Cryptic Web Game Awards Sleuths With Shrunken Head

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Cryptic Web Game Awards Sleuths With Shrunken Head

[vimeo=11813172]

If you love scaring mom by putting weird objects in her bed, you'll want to win Ripley's upcoming web game.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! began as a newspaper comic feature in the early 20th century and grew to become a franchise made of books, radio shows, museums, television shows, and videogames that deal with oddities and facts seemingly too outlandish to be true. Ripley's Tom O'Brien stopped by Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5541942/this-shrunken-head-is-your-game+winning-prize-believe-it-or-not] to detail the company's first online web game, Zon8, which will reward winners with actual shrunken heads.

Sadly, by shrunken heads I don't mean $10,000. I really do mean shrunken heads. Zon8 will go live in June and task players to make it through eight different levels of "The Vault," a cavernous warehouse of freaky objects. Solving puzzles and discovering hidden artifacts will be necessary to achieve mini-head worthiness. For example, O'Brien said that players might "have to find a hidden shoe from the world's tallest man." I'm not making the connection; wouldn't it be much harder to find the shoe of the man with the smallest feet?

The first 10 players to win Zon8 will each receive a shrunken head custom made by the Ripley's F/X Department, while the next 40 will win a Ripley's book. If you're totally baffled by the odd grand prize being offered, it has to do with the history of the franchise. The founder of Ripley's, Robert Ripley, would travel the world to find strange objects, and the shrunken head became a prominent member of his collection. His were real too, believe it or not!

Supposedly, Zon8 will take six to eight hours to complete. This means that someone on the internet will have it finished between one to five minutes after it goes live. People can sign up for Zon8 email notifications here [http://ripleys.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9ace3b06258c4618422cc1a44&id=8f3590d6a0], which will let everybody know when registrations open.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5541942/this-shrunken-head-is-your-game+winning-prize-believe-it-or-not]

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Wicky_42

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Sep 15, 2008
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I don't really get it - what is it, a point and click adventure or what? And is it only the bizarreness of the prize that makes it news worthy, or is Ripley's a big name somewhere?
 

Soulgaunt

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Jan 14, 2009
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Wicky_42 said:
I don't really get it - what is it, a point and click adventure or what? And is it only the bizarreness of the prize that makes it news worthy, or is Ripley's a big name somewhere?
I guess it's big here in America, since most people here know about it.
OT: That sounds.....I would say odd, but I feel more comfortable saying "unappealing".
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
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Ripley's is an institution. There are Ripley's museums in Las Vegas and Atlantic City (or were, last I knew). Granted, calling them "museums" is a wee bit of a stretch, as they're almost like amusement park funhouses. A big part of the Ripley's mystique is the "Or Not" part of "Believe It Or Not." A lot of the items features in Ripley's were fake. :) All part of the fun.

Also, I totally want a shrunken head, and I expect all of you to help me get one.
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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It's also over here, but I think it is only the TV and books I don't think there are any museums on this side of the atlantic.
 

Siuki

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Nov 18, 2009
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Isn't that song a sound clip from GarageBand? "Motorcross" or something?

OT: Sounds interesting, but I don't like hidden item puzzles too much, so I'll pass on the shrunken head.(How do they send it to you?)
 

ender214

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Oct 30, 2008
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A point-and-click adventure with a shrunken head in it for the winners. I doubt I'll win, but the allure of a shrunken head is enough for me to at least give it a shot.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Eave it to Ripleys to offer the weirdest of prizes lol

sounds like could be fn though!
 

Erja_Perttu

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May 6, 2009
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manythings said:
It's also over here, but I think it is only the TV and books I don't think there are any museums on this side of the atlantic.
If you're in the UK, there's a Ripley's Museum in Piccadilly Circus, in one of the Trocadero buildings. It's awesome!

OT: Fake shrunken head? Sign me up!
 

Wicky_42

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Sep 15, 2008
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Susan Arendt said:
Ripley's is an institution. There are Ripley's museums in Las Vegas and Atlantic City (or were, last I knew). Granted, calling them "museums" is a wee bit of a stretch, as they're almost like amusement park funhouses. A big part of the Ripley's mystique is the "Or Not" part of "Believe It Or Not." A lot of the items features in Ripley's were fake. :) All part of the fun.

Also, I totally want a shrunken head, and I expect all of you to help me get one.
Ah, ok, now it makes a bit more sense, cheers :) Amusing semi-fake museums? Cool.