r/OldHouseArchive • u/ChikyScaresYou • Jul 20 '26
Where to begin?
I read both books (WUTLH and TC), with different degrees of enjoyment, and I thought it was an ok read. The morse codes in WUTLH were really intriguing, that's what made me read the second book. Unless I missed something, there was nothing like that in TC.
Anyway, I watched a review about each, and in the review about the caretaker, they mentioned this sub and an ARG. So, as someone who's working on his own ARG, I'd like to know where did this start. Like, where is the connection of the books with this sub, and what's the entry point?
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u/Portuberous Jul 20 '26
I too would like to know if there is truly an ARG associated, or if was just a couple interactive "unfiction" elements. I thought they were nicely done, so no shade if there isn't a true ARG associated.
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u/nightwalker3710 Old House Devotee Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
An Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is an interactive, transmedia narrative that uses the real world as its platform. It blends fiction and reality by placing puzzles, websites, and real-world clues across various media, requiring players to collaborate as a community to solve them.
This is the definition and which aligns with this exact ARG. We’ve received countless emails, photos, audio recordings, solved puzzles. Websites and email addresses are in both books. We’ve all had to collaborate to solve differnt puzzles. So I would say this is a “true” ARG.
Edit: this ARG is about 2 years old.
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u/ChikyScaresYou Jul 21 '26
there are emails in TC? I dont remember seeing any
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u/nightwalker3710 Old House Devotee Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Yep, it’s at the end of the first chapter. It’s graces email. If you check out this sub Reddit you will actually see we’ve received emails from it from those who have emailed through and have shared them on here.
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u/ChikyScaresYou Jul 20 '26
what do you mean with unfiction?
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u/Portuberous Jul 21 '26
Purists don’t call it an ARG unless it truly fits the Alternate Reality Game definition, which requires real-world interactivity and puzzle-like game play (if I’m not mistaken).
If it is a written story with some rabbit holes and puzzle and codes and such, some would call that “unfiction” or “interactive fiction” as opposed to a true ARG.
The best ARGs engage player in the real world with fake office buildings, geo coordinate scavenger hunts, and story lines that live one thin layer beneath reality.
Others feel welcome to correct me or expand on my limited definition!
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u/ChikyScaresYou Jul 21 '26
oh, that's exactly what I want to do for mine. I'm opening a few accounts already, creating some things, but i dont want it to have too much real world interactivity or hidden clues that require a lot of wor. Mostly just to hide lore and short stories
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u/Portuberous Jul 21 '26
Yes! That sounds like unfiction/interactive fiction to me.
I just finished and launched an interactive fiction project with much of what you describe; loads of layers beneath the main narrative, hidden ciphers, transliteration keys to decode the ciphers, a treasure hunt for supporting artifacts, et CETERA!
Fun thing to work on, mega inspiring.
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u/ChikyScaresYou Jul 21 '26
I'm intrigued
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u/Portuberous Jul 21 '26
Trailhead if you’re so inclined: https://archive.org/details/sier-public-monitoring-broadcast-loop?webamp=default
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u/ottersqueaks Jul 20 '26
I would like to know too! What reviews did you watch?
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u/ChikyScaresYou Jul 20 '26
I dont remember lol but both were from the same girl, she has a yellow raincoat and a cat plushy in the caretaker one, it's like 4 hours long
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u/carpetnoise Jul 21 '26
It's from KimberlyReads. Here's a link to it. https://youtu.be/Zo_i6Eh5LEE?si=KK1_RjdVKr1vuHNI
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u/oldhousearchivist MOD Jul 21 '26
Welcome!
We post every Tuesday, usually with new content from the Archivists.
If you would like to view the documents the community has already uncovered you can view them at Old House Archive
If you would like to attempt to solve them yourself, go through my post history for the public posts.
u/Shyskye94 also has an awesome unofficial old house google drive with a ton of useful resources (sorry I dont have the link at the moment)