Enter the AlamOasis
Activation // ARG
Bringing to life the narrative of a VR world that thrives on nostalgic themes was our challenge - and we layered that with easter eggs, 8-bit games and old school rewards for those who dared step up to claim the AlamOasis.
Embark on a Nostalgic Adventure
To celebrate the release of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One we teamed up with Alamo Drafthouse to create a digital ARG game that sent players on a easter egg hunt through 3 vintage video games and a massive D.O.S. box challenge to see if they could claim the AlamOasis.
Crack the Code. Win the AlamOasis.
For those willing to protect the AlamOasis from the IOI they would have to dig deep and complete 16 more challenges hidden within our D.O.S. box before the IOI hacked the system. Players teamed up to share their knowledge until the final challenge where players had one shot to enter a code to win the ultimate prize, an Alamo Drafthouse gift card and a signed copy of Ready Player One from Ernest Cline. The winner got a special message from Cline himself.
Creating an Avatar
To help launch user engagement we created a faux twitter account with a player called @JoystickVick. This account was our window into the world of the player and allowed us to drive the narrative and give updates in real-time for our players. In addition to tweeting out clues we also hid the link to the second of our first three games in this profile bio.
Allies & Enemies: Claim the AlamOasis
As our users signed up to play games they also started to form teams and allies to help defeat our games and solve challenges. A community Discord was set up as players shared their experiences, created walkthroughs, and forged new friendships that we were monitoring in real-time. Warner Brothers, AMC Theaters, and other fans launched their own Ready Player One activations online - but our users played them all and agreed that AlamOasis earned the Crystal Key!
