Alternate Reality Game (old)

"ARG" stands for "Augmented/Alternate Reality Game". It is essentially a real-life scavenger hunt that consists of puzzles that relate to the behaviors of the game it is based on and ultimately results in the locating and retrieving of an object in a real-world location. The developers at Night School Studio had stated that finding certain clues in-game would lead to an item in real life. The ARG concluded on June 11th, 2016, with the retrieval of the item by a group of 18 players at Fort Ward Park on Bainbridge Island, WA.

## (916)-936-3733 and @xray9169363733

Throughout Oxenfree, the player can discover anomalies via tuning to frequencies near cairns (small piles of rocks). Of these 12 total anomalies, 10 of them begin with a military callsign.

89.9 Able 9 (A9)

91.5 Baker 1 (B1)

94.6 Charlie 6 (C6)

97.9 Dog 9 (D9)

99.9 Easy 3 (E3)

101.1 Fox 6 (F6)

103.5 George 3 (G3)

104.7 How 7 (H7)

106.7 Item 3 (I3)

102.3 Jig 3 (J3)

When arranged alphabetically, the numbers associated with the callsigns form a telephone number that can be called: **(916)-936-3733)**.

   When initially called, players were redirected to an answering machine which played Beacon Beach from the Oxenfree soundtrack. However, it is unclear if the message was only meant to point listeners to Beacon Beach or if the developers used the wrong section of the song in the voicemail. Regardless, when listening to the full track, the clue was found to be Morse code that plays along with the songs beat, which spelt out "MAGGIE" repeatedly.
The voicemail greeting was updated several times throughout the ARG to play new audio clips.

### *"GOOD WORK DL BB LISTEN CLOSE"*

On January 28th, 2016, some players received a text message response from (916)-936-3733. The message was in Morse code and, when translated, read "GOOD WORK DL BB LISTEN CLOSE". This led players to the tracks *Beacon Bay* (from the Insiders EP), Beacon Beach, and Dead Light. The message was determined to be "Download Beacon Beach".

In the Bandcamp version of Beacon Beach, players found Morse code that translates to "SEARCH TWITTER 4 NUM SEARCH TWITTER 4". Searching Twitter for 9169363733 (the phone number) brought them to @xray9169363733.

### Twitter

@xray9169363733 is a Twitter account that reports on calls made to (916)-936-3733. Each of the account's Tweets contain the date of the call, the time of the call (in PST), the city and state from which the call was made, and a transcript of any message left after the tone of the number's answering machine. If no message was left, the transcript would read "No transcript available."

### Logged Calls to (916)-936-3733

See the Logged Calls page for a full table of Tweets before being set to private. A privately owned and maintained spreadsheet of all Tweets can be found here.

### "DELETES NOT NEEDED"

On February 11th, scntfc tweeted:

> *again, reminding gently... beacon beach from the oxenfree soundtrack is a free DL. https://t.co/UUTX4NXZvh*
>
>

When players downloaded Beacon Beach from Bandcamp again, the Morse code had changed. This version of the song has different Morse code in the left and right channels.

> Left: DELETES NOT NEEDED PLEASE STAND BY SOS
>
>

> Right: SOS KANALOA SOS KANALOA SOS KANALOA SOS
>
>

This seems to be a clue from scntfc that the Tweets that are being deleted are not needed to solve the ARG.

## Beacon Beach Tweets

On February 18th, the Twitter account began posting Tweets originating from Beacon Beach, WA, with an XX year at either 9:00 PM or 4:00 AM. As time has passed, several of these Tweets have been deleted, giving the community the impression that the list of possible locations for the "object" is being narrowed down.

According to this Reddit post, the 9:00 PM Tweets correspond to the English translations of the names of Washington State ferries.

While initially thought to be references to WWII ships, the 4:00 AM Tweets all reference real world batteries found in Washington State .

## Camena Tweets

Since March 12th, the Twitter account would post Tweets from "Camena, OR" and delete them immediately after posting. At first, these Tweets seemed to appear right before an update, but this was not the case on several occasions later on. Though Camena Tweets contain an "XX" year similar to that of 9:00 PM and 4:00 AM Tweets, these Tweets are unique due to their 7:00 AM timestamp.

## Voicemail Greeting

The voicemail greeting was originally a clip of Beacon Beach from the Oxenfree OST. It has been reported from Geek Remix that the portion first used in the voicemail was erroneous. Later it was fixed to play the part of Beacon Beach with the hidden Morse code, "MAGGIE".

