Nokia Game

The Nokia Game was a series of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) produced by Human-i Euro RSCG for Nokia. The concept was developed by Joost van Liemt and Sicco Beerda. Although mainly a competition through which Nokia promotes their latest phones, it is a true ARG which fuses various forms of mass media, promotes communication between players, and features involving storylines which change every year.

The original Nokia Game took place in 1999, and was only open to residents in the Netherlands. The 2005 edition was open to participants in more than 20 countries. Although notorious for the frequent bugs and crashes experienced during the Europe-wide live finals, the games were very popular. Nokia didn't produce any games since 2006.

The very first Nokia Game was only open to residents in the Netherlands, and centred round a young boy called Sisu, who is taken to hospital after a serious snowboarding accident. From there on it was up to the player to discover what had happened to him, and what to do next. It was a true Alternate Reality Game, with hidden clues in phone calls, magazines and TV adverts. Some sections even required players to phone each other to discover their usernames. Many games in this edition were also under a strict time limit, and failing the game once meant being instantly eliminated.

Following criticism of the previous game for being too hard, the 2000 edition not only allowed people from more countries to play, but was also more lenient during eliminations - players could usually practice games for as long as they liked, but could only "play" the games once.

The story centred on Sisu, a man taken into hospital after being poisoned in an ice cream parlour. Once conscious again, the player has to piece together what happened from clues left behind at the scene, eyewitnesses and a mysterious young boy called Mika, who claims to know a lot about Sisu and his past. The story was very mysterious, with many plot twists. Although future Nokia Games had a bigger audience, they lacked the secrecy and mystery present in the first two.

This Nokia Game was open to residents in the UK and most of mainland Europe. It was also the first game to be widely publicised on TV, radio, print and at live events.

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