Homemade ARGs

Don’t think we’ve had to stick a safety warning on anything since posting about Parkour. Just to be clear: SAFETY COMES FIRST WITH ANY KIND OF ACTION GAMING!

The modern, promotional Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) beloved of movie and videogame studios are, essentially, multimedia remakes of familiar social games. If you take the basic elements of Treasure Hunts and throw in a few ideas drawn from Wide Games and Laserquest, the results pretty much cover everything found in online ARGs.

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An online ARG’s clues and social interactions may be delivered and/ or set up electronically, but the basic principles are the same for a homemade ARG. There’s a mystery/ search, you’re working to solve the mystery/ complete the search, and the best way to find the ‘prize’ is to use quick-thinking and collaboration.

The Mystery

We reckon that homemade ARGs can be just as much fun as online ARGs, without  requiring days or weeks to set up. There are three main components: the mystery/ clues, the search/ Treasure Hunt and ‘Special Ops’.

The Treasure Hunt Book (Klutz)

Setting up ‘mysteries’ and locating them is straightforward. ‘Flags’ shown on maps, or placed in the play area, are used to give rough locations where players probably have to search the area around the flag to find a clue or a refill. ‘Clues’ are more specific, may be coded, and lead to refills and prizes. Typical Treasure Hunt options include:

A Treasure Map using flags to show the rough location of refills and prizes.
A Treasure Map showing the location of flags, where torn up clues are found and repaired to reveal refills and prizes.
A Treasure Hunt with each clue in turn leading to the location of the next clue.
Concealed coins, (of different denominations), spread round the game area with prizes for each full set.
Coloured paper flags with letters or partial phrases as clues. Players collect colour sets to reveal prizes.
Multiple teams searching for multiple sets of clues.
Multiple teams searching for multiple sets of clues. Some searching for the same clues, others searching for different clues.

Ideally, play can involve team goals and a selection of minor prizes such as individually wrapped sweets. This approach sets out to encourage teamwork and discourage a simplistic ‘win mentality’, which often eats away at the fun.

Treasure Hunt

The actual gameplay will benefit from ‘Safe Zones’ and ‘Time Outs’. For example, if a player has just found a refill there should be a chance to ‘reload’. Equally, if a player stumbles or wants a short break it should be possible to call a Time Out.

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The number of players, the available space, the time of day and the use of an indoor or outdoor play area all influence the gameplay, so it’s worth considering the best use of the available options. For example, a garden-based night game might involve locating and unwrapping glowsticks, which immediately reveal a finder’s location until a glowstick is dropped-off at an agreed Safe Zone. Not too much of a problem, unless the finder’s opponents are armed with overfilled water balloons.

Special Ops

At the risk of causing ARG chaos in city centers at some point in the future, all ARG makers might want to borrow a few ideas from the slightly militaristic Wide Games used by the Scouts. Wide Games can get pretty combative, but we’re suggesting non-contact alternatives. These can get a touch messy, but are great for stopping anyone from taking the game too seriously.

Basically, place your flags, hand out any clues you’re going to give out, and ‘lock and load’. Water guns or NERF Blasters are made for running around the garden or park getting soaked and firing at will. No one is likely to come to any injury with this kind of kit and placing refills and reloads around the game area fills out the Treasure Hunt part of play.

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Clearly, if you’re using water everyone involved has to accept they’re going to get soaked and, possibly, get a little water in the eyes. Some young kids may find that harder than others, but it’s easy to get their confidence up by giving them some practice at ‘shooting’ the adults, and each other, beforehand.

We have our homemade ARG weapons of choice, but a few clean squeezy detergent bottles can work just as well, if not better. Teams don’t need to be large, and it’s entirely possible to run the same kind of games on a 1 to 1 basis using NERF darts and torches in a darkened house.

Despite the type of ‘weapons’, safety is still a consideration with any kind of Action Game, so whatever your approach YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! The wrong kind of obstacles or a kid with contact lens are just a couple of potential problems that need to be checked-out in advance.