The Great Tree

CuzinJohn · Last edited by CuzinJohn on Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm conducting a brief experiment to see if my only 2 excusions into the world of Internet Gaming are mutually exclusive or not.

I was involved, several years ago, in an online research/puzzle/treasure hunt type game called "The Stone".

Was anyone here ever involved with it? or even heard of it?

Just curious...

I added a poll... because polls are fun!
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Professor Askew · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:26 pm Post subject:

Nope and nope. What was it?
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BladeLakem · Great Tree Member Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 514

Yes! I was the first one to solve the puzzle called The Case, as a matter of fact. I haven't looked at it for years tho (almost 5 years, I think). I've heard it's gotten a lot bigger.

Eleri · Great Tree Member Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 819

I still log on to Blade's account every once in a while. I've been stuck on the same 10 puzzles for two years now, though. Grrrr. They had a big contest for solving the middle puzzles, I haven't looked to see how that went.
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CuzinJohn · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:51 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the quick feedback. I knew in my bones that both games were big enough with their respective audiences to overlap.

Blade, I remember "the Case" I think... McGuffin?

Prof, The Stone was an online collection of puzzles that players had to solve. The puzzles were most often collages of images that left you to figure out what they had to do with one another and ultimately come up with a single "solution". You got in (originally) by purchasing a small stone with inscribed patterns on it... those patterns are what would identify You, and your Other. each pattern was inscribed on 2 Stones.

Much like another online game we all know and love, the interest on the game masters' part kind of fizzled out before the original goal could be realized. The goal kind of shifted around over the years, and I'm not even sure what the status of the game is.

Another similarity between The Stone and another game we all know and love is the Circle of Friends that each game generated. I am still in contact with folks that played The Stone, even thought none of us 'play' anymore. I was curious to see just how much these 2 circles overlapped.

I found my Stone the other day and wondered.
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KI 182798

Science is how you talk about the universe with words that bind it to a common reality.
Magic is how you talk to the universe with words that it cannot ignore.

BladeLakem · Great Tree Member Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 514

Eleri · Great Tree Member Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 819

I had the Merlin Mystery book. IIRC, so one solved it, and the prize was auctioned off for charity. http://www.treasureclub.net/publichunts/merlinmystery/index.html

The guy who did Treasure's Trove has a new one out: Secrets of the Alchemist Dar
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Professor Askew · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:26 pm Post subject:

I ALWAYS wanted to participate in one of those treasure book dealies!! Thanks for the linky, Eleri.
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

Anna Catherine · Folklorist Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 470

I thought it looked interesting, but I never actually played it.

Saxy · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:46 am Post subject:

Nope, never heard of it Cuzin! But your description makes me want to play it. It kinda reminds me of an internet version of PerplexCity. Anyone heard of that "card" game? (Many mini puzzles on cards that you can collect, rack up points, then put them together to solve bigger puzzles.)
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Eleri · Great Tree Member Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 819

It's totally against the rules, but I wouldn't mind slipping people our access to TS so they can play. It's not like we're on it constantly.
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CuzinJohn · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:04 am Post subject:

Anna Catherine · Folklorist Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Posts: 470

It looked really good at the time, but I didn't have the cash when I saw it at the store. The one thing that freaked me out a tiny bit was getting hooked up with one other person who randomly has the same stone as you (and if they're a psychopath, you're just out of luck, I guess,) but other than that, it looked cool.

I also couldn't tell if it had much of a plot, and I'm a plot freak, that's one of my top game priorities.

Annacat

Eleri · Great Tree Member Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 819

The Final Six became part of a big contest (that's still ongoing, there's 2 left to solve) You buy access to the final six, and the first person to solve all six wins, and *then* they'll open them up to the teeming masses.

Yeah, I miss the meta-puzzle, too
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BladeLakem · Great Tree Member Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 514