in Gaming, General

Dead man’s hand

I never thought I’d give in and start playing online poker.

Now don’t write me off yet! It isn’t quite what it seems…

LastCallPoker.com is more than just a poker site. It is in fact a newly launching Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. If you haven’t heard of this before, think of it as a completely immersive world, in this case created through clever web sites and voice mails (so far). I was fortunate enough to take part in the ILoveBees ARG last year, a leadup to the release of Halo 2. Great fun, and I’m looking forward to another experience. Here’s the relevant wikipedia for more background information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game

Yes, you can play poker on the site. Its all for fake money, so no pressure. And a bunch of people are doing just that, seemingly oblivious to the deeper gameplay. (Their flash-based poker client is actually pretty nice) There’s also a mystery involving the dead owner, a valuable gun, murder, betrayal, gang conflicts, a crashed cell phone network, and more!

The game is still in its early stages, so feel free to jump aboard! A bunch of players congregate and discuss in the Unforums.

I’m playing the game under a pseudonym – here’s my profile. Add me to your quicklinks list if you join up! And no, the picture isn’t of me. There’s a preselected set to choose from.

ARGs are still a relatively young genre, the first major one being a promo for the movie A.I. So here’s your chance to be a part of something emerging. And at the very least, you’ll pick up some poker skills.

update: fixed Unforums link as per comments