Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the slowness of this part of the write up. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I’ve not been able to write up!

Much thanks to Izzy for giving me the notes from which I have written this up, due to me being unable to get there!

For the second day of the event, it was much faster to get the tickets, there was a much smaller queue. Hawk and his friend managed to get wristbands for the VIP area due to being the first people there, which was important for later on that day! The group got together and as hawk had managed to print off the map that had been generated during the first part of the event, each person was given a printout so that they all knew where the transmitters were going to be.

As they had no news on transmitters or anything needing to be done, they headed to watch Calvin Harris (who apparently was very good, I was told!). During this they received a text message from one of the other players, Chris, saying that another player, Ryan, had found a clue on the back of one of the posters that was used to find the map pieces during the first day. They joined back together as a group and started ripping down any posters they could find, in case of other clues. Unfortunately they found no others.

Not long after that the first twitter message came through from Paul Denchfield, telling them that the first box was in triangle 2. I was texting the twitter messages and updates through to one of the players as I saw them on my laptop as well. All the players on the ground ran to the area where the transmitter would be. Two of the players (macmonkey and kksweety) found a locked box. There was a map sellotaped to the bottom which read “FIA WC” and directed them to the portaloos by the entrance. They all started checking inside the portaloos for any posters (due to Izzy finding a poster in one the day before). As it turned out, the combination code that they were looking for was hidden on a whole string of the posters sellotaped together, which was in a bin! Once they had found the code, a player (cpawley) opened the lock and found that in the box there was a battery, a series of wires, and some plastic casing. Paul Denchfield had a penknife and used that to cut the red wire. By this time, quite a large crowd has been attracted, and it can be see in this video.

Around half an hour after this, there was another twitter text from Paul Denchfield, telling them where transmitter number 2 was, in triangle number 5. All the players on the ground run towards it (apparently through the mud and the crowds!). The box had been found by some of the players already by the time that Izzy had arrived, and she thinks that Chris had found it. This time the box was around some trees. The map directed them to a hug area, about half the site, with the clue telling them that they had to look 8 feet up. This time the combination code was found by another player, Katie (Katharos Drakkina). Apparently, yet again, they attracted quite a large crowd, including a streaker! They followed the same pattern as with the last box, they opened it and cut the red wire. This meant that two had been destroyed, with only two to go!

Another half hour later, another twitter message was received, this time the transmitter was in triangle one and proved a lot harder to find due to it being near the bar which was very busy. The box was hidden in a bag this time and was eventually found by a player, Muffin. This is where the combination that Ryan had found on the back of the poster came into play, as the clue that was referred to was “FIA poster”, and as they had the combination already they opened the box easily and cut the red wire. After this the ground players mentioned to Paul Denchfield about the possible problems incurring with the fourth transmitter being backstage, and Paul said that he would see what he could do.

As Izzy had to leave to go home at this point, the rest of this write up is from notes by two other players, sjbuknewc and Chris.

Another half an hour later, the final twitter message came through to tell the ground players to meet Paul by the entrance to backstage. As everyone arrived, they saw Paul Denchfield talking to Adrian Hon, and then he disappeared to try and get them in backstage to search for the transmitter. A few minutes later Paul Denchfield burst through the hedge, in a fight with ‘V’, a member of the 3P. ‘V’ had the box, but dropped it. Hawk used his pass, and dashed in to collect the box quickly just as ‘V’ punched Paul who fell to the ground, and ‘V’ ran off. Paul got up and grabbed his camera and glasses before joining people in solving the last clue. This time the map showed three different locations and the players on the ground had to find the 3 parts of the combination. Apparently they had taken the tougher chain from Mind Candy from box three, so they had to improvise and this chain was breakable and the players were able to break into the box without needing the combination (cheats ). This time, Paul did not have his penknife with him and so one of the players, Chris, ended up cutting the wire from the “Angel’s Head Massage” tent, which was very apt.

The day was saved, and no brain washed people! If you would like to see Paul fighting ‘V’, then you can see that here.

Thanks to those that helped me put the pieces of the excitement together for this write up, it sounds like everyone had a fabulous time, if tiring, with all the running they had to do. Photos of the transmitters can be found on my flickr, thanks to Muffin who MMS’ed them to me! Despite being ill I still had a brilliant time from my bed, just joining in the general hyperness on IRC and texting the players on the ground to keep them updated. I’m sad to now realise that this was the last Perplex City related event, but pleased to have been lucky enough to have had the chance to be involved.

A brilliant podcast done by Perplexorum can be found here, in which they interview Paul Denchfield and talk about the goings on during and in the run up to the event. Keep your eyes open for a new CubeCast which is on its way!

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