Perplex City Alternate Reality Game Solved

Gamasutra reports that after almost two years of searching, the players of the Perplex City alternate reality game have found the cube. Discovered by Mr. Darley, of Middlesex England, it was turned over to the runners of the Perplex City game today in return for a check worth $200,000. A celebration is planned for the winner and other players on February 24th, somewhere in London. The discovery of the cube ends a long hunt for players of the game, who have been looking for the relic since the game launched in 2005. A second season is already planned, with cards due to be in stores on the 1st of March.

Comments

throw us a bone.

[macadamia_harold]

A celebration is planned for the winner and other players on February 24th, somewhere in London.

Don't tell me they're going to make the players work to find out that location too.

Re:throw us a bone.

[dexomn]

No, they are going to pay in gil or some bullshit...

Re:throw us a bone.

[Scud]

Yes, however in this case the prize being a plate dinner and a beer.

Re:throw us a bone.

[Dark_Lord_Prime]

Yeah, but they'll be able to sell it on eBay for real money!

Re:throw us a bone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hint: It's near the opposite of small Bill. Has a bell struck yet?

Re:throw us a bone.

[makomk]

Don't tell me they're going to make the players work to find out that location too.

From the official site:

The specific location will be confirmed nearer the date. Honestly, it will. We're not going to make you hunt for it or anything. We jsut haven't finalised the party plan yet

I think the organisers knew someone was going to make that joke...

Re:throw us a bone.

[Drooling Iguana]

The giant mutant Linus will destroy us all!

Or maybe it'll be Uma Thurman...

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[Nanpa]

I tried it. It was alright. Pity about the userbase.

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[kfg]

Real Life is for people who can't deal with being catheterized.

KFG

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[ZiZ]

Meh. After they nerfed paladins and rogues, it seems like everyone was either rolling politician or terrorist. I'm not going to play any more until they've fixed the economy, opened up the Outer Space expansion, and gotten the damn flying car mounts working.

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[Anonymous Coward]

Be careful what you wish for.

Many people said the same thing about Star Wars Galaxies, and they ended up getting the NGE.

hooray!

[freeborg]

Hooray to rand0m!!!

MTG for nerds?

[Aladrin]

Im probably going to get modded flamebait for this, but oh well...

Ive always seen Perplex City as being MTG for nerds instead of gamers. You spend a ton of money on cards and spend a ton of time making a ton of plans. The next year, they release the new sets and all the time and money youve put in is nearly useless.

Id like to know how much money the winner had put into this game. $50? $500? $5000? How about all the other players that didnt win? Sure, they had some fun playing it, but the massive amounts of money they put into it...

I just dont have enough money to play games like this. I love brain teasers, and the game really really interested me... But theres no way I could afford it.

Re:MTG for nerds?

[andydarley]

> I'd like to know how much money the winner had put into this game. $50? $500? $5000?

In UK prices, about £200 for cards, mostly on eBay. Then about £150 on petrol for the three visits to the woods when I actually found it. More here: http://www.andthenhesaid.com/cube

Re:MTG for nerds?

[Aladrin]

Ah, very interesting. Can I ask how many hours you spent actually puzzle solving? I'd have hard a hard time justifying spending that much on the cards unless I had gotten like 500-1000 hours out of it... And I can't see it being that.

Obviously, I'm starting from the principle that I'm as likely to win the lottery, and you can't just pour money in and know it'll make you win.

-just read the journal-

Wow. I'm not sure I didn't get as much out of reading it as I would have gotten from living it, though. Lotta ups and downs there... Tons of hard, hard work. And congratulations!

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like you don't quite get the meaning of the word "alternate".

Details? Here's some, I want more.

[mbourgon]

"Reportedly, the Receda Cube itself was buried in Wakerley Great Wood, near Stamford, Northamptonshire."

That being said: how'd he determine it was there? What clues? I'd love to know, since I'm still going through my first pack (some of those are damnably difficult), and I know some guys wrote a book just so they could get into a author-only database with a clue.

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[elrous0]

Wow, I just realized that has to be the first time I've heard anyone even mention SWG in over a year now. That actually got me wondering "Is it even still running?" Surely SOMEONE must be playing it if it's still up.

-Eric

Re:Better Alternate Reality Game

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been keeping an eye on the EMU for SWG since a vid was posted on /. back in June I think. I even downloaded the source code when it was open and had my own galaxy to run around in. SWG appears to still be going on, but I do not know anyone that plays it. The people on the EMU forums discuss the current incarnation of SWG from time to time. But the EMU is looking to give people a Pre CU experience with many bug fixes.

If you want, check them out at www.swgemu.com

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

o rly?

[the dark hero]

well, son of a bitch!

Umm...

[No-op]

I agree with you on the money thing- it's a bit crazy.

But once I figured out wtf "MTG" stood for, I have to say- that was a game for total, utter, complete nerds. Like the dungeons-and-dragons-in-mom's-basement kind of nerd, the one that works at the local gas station instead of going to uni and getting a degree, the kind that makes the rest of us geeks just look *BAD*.

I'm a big geek myself, so I'm not going to throw any more stones, but at least my hobbies take me out of the house and let me travel a bit :)

And this means *what*?

[pla]

Perhaps someone would kindly post a quick explanation of the context for this FP?

I get the idea that "Perplex city" uses some sort of MTG-like gaming system, but how does that make it an "alternate reality" game, and where does this cube thing fit in?

Re:And this means *what*?

[pelrun]

PXC is a traditional ARG (look it up on wikipedia), but with a treasure-hunt attached. You didn't need to buy or see cards to participate in the ARG, but you definitely did if you wanted a chance at the treasure. The Cube was the treasure for both - the fictional item all the in-game characters are searching for, and the real-world hunk of metal buried somewhere (well not anymore of course) that the players were trying to find in order to win the cash prize.

Re:Details? Here's some, I want more.

[andydarley]

Can't claim credit for tracking it to the woods, that was a group effort. Once in the woods, one of the most commonly-available puzzle cards turned out be a 'turn left here, turn right there, dig where X marks the spot' set of directions.