The Receda Cube Is Missing
"Perplex City is a place, a story, a game and a real-life treasure hunt.
The Receda Cube has been stolen from Perplex City. It's an object of immense power and importance, and the people of Perplex City want it back.
The thieves have buried the Cube somewhere on Earth and there's a reward of $200,000/£100,000 for whoever finds it first.
Welcome to the hunt."
I've been pimping Perplex City for a few weeks now, always intending to make a thread about it and, well, I've finally done it. The man in my avatar is Sente Kiteway, the head of the Perplex City Academy - the institution that serves a number of different and very important functions in order to maintain the intellectual health of the citizenry. PXC (for short) is similar to the Earth, except for the fact that the society relies less on brawn and military machismo and more on puzzles and brain power.
Thus, when the Receda Cube (a mysterious artifact of deep importance to various groups in PXC) is stolen and hidden on Earth, the Academy launched a plan to recruit citizens from our planet for the hunt.
How to Recover the Cube
This is where the cards come in - released in 4 waves (the 4th has yet to begin), the total set will equal 256 cards, each with an individual puzzle on it. The cards have two different properties - color and pattern. The color of the card determines its rarity and difficulty. From lowest to highest: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Black, Silver Foil. The pattern indicates which set the card is a part of and completing each set of 4 will get you bonus points for those cards. Of course this means that each time you solve an individual cards, you'll get the normal point value listed on it. You do this by scratching off the number at the top and entering it into your personal account page on the website (http://www.perplexcity.com). You have three attempts to enter the correct answer once the specialized form comes up before the cards gets locked and you have to wait 24 hours until you can attempt again.
These cards are part of a larger puzzle involving the mystery of the cube which manifests itself in a number of a different ways - mysterious e-mails/text messages, live events, fake websites, etc. It's an ARG (Alternate Realty Game) much like ILoveBees, which consumed GAF and many other interenet communities when it was launched. You can catch up on the story via the website, which contains all of the entries from various characters and organizations. The storytelling is much about inference and periphery as it is feeding it directly to you. Not every entry will pertain to the mystery and there are all kinds of opportunities to get extra information on the plot and the people involved. As is appropriate for an ARG, an entire interconnected universe has been created within PXC and it's easy to get sucked into the various relationships and mysteries. In some cases, you can directly communicate with some of the key players.
Solve the mystery of the cube, figure out where it's hidden and who stole and why...you could win $200,000. If that's not incentive, I don't know what is.
Solving Puzzles
As mentioned, each card contains a different puzzle, but the resources and number of people required to solve them change. Certainly, you can go to the forums and discuss tips/solutions for just about any puzzle, but the most devious ones require research and esoteric knowledge. Indeed, many easy puzzles test basic problem-solving skills and others are adaptations of already-familiar conundrums. Others, especially those created by visually-oriented puzzle scribe Aiko, may require physically morphing the card or scanning it into a computer to play around with it. There's also one red card that has scratch-n-sniff patches on it that play a part in figuring out the solution. This makes each card a more interesting and interactive experience than your normal CCG (plus the fact that you're not competing with other players Magic/Yu-Gi-Oh! style - in fact cooperation is promoted).
Taking it even further are some truly devious upper-level cards. May I direct you to a website consumed with the silver card The Thirteenth Labour: http://www.13thlabour.tk/
In order to solve the card, you have to crack the encryption on the card. Some industrious, code-minded players developed a distributed-computing application that has been running for 2 months and is only 49% complete in its evaluation.
The really cool thing about the puzzles, though, is that you come across all sorts of interesting things you probably never would have if you weren't looking for the solution. Not only will you be improving your intellectual skills, but you'll be *learning* things, too. Perplex City is the real Brain Age.
The Website
http://www.perplexcity.com
Another fun aspect of the game is the passive competition element. As I already mentioned, PXC eschews played-out concepts such as battling monsters in favor of pitting brains against one another. The cards don't facilitate competition, but solving them does. You get points for each card, which will ratchet you up the leaderboard. Get enough points, and you might earn a Leitmark - physical "badges" sent out at the end of each month to those that have obtained the correct amount.
In addition, the website tracks what cards you've solved in graphic form (there's a big table featuring thumbnails of solved puzzles organized into their colors and sets) and what parts of the map you've completed (yellow cards and up each have a piece of the PXC map on it). This gives Perplex City an Xbox Live-style achievement system that is very rewarding.
OK, so how do I start?
I've gotten a couple requests asking where you can buy these cards and admittedly, they can be a bit hard to find. This is a UK production, so it's a lot more prevalent there, but retailers in the US are starting to trickle in. The best thing to do is to go here: http://www.perplexcity.com/help/stores/index.qbuild and search for stores in your area.
If there aren't any, you can order from online retailers such as:
http://www.firebox.com/perplexcity
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/games/82f9/
Getting into PXC is unique experience that's really quite worth and consuming, but it can be a tad expensive. The $5 packs add up, so the best deal I've found is at:
http://www.gameoutfitter.com/Browse_dept_items.asp/categ_id/248/parent_ids/0,2/Name/Perplex_City
$3.50 for individual packs and $110 for entire boxes ($70 off is hot!) is a keen deal and shipping is pretty fast. If you absolutely cannot find any cards near you, I'd recommend giving them your business.
