“Have some of these, Andy”, said Roo, passing me a silvery packet of cards. And thus began my current frustration – Perplex City.
Roo, you see, is secretly evil.
Perplex City is essentially a series of collectable puzzle cards of increasing difficulty, all tied in with a website where you can register and enter the answers, scoring points for each card you solve.
There’s also much more to it than that. Perplex City is – or rather, has been until very recent cancellation – also an Alternate Reality Game, where the puzzles and the stories told on the backs of the cards, combine with real-world clues and other media to act as an interactive game. Fellow eightbar writers Ian, Roo and Nick have all blogged about it before.
I’m late into it, and I’ve never played ARGs before… so I can’t claim to really “get it”. Unfortunately, on the very day that Roo handed me those cards, Mind Candy (the makers) announced that the current “Season 2” of the Perpex City ARG had been cancelled, although the cards will continue to come out. Still, I’m left with a stack of, well, far too many cryptic Perplex City Season 2 cards, to tease my poor brain. Maybe the ARG part would have blown my mind completely.
I’m really not sure I can solve them all…
Technorati Tags: arg, mind candy, perplex city, virtual worlds
5 responses so far ↓
kellyd // June 5, 2007 at 21:26 |
Roo is an evil, evil man.
missy // June 5, 2007 at 22:07 |
Oh, have heard of that.
cyberelk // June 5, 2007 at 23:05 |
Every so often I dig out my unsolved season 1 cards and wait for some insight.
I never really got the alternate-reality bit either. Perhaps it goes over my head.
missy // June 6, 2007 at 5:57 |
On your mac question, I’ve been a mac user only for 5 years. I switched because the school where I work uses macintosh.
Roo Reynolds // June 6, 2007 at 8:41 |
I’m nice, me.
It is a real shame about the ARG being on hold. Glad you’re having fun (?) with the puzzle cards though. There are some good forums (fora?) for spoilers, though sometimes the answer can come abruptly. I have yet to find the perfect place for subtle and careful hints.
For me, talking directly to other people who are solving/have solved the card I’m stuck on seems to work for me, although of course there is a certain satisfaction in a solve without help at all sometimes too.