2K Games have been leading up to the release of BioShock 2 with a pretty interesting alternate reality game (ARG). Admittedly, I haven’t been following the game’s ARG very closely, save for what I’ve read on other blogs about it.

However, my interest was piqued early Sunday afternoon when a friend of mine sent out a plea on Facebook: he needed someone to meet the “Blue Pawn” at a storage facility in Las Vegas for him.

I recognized the organization mentioned (The International Order of the Pawns) in the telegram he had received, and immediately contacted him to tell him I’d check it out.

Recipients of the telegram were instructed to arrive at a particular storage facility between 1PM and 3PM on Sunday, January 31st. Conveniently, the storage facility is located across the street from my living quarters, so I headed on down right at 1PM.

The telegram received by the pawns involved

Upon my arrival, I met up with a few other folks who had also received telegrams. We briefly discussed what was going on, and we waited for the Blue Pawn to make his appearance.

Within a few minutes, we noticed two men walking out from the storage units. The first was a tall, mid-30′s gentleman wearing a blue trenchcoat and dark sunglasses, with a barely-on yellow tie. This was obviously the Blue Pawn. The other man was apparently another invitee, who had just finished his meeting with Man #1.

Approaching us, the Blue Pawn didn’t waste any time: “Alright, who’s next? Come on, I don’t got all day.” I raised my hand, and he told me to follow him.

We walked back into the main area of the facility, through a couple hallways, went up an elevator, and made our way to a specific unit. The whole time, the Blue Pawn was complaining about the fact that he didn’t have enough time, and how he hated putting all these damn codes in. He also commented on my camera, mentioning that it looked “real nice, like one of those new ’68 or ’69 models”. For the most part he acted very short and rude, and stayed completely in-character the entire time.

The Blue Pawn, deep inside the secret facility

At one point, he asked me if Lutwidge had sent me. I wasn’t sure who Lutwidge was (because I didn’t have the foresight to research this ARG before taking part in it). I took my chances and answered affirmatively. He then asked my name, and upon hearing it he asked if I was there for someone else. I nodded.

Once we got to the proper unit, he asked if I had the code. My friend had given me the code (which was the answer to a very complex mathematical equation delivered with the telegram) when we spoke earlier, so I recited it to the Blue Pawn. He told me to use it to open the door we were standing at. Four rusty dials and one decrepit padlock later, he rolled up the door to reveal an empty room. Empty, save for one audio diary (an exact replica of the ones scattered about Rapture in the original BioShock) in the middle of the floor.

He seemed surprised to see it, and told me I’d better listen to what it had to say. I grabbed it and stepped to the side, while he got the unit closed back up. The recording was made by this “Lutwidge” who had apparently sent me here, and spoke of the next ‘”and presumably final’” meeting for the Pawns: “In the Golden State, in the city by the bay, when the month is two, when the day is six, when the hour is five forty-five. At that precise moment in the evening, you will find me on Mary Street, between Minna Street and Natoma.”

This is all I found inside the storage unit

We rushed back out of the facility, and on the elevator the Blue Pawn asked if I got everything that was said on the recording. I told him that I had, for the most part, at which point he confiscated the diary, telling me he was going to need it. We went back out and met the others, and he took another inside.

I instructed the others to listen carefully when given the chance to do so, but tried not to spoil any of what had just happened. When the next person came back out, she had the audio diary with her. I was a bit miffed that she got to keep the diary while I left empty-handed, but I put myself above my jealousy and congratulated her.

We took photos, we talked about what it all meant, we traded contact information. Once everyone was finished, the Blue Pawn hustled us away, repeating to us that we needed to get the word out however we could, and shooing us away when we tried to talk a bit more on the sidewalk.

The Blue Pawn, harassing us to GTFO

I hadn’t been exposed to this ARG before this weekend, but I’m now wishing I had invested the time in it when it first started. Say what you will about viral marketing, but when you’re directly involved it takes on a completely different form than when you read about it in your RSS feed.

To be honest, I wasn’t very excited about BioShock 2 before this weekend. I’m still looking at it with cautiously optimistic eyes, but the events of this weekend have given me faith that 2K are taking it very seriously.

You can see the rest of the photos I took at the meeting in the gallery below, and you can read more about it from other invitees’ points of view (including an audio recording of the whole experience by the well-prepared VampOfVegas) in this thread on 2K’s official forums.