If you're still unsure, the website contains two free cards to give you a taste:
http://www.perplexcity.com/promo/1/index.qbuild
As does Gamedaily, ironically, when they previewed a card from Wave 3:
http://www.gamedaily.com/features/?id=927&page=2
You can solve and enter these cards on the website without having to buy a damn thing.
Misgivings
There are a couple of niggling problems with PXC - no game is without them. First of all, some of the cards are very UK-centric. If you're from the UK or other parts of Europe, this isn't much of an issue, but if you're not, you might have to do some extra research or look for hints even when you don't want to. There might be uniquely British terms for things you would normally call something else.
Also, if you get card duplicates, there isn't much you can do with them. You can't "stack" them in a deck since you're not battling anybody and you can't solve cards twice. You can, however, trade or sell cards online, which might be a viable option. If it isn't, I'd recommend giving those cards to friends or other people you know to try and get them into the game, as well. If you're a hard-nosed collector, you can also keep doubles in sleeves. The cards are of good stock and quality, so it's not much to worry about, but if you like to have some copies with the scratch-off part unscratched, it's handy. Some of the cards are just worth keeping for the really nice art which is definitely one of the positives of PXC.
The final misgiving is some answer input issues. Most are pretty easy to figure out and they do give you certain guidelines, but others can be pretty specific in their formatting. Even if you know the correct answer, if you don't put it in right, you'll get it wrong. I'd recommend going to the forums and looking for someone who got the solve to go through, personally.
Overall, there aren't too many complaints and the overall fun and challenge of the game outshines any little problem that pops up. There's always a way out of it.
Bullet Points
For those that can't be bothered to read all of the above, here are some bullet points
-256 Cards
-4 waves
-MSRP: ~$5 packs, $30 starter pack (2 packs of cars, a really cool full music CD by Viard an underground PXC music artist, stickers, a PXC magazine, and tour guide).
-$200,000 grand prize
Important Websites:
http://www.perplexcity.com - Official Website
http://www.13thlabour.tk/ - Assault on 13th Labour
http://www.unfiction.com - ARG site with forums/info on PXC
http://www.gameoutfitter.com/ - Good site for buying cards
http://perplexcitywiki.com/wiki/Main_Page - PXC Wiki with tons of story information and other resources
Any questions?
"Perplex City is a place, a story, a game and a real-life treasure hunt.
The Receda Cube has been stolen from Perplex City. It's an object of immense power and importance, and the people of Perplex City want it back.
The thieves have buried the Cube somewhere on Earth and there's a reward of $200,000/£100,000 for whoever finds it first.
Welcome to the hunt."
I've been pimping Perplex City for a few weeks now, always intending to make a thread about it and, well, I've finally done it. The man in my avatar is Sente Kiteway, the head of the Perplex City Academy - the institution that serves a number of different and very important functions in order to maintain the intellectual health of the citizenry. PXC (for short) is similar to the Earth, except for the fact that the society relies less on brawn and military machismo and more on puzzles and brain power.
Thus, when the Receda Cube (a mysterious artifact of deep importance to various groups in PXC) is stolen and hidden on Earth, the Academy launched a plan to recruit citizens from our planet for the hunt.
How to Recover the Cube
This is where the cards come in - released in 4 waves (the 4th has yet to begin), the total set will equal 256 cards, each with an individual puzzle on it. The cards have two different properties - color and pattern. The color of the card determines its rarity and difficulty. From lowest to highest: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Black, Silver Foil. The pattern indicates which set the card is a part of and completing each set of 4 will get you bonus points for those cards. Of course this means that each time you solve an individual cards, you'll get the normal point value listed on it. You do this by scratching off the number at the top and entering it into your personal account page on the website (http://www.perplexcity.com). You have three attempts to enter the correct answer once the specialized form comes up before the cards gets locked and you have to wait 24 hours until you can attempt again.
These cards are part of a larger puzzle involving the mystery of the cube which manifests itself in a number of a different ways - mysterious e-mails/text messages, live events, fake websites, etc. It's an ARG (Alternate Realty Game) much like ILoveBees, which consumed GAF and many other interenet communities when it was launched. You can catch up on the story via the website, which contains all of the entries from various characters and organizations. The storytelling is much about inference and periphery as it is feeding it directly to you. Not every entry will pertain to the mystery and there are all kinds of opportunities to get extra information on the plot and the people involved. As is appropriate for an ARG, an entire interconnected universe has been created within PXC and it's easy to get sucked into the various relationships and mysteries. In some cases, you can directly communicate with some of the key players.
Solve the mystery of the cube, figure out where it's hidden and who stole and why...you could win $200,000. If that's not incentive, I don't know what is.
