SF Reality Hacks

Places & experiences that blur the line between fiction and reality... * secret paths * hidden doors * treasure hunts * alternate reality games * augmented reality * site-specific or interactive art * self-guided tours * immersive and surreal experiences * urban exploration * interactive mysteries

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Hipster Bait “An interactive, geo-cashing, music sharing game. Hidden in ten cities throughout North America are 990 unique cassette tapes. Each cassette has it's own hipster enticing artwork and two never before released songs... You gotta hit the streets to find this music. Then re-hide it again for someone else to discover... Next, we want to invite other bands and songwriters to add their bait to the game."

[webuiltthiscity]

As you can see in the closeup, this Noe Valley Town Square mural, which depicts the length of 24th Street, includes itself (next to the Haystack Pizza sign)

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Library Music

January 15 - March 27, 2017 "Inspired by the idea of the traditionally quiet space of libraries, and the human and technological soundscape of the Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, BC3 has created a sound experience that changes throughout the day, and varies upon your location in the reading room."

[sfrealityhacks]

Winding through the hills of the East Bay from San Jose to Berkeley are several sections of crudely constructed rock walls whose origins and purpose remain unknown.

Spanning 50 miles in total, the segments themselves vary in length from a few meters to a half mile. They head inland towards Mt. Diablo leading to several large, stone circles and a mysterious 200 foot wide spiral that encircles a large boulder. 

While some sections of the wall can be easily reached by visiting one of the area’s regional parks, many others are found in unlikely and inaccessible places. Stranger still, is that walls of this sort have been discovered in several other places in California with concentrations often found around large landmarks such as mountains and bodies of water.

[pretendyart]

[sfrealityhacks]

Built in 1896, the Sutro Baths were once seaside, saltwater swimming pools on the shore near Lands End. They pumped in water from the Pacific Ocean, replenishing their water supply at high tide and draining back out into the sea at low tide.

The baths burnt down in the 1960’s leaving only the unique but often overlooked ruins, which can be reached by walking through a cliffside tunnel.

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Drawbridge, CA

The only path leading into this formerly lawless town is the Union Pacific Railroad track. The abandoned train station is one of several dilapidated buildings, many of which are slowly sinking into the marshland.

Learn More

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LAT3 SHIFT "Watch and play the world’s first cinematic interactive movie on your tablet or smartphone...It’s like ‘Choose-you-own-adventure’ gone cinematic... You decide on the hero’s journey to one of seven different endings, while the film always flows on absolutely seamlessly.

Find more information here."

[sfrealityhacks]

THE LAST HOURS OF LAURA K | Online “It’s an immersive online murder mystery and ground-breaking digital experience placing you, the audience, at the heart of the story.

Using 24 hours of footage from the fictional surveillance programme SATURNEYE,..The 24-hour video file is only half of the story.

To find the killer, you have to immerse yourself in the characters’ digital lives via their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles, looking for clues and motives seeded by our writers over months to help you identify the killer.”

[sfrealityhacks]

~ Want to do something different this Valentine’s Day? ~

A Lovers Line: Audio Art Experience is a free downloadable audio tour (of sorts) down Lovers Lane in the SF Presidio that was created by the SF Bureau of Urban Secrets.

According to the Bureau, the tour includes “documentation related to an experiment in alternative time-based approaches to landscape exploration…” 

The audio tracks and corresponding maps tell the stories of encounters that took place at a different point in time on Lovers Lane. Each message “is perhaps best understood as a brief clue about the motivations of the callers who traveled the Lane,”

The materials are normally available on the SF Presidio’s website. However, the site is either undergoing renovation or they removed it so I have uploaded everything to a public Google Drive file. Click on the photo above or

                 * *  Access the Tour Materials Here * *  

[sfrealityhacks]

These Pages Fall Like Ash | 2013

“..one story told across two books. One is a beautiful, crafted physical artefact the other a digital text on hard drives hidden across a real city and read on your mobile device. The two books come together and provide a singular reading experience.

This is about a moment when two cities overlap. They exist in the same space and time, but they aren’t aware of each other. It’s a tale about two people who have become separated, one in each world, about their fading memory of each other and their struggle to reconnect.

One of the cities is your own; you become part of the narrative as you travel, moving from place to place. Your version of the story becomes about you and your place in your own city, about what you would hold on to, about what you would fight to remember.”

[sfrealityhacks]

"The Ice-Bound Concordance is an award-winning interactive narrative game where story pieces are as fluid as building blocks, and where endings are discovered with the help of a physical printed art book."

"80-page full color book of strange transmissions, unsettling lacuna and mystifying desideratum. You’ll need it to unravel the story of KRIS’s past, revealed through augmented reality."

"While you play, chat with your virtual collaborator, the "digital ghost" of the book's original author. These stories mean something to him. Will you respect his intuitions, or follow your own instincts?"

*Note: First 2 stories are free, but you need the book ($25) to finish the rest

[sfrealityhacks]

City of Conspiracy | $13.50 

“The story of rapper and journalist, Sherlock Delgado, on his quest to find his friend's killer fuses technology, hip hop music and more to solve the murder and uncover hidden forces in modern London. This book allows you to text message characters and they will text you clues back. You can email them to receive clues in the form of rap songs. It is like nothing you've read before. Sherlock is a blogger on a mission to uncover corruption wherever he sees it...”

[sfrealityhacks]

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Mystery Mission

Case File 45SOL360-24 Location: Entrada Court, San Francisco (Alternatively, you can access preliminary intel by using Google Street View)

Briefing When you arrive you will notice a distinct architectural feature that is not commonly found in residential neighborhoods. 1.) Identify and utilize this object. 2.) Provide photographic and/or written documentation of your results.

* Note: Mission must be completed during daylight hours

[sfrealityhacks]

The Bourbon and Branch Disguised doors leading to hidden rooms, a trapdoor to the basement, a detective agency with a mystery, and a secret password that you’ll need in order to get in, it’s no wonder this upscale bar was once a genuine prohibition era speakeasy.

[sfrealityhacks]

A personalized weekend-long Alternate Reality experience for two people. An immersive mystery where you play the detectives, driving to different locations to gather clues as you interact with a cast of characters. 

[sfrealityhacks]

** Breaking News **

Sinister Looking Baseball Bats Found Chained to Poles Around SF

November 26, 2015

Yesterday police began receiving reports from people that were finding baseball bats, some with “spikes” protruding from them, chained to telephone poles and parking meters all around the city. As many as 27 have now been reported and police are still trying to figure out the possible motivation behind these strange sightings.

Is it some kind of street art? A practical joke? Or could there be something more sinister behind it? If you have any info to report you can - call SFPD’s Anonymous Tip Line at [phone] or - Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text with “SFPD”. Read More: ‘Strange discovery’ in SF: Several baseball bats found chained to poles)

[sfrealityhacks]

Secret Cocktail

Order a certain off-menu drink at the Burritt Room + Tavern and gain access to a secret, high-end private club. Once you finish your drinks, you'll find a black car waiting outside to take you there. When you arrive, look for the rotating fireplace behind which is another secret room. Rumor has it that this room also contains a two-way mirror. ORDER THIS OFF-MENU DRINK, AND AN UBER WILL TAKE YOU TO A SECRET CLUB By Joe Starkey