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[r0b3r7]

Harajuku Fun Madness

[notgordian]

There was a mobile phone-based game in Japan where players competed to be the first to reach GPS locations with their mobile device so they could collect the virtual item there. The brief description I read of the game seemed similar enough to the book's plot that I assume Doctorow was at least partially inspired by it (sadly I can't find the reference at the moment)

EDIT: Found the reference -- the game I suspect might have served as inspiration for Harajuku Fun Madness is Mogi (references here)

Prototype 151 Prototype 161 seems to be the closest thing to Harajuku Fun Madness at the moment, as it involves rather intricate live events in NYC paired with a web story.

As for the use of geocaching technology, The Sky Remains used mscape as part of the game that, from what I read, has a lot of parallels to the game played in Harajuku Fun Madness. Also, The Lost Ring used tracksticks to encourage players to make geomapped "labyrinths" as part of the game.

Finally, while not an ARG, area/code (the developers behind the Numb3rs ARG Chain Factor) created a computer game that might be released as a homebrew for the DS called Plundr, where players set up virtual islands in the real world for trading, battling, and item collection.