If there was one thing that was utterly unexpected about PAX it was the Citizen Skywatch booth.  The innocuous booth sat in the edge of the 2K Games area, largely taunting the PAX-goers.  The most entertaining aspect was that people kept lining up for it, even though most of them had no clue what it was.  Some thought they were in the Borderlands 2 line, some thought they were lined up for Bioshock Infinite.  Others walked by, asked the folks in line why they were there, and then left in a huff when no one could give them a straight answer (my personal favorite to watch).

What the line was really for was for Citizen Skywatch, an ARG (alternate reality game) designed to run with upcomer 2K title X-Com.  If you're unfamiliar with alternate reality games, it's essentially a multimedia driven scavenger hunt for players to scour the globe in search of info related not just to the ARG, but to the title it's promoting as well.  The game industry is no stranger to ARG's, ilovebees being the most famous, but it was nice to see such care being taken on a first-hand level.

The booth was populated with actors who improvised McCarthy-era paranoia as they dealt with the public.  Doctors prodded PAX-goers, non-descript men in ties interrogated people about their involvement with communists, and nerdy engineers talked faster than they could think as they dealt with the public.  As a theater person, it was truly wonderful to watch a team of actors do such tireless improv for so many straight hours, and the cast members deserve huge acclamations for their effort.  The booth was decorated with a plethora of maps, memo, and coded information (many of which people took photos you can suss up online).  I was particularly pleased to see that they employed an era appropriate 48-star flag in the booth (though they used a 50-star one in the looping film reel they played--I noticed).  After observing the bulletin boards of information and suffering an intense interrogation session, booth attendees were signed up as honorary members of Citizen Skywatch, given ID cards, and sent off to look for more clues on the PAX floor and surrounding areas.

Citizen Skywatch appears to be extending beyond PAX, and you can still sign up if you want in.  It will be interesting to see where this game takes its players.

HAWTwired Hype Level: 7/10

Personally, ARG's are most fun for me in retrospect, going back and looking at the aftermath, but the more inquisitive and curious should definitely check it out and start digging.