Alternate reality games (ARGs) have permanently changed the way products are promoted and how audiences stay hooked. Strange links, public messages, phone calls, faxes, hidden data in songs – everything goes to move players from one puzzle to the next under the promise of a big reward. For the band Gunship, the reward is nothing less than an arcade machine, but those who want it will have to sweat blood to solve the challenges.
The art of the alternate reality game
Looking back at the history of alternate reality games, we find some high-profile examples that took the world by storm. Personally, I remember I Love Bees, which served as a promotional campaign for Halo 2, Potato Sack from Portal 2, and in film and books, projects like The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, the entire Cloverfield saga, Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha Christie, and of course Ready Player One, whose film adaptation is about to hit theaters.
And speaking of Ready Player One... let me just say I need to share this video:
Gunship’s arcade-machine hunt
“Art3mis & Parzival” belongs to Gunship, and from a certain point of view, the video serves as a spoiler for Ready Player One, but there’s more between the story of the characters and the excellent pixel art: small clues that are essential for the alternate reality game that Gunship is organizing, whose grand prize is an arcade machine. The first step is to share an email address, and in return you’ll receive a password to overcome the first test of the text adventure (yes, pure and hard text, no graphics). The rest of the passwords are hidden in the video or in the playlist that Gunship prepared on Spotify.
I figure our readers will find the first passwords without much trouble... but the last one is a different story. The official page has no deadline, however I imagine there are already several participants “on the other side of the door,” waiting for the raffle. What are you waiting for? I’m sure you won’t stop until you solve it.
