenon in London. A few weeks ago, there was an equally entertaining event on the other side of the Pacific in New York City. Lucky for us, we have a first-hand account of what transpired at the event from UnFiction community member (and active PXC player) Scott Myers. Here’s what he had to say:

We played 3 Gambits of a perplexian scissor-paper-rock game called Roundabout. This was quite silly, but set everyone in a jolly mood, and got people up out of their chairs and talking and laughing and having fun.

PCAG: London

February 28, 2006 / Guy Parsons

Mind Candy, in conjunction with the Perplex City Academy, ran their first Games in London on Saturday. The widely anticipated urban scavenger hunt unleashed impromptu choirs and conga lines across the capital, earning a wave of acclaim from over 200 participants.

The games – within the ‘reality’ of Perplex City, but unrelated to the mystery of the missing cube – were first announced in early January, and the Mind Candy team were deluged with applications from over eight hundred would-be players. The numbers were eventually whittled down, and 40 lucky six-member teams finally converged upon City Temple from as far afield as Barcelona, Texas and Hong Kong – some sporting uniforms, others neatly equipped with Rollerblades, and all buzzing with nervy excitement. Also in attendance were a gaggle of reporters and a volunteer crew of Game Rangers, who patrolled the streets and ran events throughout the day.

The Art Of The Heist: Atlanta!

April 15, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

After an interesting real world event in New York City involving a stolen Audi A3 two weeks ago, The Art of the Heist appears set to bring their Alternate Reality into the lives of those players lucky enough to live in Atlanta, Georgia. In-game communication between two characters led perceptive players to ads at Monster.com (which has since been removed) and Craig’s List, where Nisha, one of the protagonists in the story, asks for public assistance.

Once the ads were decoded (what would an in-game announcement be without encryption?), players were prompted to email the character for more details. Those that made the effort were sent this reply:

Thanks for your interest in helping. We are looking for retrievers in Atlanta to help secure an item. You must pass a background check in order to accomplish this task. You will be required to sign a release. You will be trained to operate some electronic equipment and given a task to accomplish, and you will work as a team under the direction of Nisha Roberts.

Applicants were told to be available for Saturday, April 16th, from Noon to 3:00 pm local time if they wanted to participate. The players were also subjected to background checks — three Unfiction forum members have passed these and are going to be on-scene for the event.

Within days of the ads being discovered, information was released in-game about the location of where the event will take place — an Audi dealership. As well, the characters have set up a image webcast for their worldwide audience to tune in as things happen. This means that all players (and not only those who can make it to Atlanta) will be able to take part in this unique opportunity. Community members are extremely excited about this event, and are eager to find out what will happen in this exciting ARG.

So far, this game has been a huge hit with the players, and with the innovations and creativity they’ve seen so far, it’s easy to see why AotH players are hooked. ARGN will bring you the very latest details as this story unfolds.

Trailhead
Discussion at Unfiction
Trail
Chat in #heist

JMX2 is Coming!

February 13, 2005 / Steve Peters

JadedMedia.net has announced JMX², the followup to the Jaded Media eXperience series of cunningly clever puzzles known as JMX, which took place back in 2002.

This six stage series of puzzles took players months to complete, and spawned discussion areas on Unfiction and YahooGroups. For those interested in a little puzzle history, an archive of the original JMX has been made available for your puzzling enjoyment.

JMX² is set to commence in 2005, and registration will not be required to play this time around. However, you can submit your email address in order to be informed of the launch. Be forewarned, though. JMX² is not an Alternate Reality Game, and will not be for the feint of heart, as it’s aimed at very serious puzzlers.

Discussion at YahooGroups

Diversion: Virtucube

November 1, 2004 / Steve Peters

Virtuquest, one of our favorite ARG production houses, has launched Virtucube on October 31st. While not an ARG, it bills itself as a “multi-layered/challenging diversion” for those who may be looking for something puzzly to do.

A unique feature to virtucube is that, while it can be solved without any clues, Virtuquest will be randomly giving away one of a set of unique clues with the purchase of any Virtuquest T-shirt. So, you get a shirt and a clue, which you can keep to yourself or share with others.

Why would you keep it to yourself, you may ask. Well, it seems there’s a $500 prize for the first player to solve the Virtucube puzzles. It’s interesting to note that, to guard against flash decompiling or hacking to solve the cube, any potential winner will need to answer 6 virtucube-related questions to verify that the solve was legitimate.

Virtucube
Discussion