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The Vanishing Point Game
To celebrate the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft and AMD launched The Vanishing Point, the first global trans-media puzzle game to reward their most enthusiastic, tech savvy consumers. The game spanned four weeks as players worked together to decipher embedded clues in real world events and solve puzzles online to win a trip to outer space. CHALLENGE The project’s objective was to engage the hardcore tech savvy audience already familiar with Windows Vista in a hip, mysterious and intellectually challenging way that would cultivate positive brand awareness and loyalty. To accomplish this, 42 Entertainment designed spectacular real world events with embedded secret messages and codes. These were captured in real time through photographs or video before they reached “the vanishing point” and uploaded to the website. Players searched through this documentation to uncover clues needed to solve online puzzles that were simultaneously unlocked on the website. These events took place in 12 major cities around the US, Australia, Canada, England, Germany, and Singapore. EXPERIENCE The game launched mysteriously, with a stealth campaign utilizing Japanese puzzle boxes, USB drives, AMD computers and videos on YouTube. This led bloggers and players to The Vanishing Point website with a countdown to the game’s launch, pointing to a specific GPS location in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 200 players arrived at the appointed place during CES to see a Bellagio fountain show suddenly “hacked” by a mysterious puzzle-master, Loki. In the following weeks, more puzzle boxes were unlocked, and players found cryptic clues written in the skies, on architectural projections that transformed world landmarks and coded in a unique fireworks show. Throughout the puzzle sweepstakes, players could also search for information about identity of the puzzlemaster, Loki, and earn the privilege of having their name inscribed on an entire production run of AMD computer chips. COMMUNITY Online communities of players developed who worked together to solve the puzzles. They created resources such as forums, photo/video archives, online hints and even web-radio stations that broadcast in real-time during the live events. This created an enormous global media and consumer buzz surrounding the game. |
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THE LAUNCH
The week before Christmas 2006, mysterious black cipher boxes suddenly began appearing on dozens of high-traffic tech blogs. These unbranded boxes showed a block of alphanumeric characters, which made absolutely no sense. There was no indication what these boxes were for, and if they were indeed promoting something, there was no clue as to what it was.
The only intelligible text was a taunting phrase, “Most of you won’t figure this out.” Underneath the box was a URL: vanishingpointgame.com.
Unable to resist the challenge, players followed the URL to the website....
The week before Christmas 2006, mysterious black cipher boxes suddenly began appearing on dozens of high-traffic tech blogs. These unbranded boxes showed a block of alphanumeric characters, which made absolutely no sense. There was no indication what these boxes were for, and if they were indeed promoting something, there was no clue as to what it was.
The only intelligible text was a taunting phrase, “Most of you won’t figure this out.” Underneath the box was a URL: vanishingpointgame.com.
Unable to resist the challenge, players followed the URL to the website....
THE COUNTDOWN
When players went to vanishingpointgame.com, they found only a countdown and a submission box, with instructions to enter a key if they had it.
According to the countdown, something was set to happen on January 8th, 2007 at 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. But what?
And what about these keys? Entering random text into the submission field continued to yield no results.
What was Vanishing Point? What would happen when the countdown reached zero? And where were the Keys to the website?
When players went to vanishingpointgame.com, they found only a countdown and a submission box, with instructions to enter a key if they had it.
According to the countdown, something was set to happen on January 8th, 2007 at 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. But what?
And what about these keys? Entering random text into the submission field continued to yield no results.
What was Vanishing Point? What would happen when the countdown reached zero? And where were the Keys to the website?
SPECIAL DELIVERY
Within days, over a hundred bloggers worldwide began receiving enigmatic packages in the mail. The packages contained a wooden Japanese puzzle box and a personalized letter from someone named Loki. In addition, some bloggers who received an Acer Ferrari laptop computer for review found a similar puzzle box and letter in their package.
This letter told the recipients that they were now a decoder, and that thousands would be looking for the information that they had in their possession. Researching on line, the recipients learned of the mysterious blocks that had been showing up on numerous blogs, and realized that they somehow had the key to unlocking what was going on.
Opening the puzzle box, they found a USB thumb-drive, which contained a video file, an image file and a text file which read:
“Well done! Now you have your first cipher key, plus a video my employer didn’t think you needed to see. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
Do others deserve to see these files, too? I’ll leave that up to you.
~Loki
P.S. Go to vanishingpointgame.com to find out what to do next.”
These files gave clues that, when combined with information on the mysterious puzzle blocks, provided passwords that opened up new pages on the vanishingpointgame.com website.
Within days, over a hundred bloggers worldwide began receiving enigmatic packages in the mail. The packages contained a wooden Japanese puzzle box and a personalized letter from someone named Loki. In addition, some bloggers who received an Acer Ferrari laptop computer for review found a similar puzzle box and letter in their package.
This letter told the recipients that they were now a decoder, and that thousands would be looking for the information that they had in their possession. Researching on line, the recipients learned of the mysterious blocks that had been showing up on numerous blogs, and realized that they somehow had the key to unlocking what was going on.
Opening the puzzle box, they found a USB thumb-drive, which contained a video file, an image file and a text file which read:
“Well done! Now you have your first cipher key, plus a video my employer didn’t think you needed to see. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
Do others deserve to see these files, too? I’ll leave that up to you.
~Loki
P.S. Go to vanishingpointgame.com to find out what to do next.”
These files gave clues that, when combined with information on the mysterious puzzle blocks, provided passwords that opened up new pages on the vanishingpointgame.com website.
YOU TUBE VIDEO
Players also discovered a video on YouTube showing the enigmatic Loki giving yet another cypher key that unlocked yet another page on the VanishingPointGame website.
Players also discovered a video on YouTube showing the enigmatic Loki giving yet another cypher key that unlocked yet another page on the VanishingPointGame website.
COMMUNITIES
Working together, players posted pictures and videos of the puzzle box content onine, and found that in all there were seven Keys that revealed seven hidden pages on the vanishingpointgame.com website.
Throught these hidden pages, players discovered that the Vanishing Point was to be a world-wide puzzle game to celebrate the launch of the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s Vista operating system, and that numerous prizes would be awarded, culminating in a trip into space for one lucky player.
In the weeks leading up to the game launch on January 8th, viral momentum built to the extent that ultimately 80,000+ players registered to play Vanishing Point.
Working together, players posted pictures and videos of the puzzle box content onine, and found that in all there were seven Keys that revealed seven hidden pages on the vanishingpointgame.com website.
Throught these hidden pages, players discovered that the Vanishing Point was to be a world-wide puzzle game to celebrate the launch of the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s Vista operating system, and that numerous prizes would be awarded, culminating in a trip into space for one lucky player.
In the weeks leading up to the game launch on January 8th, viral momentum built to the extent that ultimately 80,000+ players registered to play Vanishing Point.