The San Francisco Connection
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General
- In most literal terms, this is a new link which is to connect Perplex City to Earth; specifically, the link will connect to San Francisco, California, USA.
- In a more pragmatic sense, this will be a live event in San Francisco, and will be similar to the London PCAG event.
- The event will take place August 12th, 2006.
- This page will serve as a source for all pre-event information available, until the day of the event. Then, the current existing page at that time will be archived and this page will be entirely used to focus on what took place at the event proper.
- Some early information has already been moved to: SFCon:pre-event
Meetups
As a game, Perplex City has but one rule: Any occassion with more than 2 cube hunters must involve alcohol. In this vein, a number of meet-ups and organized gathering of masses have been planned, both pre- and post- event. As follows:
- A clearinghouse of event coordination is at the unForums.
- Mind Candy is having a "post-event thingie down near the Palace."
- From the event page:
Q: Will there be any social activities afterwards?
A: We are currently considering organising something afterwards. We're well aware that players will want to get a drink or meet up somewhere, and so at the closing presentation we will at least let all players know about possible places to go.
- Endgame - map - link
- Friday, August 11th 2-9
- Sunday, August 13th, 10-5
- Right around the corner from the 12th Street/City Center BART station (red/yellow lines).
- Pacific Coast Brewing Company - map - link
- Food, etc., to be had after hanging out at Endgame, on Friday evening.
- Located across the street from Endgame
- They have food, drinks, and free wifi (according to the sign outside).
What is Known
As described in the Perplex City Newsletter:
As announced, there's going to be a massive live event in San Francisco on Saturday, August 12th! With room for around 500 players and 500 spectators, a host of exciting challenges and an official Academy presence, it's the most ambitious Perplex City event yet. It's being held at The Palace Of Fine Arts Theatre, from 10.30am to 5pm, and it's absolutely free to take part in this exciting event - you can even join in the fun online! Read more: http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/archives/2006/07/iona_interviews_17.html And register: |
According to Adrian Hon of Mind Candy:
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"There are a few reasons," Hon explains. "At the moment, we only have one data link to Perplex City, and that's based in London. It can only handle a limited amount of traffic, and with the number of people using the link in both Perplex City and Earth increasing rapidly, we need another connection for the extra capacity." Beyond that, though, is a firm belief in the prudence of redundancy: "Another principal reason for the new San Francisco connection is simply that it's always smarter to have two links rather than one. It took an awful lot of time and effort to set up that first link, and while I'm no physicist, I do know that the favorable conditions that were required to make the connection do not come around often." In order to celebrate the occasion, Mind Candy is putting on a celebration of some sort. What light can Hon shed on this event and what will happen there? "The event is a big thank-you from the Perplex City Academy and Mind Candy to everyone who's searching for the Cube," Hon says. "It's also a celebration of the activation of the new link, and in typical Perplex City-style, it'll involve an awful lot of puzzles and games." As for specifics, Hon spills the first concrete details regarding the day: "It'll all start on the morning of Saturday August 12th with a presentation at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, where everything will be explained. I can tell you now that it's basically a huge high-tech treasure hunt, but with a twist -- unlike the PCAG tournament in London, this treasure hunt will be collaborative, not competitive." Even through the medium of email, one can feel the pride Hon has in this undertaking. "There'll be hundreds of puzzles scattered across San Francisco, involving traveling to landmarks, looking for hidden objects, cracking codes and translating languages. Players will work together to figure out the answers. The answers serve as activation codes for special RFID tags back at the Palace of Fine Arts." |
The doomsday message
observed on http://www.boingboing.net/ was the following advertisement:
Seems pretty nice. However, as animated gifs tho, this one's no laughing matter. For less than one second, this cel is seen:
It is braille, and reads: Say goodbye to Perplex City.
Plot Sickens
The meaning of this message began to unfold on 10-AUG-06, when all sites coming out the city were hacked, and replaced with a static image:
Emergency!
In an email from Mind Candy on Friday morning:
Dear {name},
Yesterday, our only data link to Perplex City was cut by a group known as 'The Third Power'. They did this by launching simultaneous physical and online attacks against our systems in London, which we cannot repair.
The San Francisco Connection is now the only way we can restore communications to Perplex City. As you already know, the Perplex City Academy had intended the live event tomorrow to be a celebration, where we would solve puzzles and games set by them in order to activate the new connection. There was to be no urgency, and if we had any problems, the Academy would have been on hand to help us.
That's no longer possible. Tomorrow, we'll be on our own, and we're going up against the best minds of another world.
We're currently in the frantic process of trying to recover instructions and data about the Connection from our damaged systems. By tomorrow, we expect we'll have enough, but we'll still have to solve the puzzles and games required to activate it - remember, we didn't set them, and we still don't have the solutions ourselves. At 11am PDT (7pm in the UK) we will be giving an emergency briefing both online and at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, detailing the situation and what needs to be done. Visit http://emergency.perplexcity.com for the latest information.
There's another problem. We only have a short time before the carrier wave of the now-destroyed London link vanishes. Without that carrier wave, it will be incredibly difficult to establish the new link from San Francisco. For that reason, we ask you to form yourselves into teams, either before the event or on the day. That way, we will have a better chance at tackling the puzzles. We will not be keeping score - the stakes are too high for us to treat this like a game.
For speed, you will also need to make plans for getting around the city - in whatever way you prefer. A car, MUNI pass, bike, or rollerblades could all be useful.
If you ever want to see Perplex City again, we will need your help tomorrow. Formidable forces oppose us, but we can and must prevail. The Third Power committed a hostile act against us, and we can only presume it was to disrupt our efforts at finding the Cube. We will show them that Earth is not so easily beaten.
Mind Candy
Visit http://emergency.perplexcity.com for the latest information.
The indicated website gave brief information:
The situation
On Thursday 10th August, our only data link to Perplex City was cut by the 'Third Power'. The San Francisco Connection is now the only chance we have to restore communications to Perplex City.
The opening of the San Francisco link was intended to be a celebration - a festival of puzzles set by the Perplex City Academy, for us all to enjoy. However, without the Academy to help us, the puzzles are now a major obstacle. We're currently trying to recover any instructions or possible solutions from our damaged systems.
The plan
At 11am PDT on Saturday (7pm in the UK), we'll be giving an emergency briefing both online at this website and at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco, detailing what needs to be done.
We'll only have a short time - a matter of hours - before the carrier wave of the original link vanishes entirely. For that reason, we ask you to form yourselves into teams, either before the event or on the day. That way, we'll have a better chance of tackling the puzzles quickly and efficiently.
There is also an online component to the activation mechanism, here on this site. We know that it needs a set number of unique users to unlock each puzzle. This means there are two goals: solving the puzzles, and getting as many people as possible to visit this site.
If you ever want to see Perplex City again, you'll need to help on Saturday. Formidable forces oppose us, but we can and must prevail. We will show them that Earth is not so easily beaten.
Mind Candy
References
- The Perplex City Sentinel
- news in brief, 22-JUN-06 "Academy Mum on New Link"
- article, 13-JUL-06 "Iona Interviews... Adrian Hon" (link)
