This Halloween was the first time we had overtly publicised our game rather than integrating it surreptitiously with the main experience. Which meant that we had a separate Winterwell Adventures Facebook page and were charging for an add-on ticket.
This meant that we had the players’ attention and engagement up front and could message them properly in advance, driving to a simple mobile microsite providing them with the background and logistical information they needed.
This was their first proper introduction to PICOUK – the Paranormal Investigators (after the ‘recruitment trailer’ at least) whom they were asked to renedezvous with at The Mason’s Arms at a specific time on the night.
Once there an assistant Ghost Hunter logged one of them into the full mobile Scramboo web app for the game before sending them out to meet with the Ghost-hunter 1 in the pub’s garden. This claustrophobic expert then gave them a briefing on how to save the soul of poor Gertrude Gribble – a little girl locked in a cupboard 178 years ago – who needs their help to escape both the cupboard and this world.
The Ghost Hunter asked players to go on a journey to collect information around the circumstances of Gertrude’s death and the elements required for a ritual that would redeem her soul, before finding her place of entrapment and releasing her.
Leaving the pub each team was then guided by instructions on the mobile app, moving down Harrow Road and then through the side-streets leading to Scrubbs Lane.
As well as sighting Gertrude ringing her lonely bell from afar at various points players were also interrupted by:
- two more ghost-hunters laying a trap (and an easy first scare) to test awareness before sending them off again on the mission
- an ethical fashion journalist on the trail of Film Plus’s dubious fashionista,Dina Atienza
- a sodden ‘fashion victim’ model – thrown out of Dina’s shoot for complaining about the spectral activity in the venue
- a gypsy loitering in the cemetry who would spring out at them for another easy scare and an offer of sage, essential for releasing trapped souls
At each point of interest the teams were confronted with a challenge that had to be answered by listening carefully to the characters they were confronted with, or observing the environment around them (notably the conveniently placed Church of Divine Redemption and Arrogant Accessories – purported suppliers to the fashionista).
The putative ghost-hunters then made their way down to Film Plus and into the venue. Moving through the entrance and up into Studio 1 they were confronted by Dina Atienza herself and a full fashion shoot team (aka the awesome Air Images), all desperate for models for a gothic photo-shoot that was in danger of being ruined by a lack of models to pose. So the participants were welcomed in and photographed by Dina’s team as they tried to extract information from the haunting and where Gertrude might be found.
From the shoot players went through into another room, and into the middle of an EERG activated seance. Most thought the brain-scanner placed on one of their heads was a hoax, but it really was reading their brainwaves and activating a flickering lamp and shaking table as a result of their brain activity (the kit was actually a Star Wars toy modded by the Pan Studio guys). Then Gertrude’s voice would come in, channeled through the radio and providing information on the final piece needed for the ritual – a ring hidden down in her old dormitory.
Downstairs at the dormitory entrance the teams were briefed by another PICOUK member and reminded not to be touched by any ghosts (though Gertrude’s ghostly friends might be able to help them). They were then let into the room one at a time where they had to evade two guards and talk to a small ghost girl in one of the beds before locating the ring, all while a thundering loom and footsteps sounded around them.
With the ring secured players had to make their way to Gertrude’s place of imprisonment. They had to ignore her plaintive cries and the psychic energy stirring the room to perform the final ritual – bringing out the ring, the sage and a rune symbol on the mobile app. Burning the sage and chanting the nursery rhyme learned from the alcoholic model would then pacifiy Gertrude’s soul and reverse the negative energy chaining her to the earth. The wind and noise would stop and a small girl’s laughter would be heard as her soul was released…
Every one of the player’s surveyed said they would do it again and recommend it to friends. Though we have to admit that this didn’t include the group that were extremely drunk and only found the first clue (more to come on this in another ‘learnings’ post soon!)…
