How He Found The Cube

Via GameSetWatch an in-depth article on the Alternate Reality Game Network site explaining how Andy Darley found the cube, and completed the first season of the Perplex City game. Written by Darley himself it's an engaging account of what it's like to actually play one of these games, and the process by which the cube's location was discovered. "It was then that I realised I was practically standing on a spot where the topsoil was the colour of the clay that ought to be hidden underneath it. It wasn't 10m from the post, it was slightly further - practically a continuation of the line I'd just investigated, exactly where you'd end up burying something if you walked 10m, stopped, and leaned forward to start digging. Seeing sub-surface clay with just a very thin covering of the material that was several inches thick elsewhere was deeply suspicious." GSW also links to an exhaustive look at an older ARG-in-a-children's-book, the game Masquerade, which is well worth reading up on.

Comments

Like an episode of Twin Peaks

[CRCulver]

I've read through the article twice now, and I have absolutely no idea what this all is about. Is the Cube some kind of treasure hunt, a fountain of youth, a cult?

Re:Like an episode of Twin Peaks

[192939495969798999]

Treasure hunt based on alternate-reality RPG (i.e. trading cards with real-world tie-ins to an actual object you had to find to win a large cash prize).

Re:Like an episode of Twin Peaks

[ShaggyIan]

It took me a bit of reading (www.perplexcity.com, apparently down right now) and googling to get the gist.

As the previous poster pointed out, it is a card game/Alternate Reality Game. Solve puzzles on cards you buy, read blogs, call phone numbers, send emails (and get responses), and occasionally show up for an "event" in Britain. The more I read, the more I thought it sounded like good natured cult.

Given the press coverage on this, I can't quite figure out how I had never heard of it. Perhaps because I don't hang out in gaming shops?

Re:Like an episode of Twin Peaks

[Jeff DeMaagd]

It sure was annoying. There hasn't been a story on this on Slashdot that I remember, and somehow we're thrown in the middle or end of the story without a quick recap? It's a good way to make people think you're just being weird or excluding.

Real players

[Timesprout]

Beat spheres into cubes.

Re:Alternate Reality = Real Life

[bmin]

You do realize Pounds are the monetary unit in the UK right? If they wanted the unit of measuremeant in weight they would have used kilograms.

So that's where it was!

[Rachel Lucid]

As a perplexcity player, I'll fill in the rest:

Perplexcity involved a series of puzzle cards, which somehow lead to a cube buried somewhere in the damned ground, and a big cash prize to whoever could find it. This also involved some online puzzling and drama, in the usual fashion of these types of games.

From the looks of things (and the whole Cube 2/3 bit), there's multiple cubes buried so that potentially an American player could win without traveling to England. This guy just happened to pull it off first.

Kudos.

Re:Alternate Reality = Real Life

[Anonymous Coward]

===JOKE===>

  o
  \|/
  | == you
  / \

WOOOOSH!

(always wanted to do that)

Re:Alternate Reality = Real Life

[neltana]

Wait, I thought that depended on the exchange rate.

New NIN ARG

[cliveholloway]

There's a new Nine Inch Nails ARG based around the new concept albums (Year Zero and (possibly?) Year One). It's driving us crazy and the server's are periodically crashing under the load, so I thought I'd try and slashdot the ARG site to see if that helps :)