My daughter and I are enjoying A Treasure's Trove, which is a fascinating combination of game and story, with a collaborative aspect reminiscent of ARGs.
Here's the gist: a kids' book appeared, called A Treasure's Trove. This illustrated text includes a fairly unsurprising tale about an evil magician battling fairies for the future of a forest. At the same time, the book claims to include puzzles and clues which, when solved, will lead readers to twelve physical prizes, hidden in locations across the United States.
Collaboration: there are already several fora working on this, including TreasureNet's, 12Gems, and Tweleve. Wired notes that these social puzzle-solving communities draw on a history of practice, including the world of alternate reality games.
At the narrative level, I'm interested in how the collaborative puzzle-solving both reveals and constitutes stories around the book's narrative line.
A Treasure's Trove may be a fraud. I paid for the Kit January 26, 2005 and have still not received my book. I have contacted the company (I bought directly from the treasurestrove website) and advised them that if I do not receive either the book or a full refund within 10 days I will be reporting the FRAUD to the Post Master and my credit card company.
Posted by: Christine | May 18, 2005 at 00:05