Solving Puzzles
As mentioned, each card contains a different puzzle, but the resources and number of people required to solve them change. Certainly, you can go to the forums and discuss tips/solutions for just about any puzzle, but the most devious ones require research and esoteric knowledge. Indeed, many easy puzzles test basic problem-solving skills and others are adaptations of already-familiar conundrums. Others, especially those created by visually-oriented puzzle scribe Aiko, may require physically morphing the card or scanning it into a computer to play around with it. There's also one red card that has scratch-n-sniff patches on it that play a part in figuring out the solution. This makes each card a more interesting and interactive experience than your normal CCG (plus the fact that you're not competing with other players Magic/Yu-Gi-Oh! style - in fact cooperation is promoted).
Taking it even further are some truly devious upper-level cards. May I direct you to a website consumed with the silver card The Thirteenth Labour: http://www.13thlabour.tk/
In order to solve the card, you have to crack the encryption on the card. Some industrious, code-minded players developed a distributed-computing application that has been running for 2 months and is only 49% complete in its evaluation.
The really cool thing about the puzzles, though, is that you come across all sorts of interesting things you probably never would have if you weren't looking for the solution. Not only will you be improving your intellectual skills, but you'll be *learning* things, too. Perplex City is the real Brain Age.
The Website
http://www.perplexcity.com
Another fun aspect of the game is the passive competition element. As I already mentioned, PXC eschews played-out concepts such as battling monsters in favor of pitting brains against one another. The cards don't facilitate competition, but solving them does. You get points for each card, which will ratchet you up the leaderboard. Get enough points, and you might earn a Leitmark - physical "badges" sent out at the end of each month to those that have obtained the correct amount.
In addition, the website tracks what cards you've solved in graphic form (there's a big table featuring thumbnails of solved puzzles organized into their colors and sets) and what parts of the map you've completed (yellow cards and up each have a piece of the PXC map on it). This gives Perplex City an Xbox Live-style achievement system that is very rewarding.
OK, so how do I start?
I've gotten a couple requests asking where you can buy these cards and admittedly, they can be a bit hard to find. This is a UK production, so it's a lot more prevalent there, but retailers in the US are starting to trickle in. The best thing to do is to go here: http://www.perplexcity.com/help/stores/index.qbuild and search for stores in your area.
If there aren't any, you can order from online retailers such as:
http://www.firebox.com/perplexcity
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/games/82f9/
Getting into PXC is unique experience that's really quite worth and consuming, but it can be a tad expensive. The $5 packs add up, so the best deal I've found is at:
http://www.gameoutfitter.com/Browse_dept_items.asp/categ_id/248/parent_ids/0,2/Name/Perplex_City
$3.50 for individual packs and $110 for entire boxes ($70 off is hot!) is a keen deal and shipping is pretty fast. If you absolutely cannot find any cards near you, I'd recommend giving them your business.
If you're still unsure, the website contains two free cards to give you a taste:
http://www.perplexcity.com/promo/1/index.qbuild
As does Gamedaily, ironically, when they previewed a card from Wave 3:
http://www.gamedaily.com/features/?id=927&page=2
You can solve and enter these cards on the website without having to buy a damn thing.
Misgivings
There are a couple of niggling problems with PXC - no game is without them. First of all, some of the cards are very UK-centric. If you're from the UK or other parts of Europe, this isn't much of an issue, but if you're not, you might have to do some extra research or look for hints even when you don't want to. There might be uniquely British terms for things you would normally call something else.
Also, if you get card duplicates, there isn't much you can do with them. You can't "stack" them in a deck since you're not battling anybody and you can't solve cards twice. You can, however, trade or sell cards online, which might be a viable option. If it isn't, I'd recommend giving those cards to friends or other people you know to try and get them into the game, as well. If you're a hard-nosed collector, you can also keep doubles in sleeves. The cards are of good stock and quality, so it's not much to worry about, but if you like to have some copies with the scratch-off part unscratched, it's handy. Some of the cards are just worth keeping for the really nice art which is definitely one of the positives of PXC.
The final misgiving is some answer input issues. Most are pretty easy to figure out and they do give you certain guidelines, but others can be pretty specific in their formatting. Even if you know the correct answer, if you don't put it in right, you'll get it wrong. I'd recommend going to the forums and looking for someone who got the solve to go through, personally.
Overall, there aren't too many complaints and the overall fun and challenge of the game outshines any little problem that pops up. There's always a way out of it.
Bullet Points
For those that can't be bothered to read all of the above, here are some bullet points
-256 Cards
-4 waves
-MSRP: ~$5 packs, $30 starter pack (2 packs of cars, a really cool full music CD by Viard an underground PXC music artist, stickers, a PXC magazine, and tour guide).
-$200,000 grand prize
Important Websites:
http://www.perplexcity.com - Official Website
http://www.13thlabour.tk/ - Assault on 13th Labour
http://www.unfiction.com - ARG site with forums/info on PXC
http://www.gameoutfitter.com/ - Good site for buying cards
http://perplexcitywiki.com/wiki/Main_Page - PXC Wiki with tons of story information and other resources
Any questions?
