In the week before the game, Game Control (GC) instructed each team to reserve a 20 minute time slot on Friday afternoon/evening between 3:00 and 8:00 and to have as many of our team show up as possible. We were also supposed to bring our Java game agent on diskette. We reserved 5:00 pm and were instructed to go to Duboce Park in San Francisco and wait on a bench under a tree.
At precisely 5:00 pm we were approached by a man who refused to identify himself, and who handed us a rather lumpy Fed Ex package. Inside was a cell phone which rang as soon as we opened the package. We were instructed by the person on the other end to go to the east end of the park and get into the van that was waiting for us.
This van was a replica of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine:
We got in to find two people, the driver and another man, both dressed in black leather and wearing black sunglasses. The driver was identified as Swiss and the other man as Pivot. The driver never spoke.
And this is when we found out that the 420 game was not about marijuana!
Pivot then gave us the following speech:
"By now, thanks to the campaign of Neo, The One, you have all heard about The Matrix. Let us assure you that what you have heard is true. Having studied your qualifications, we believe you will be able to accept the notion that you have been living in a dream world, fabricated by your enemies to keep you alive and complacent while they use your energy to feed themselves. By choosing to join us, you must accept this terrible truth and pledge to do all you can to change it. As you have heard, a number of us have been able to escape, and we live in a city near the center of the earth called Zion. With the arrival of The One, we have the opportunity to free all of mankind and to deat the machiens which have enslaved us. This is where you come in. The liberation must happen from within. Most humans, unlike you, are not prepared for the truth, and would not survive their escape from "reality" without a lot of help. It will be your job, in the coming months, to prepare the population of Earth for the eventuality of this escape, and to prepare them for the ensuing battle against the machines. In the meantime, the leaders of Zion will prepare for war. The day that humanity is freed, we will strike. The machines will be weakened by the lack of a ready energy source, but the chance of failure is nonetheless immense. The machines have beaten us before, and unless you do your jobs perfectly in preparing the rest of humanity, we will again be enslaved, surely without any chance of ever escaping again. Your orientation is tomorrow at 9:15 am. Please bring your entire team to the Roxie Theater on 16th Street at Valencia in San Francisco no earlier than 9 and no later than 9:15. Do NOT park your car. There will be someone to valet park your vehicle right in front of the theater. During your orientation, we will equip your vehicle with a device that allows it to travel with you in and out of the matrix. Please have important materials with you going in to the theater. You should be mobile but prepared. This package has additional information and materials that will be important during your training. It includes a copy of The Matrix, the history of our struggle up to this point. We highly recommend that you be familiar with it and that you have it with you at all times. The red pill is part of a trace program. This allows us to pinpoint your location in the real world, so that we can take you out of the matrix when necessary. For now, you will remain within the matrix and prepare for your training. Soon enough, you will see everything there is to see. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow."
We had a choice of red pill or blue pill, we picked red (to enter the Matrix). They then gave us a baggie containing a bunch of other red pills and a little stamp sized sticker on it with our team fish logo. This would be used to identify our clues throughout the game. Pivot also gave us an envelope containing three pieces of paper, and a DVD of The Matrix. We opened this DVD and to all appearances it looked like the real thing, not a clue. Here are some pictures of it:
Pivot took our game agent but
we didn't do anything with it there.
In addition to a written copy of Pivot's speech, we also received two
pieces of paper:
CRYPTONOMICON SOLITAIRE KEY
We use the Cryptonomicon Solitaire encryption algorithm to communicate securely in the field. Note the following: To create the key for the algorithm, use the SF Chronicle Bridge Column from the newspaper on the day you get the message. Start with South's hand, and recreate the hand, spades first, then hearts, diamonds and clubs. Follow in the same manner with West's hand, then North's and East's. Face up, the deck should begin with the highest card of South's spade suit, descend through South's spades, follow in the same manner with hearts, diamonds and clubs, then follow with West's top spade card, descend through West's spades, and so on. The A and B jokers go behind the ace of clubs and the ace of diamonds, respectively." THE RECRUITERS
{click here
to see the SF Chronicle Bridge Column from Saturday, April 21, 2001}
BEYOND THE FLAVOR: SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER
You will not be asked to do
anything more illegal than visiting parks after hours
Try to minimize contact with the authorities by keeping a low profile,
but if you are forced into interacting with them, first try the "just
passing through" option. If forced into more details, please describe
the game as a scavenger hunt associated with Stanford University and feel
free to give the officials the number for GC if it would be useful.
We expect all teams to play with honor and respect for the other teams
who are playing. You should return a clue site to its original configuration
after you take your clue. In general, the clues for your team will be
marked - take only your clue. As always, tampering with clues will not
be tolerated.
Scoring: Your performance will be rated primarily on the time it takes
you to complete your adventure. The number of times you call for help
and the style with which you play will be secondary measures.
Help lines: GC will have one primary help line. If you determine that
you need to call for help, use this number. Only use the backup help number
if the primary line is busy.
Confirmation: We will have a confirmation line. We ask that you please
use it to confirm your next destination after you have solved a clue,
both so that we know where you are and so that we can provide you with
important information when necessary. We will _not give help on the confirmation
line. Use it only to confirm your next destinations - not to confirm partial
answers or anything of that sort.
We ask that if you are the last team to get a clue from a site, please
take the remainder of the clue presentation with you when reasonable
ESSENTIAL MATERIALS
Bring clothing for inclement weather
You will need some sort of programming environment
during your adventure.
You should bring everything that is typically brought
on adventures of this type.
We expect you to be prepared.