On March 25th, the voicemail had changed its audio greeting to the anomaly containing a clip from the Swedish Rhapsody number station. By at least 5:00 PM PST, the number had changed its voicemail to audio with an unclear voice and the track Lost playing in the background. Again, a caller noticed by 6:49 PM, the voicemail had changed. This message is a clip of the Roosevelt Pearl Harbor Address.

On March 27th, the voicemail had changed to a message from Alex, asking for "a connection to emergency services".

> *"Hey, people who are hopefully listening to this, that maybe includes another version of me. I need a connection to emergency services befo--"*
>
>

On March 28th at 9 PM PST, the voicemail had changed to Alex calling for Clarissa.

> *"Hey, Clarissa, are- are you still in the base? We’re in the comm room, I- I think…"*
>
>

On April 1st, the voicemail had changed to what was assumed to be Clarissa speaking, however after the release of New Game+, it was revealed to be Alex. It should be noted that shortly after she finishes talking, you can hear what seems to be a very faint "Help me."

> *"Um… Alex? Can you… Can you hear me?"*
>
>

On April 9th, the voicemail had changed back to Alex speaking with Lost playing in the background.

> *"Hey, uhh, Jonas, or just- just anyone listening. We’re trapped in--"*
>
>

On May 7th, the voicemail changed to Alex giving herself a warning.

> *"Alex, this is... Alex. Listen, don't come to Edwards Island. Whatever you do, just don't come here. Stay home. Stay safe."*
>
>

## Logged Call Repeats

Starting March 26th, logged calls began to repeat themselves with the dates moving back in time.

> *3/22/16 7:39 AM Milledgeville, GA Transcript not available.*
>
>

Also confirmed to be repeated are the Casa Grande and Gig Harbor Tweets. It's unclear if the Tweets that occurred shortly after (in real-time) with early dates were new or undocumented repeats.

At 5:21 PM PST real-time, Xray tweeted

> *2/1/16 12:06 Philadelphia, PA. Transcript not available.*
>
>

This is the first confirmable recorded transcription Tweet.

## Coded Messages

### Octal

On March 27th at 1:00 AM PST, the account was set to private and, again, "PLEASE STAND BY..." was tweeted in Morse code. Shortly after, at 1:12 AM the Twitter account began sending out various types of coded messages.

> *111040156145145144040141040143157156156145143164151157156040164157040145155145162147145156143171040163145162166151143145163*
>
>

This is octal code for "I need a connection to emergency services". Upon the publishing of this Tweet, the voicemail greeting was changed to Alex asking for help, and she mentions that one of the people listening "maybe includes another version" of herself. She asks for a connection to emergency services before being cut off.

On the same day at 7:30 PM PST, the account retweeted a Tweet that included the translation of the octal code mentioned above. The account then tweeted:

> *147157157144040167157162153056040150145154154157040141156144040167145154143157155145056*
>
>

This translates to "good work. hello and welcome." A Tweet addressed to @xray with the translation was retweeted.

Then, there were five octal code Tweets posted containing one continuous message:

> *16216515414507204016315014116214504017115716516204016715716215305604016016*
>
>

> *2157147162145163163040143157155145163040146162157155040143157157160145162141164151157156056*
>
>

> *16216515414507204014115415404014315715515516304016615114104007106106607106306606306706*
>
>

> *3063040157162040100170162141171056040156157040157164150145162040160150157156145163056*
>
>

> *164150141156153040171157165056040160154145141163145040163164141156144040142171056056056*
>
>

When the five messages were translated together, the message became "rule: share your work. progress comes from cooperation. rule: all comms via 9169363733 or @xray. no other phones. thank you. please stand by..."

### Binary

On March 28th at 9:00 PM PST, a series Tweets coded in binary were published. Messages were spanned across multiple Tweets due to character limit. Once a message was translated and retweeted by the Twitter account, the next message was sent.

> *01001000011001010111100100101100001000000100001101101100011000010111001001101001011100110111001101100001001000000110000101110010*
>
>

> *01100101001000000111100101101111011101010010000001110011011101000110100101101100011011000010000001101001011011100010000001110100*
>
>

> *0110100001100101001000000110001001100001011100110110010100111111*
>
>

"Hey, Clarissa are you still in the base?" After this Tweet, the voicemail had changed to Alex calling for Clarissa.

> *01110010011101010110110001100101001110100010000001101001011001110110111001101111*
>
>

> *01110010011001010010000001100100011001010110110001100101011101000110010101110011*
>
>

"rule: ignore deletes"

> *01110010011101010110110001100101001110100010000001111001011011110111010100100000011101110110100101101100011011*
>
>

> *00001000000110101101101110011011110111011100100000011101110110100001100101011011100010000001101001011101000010*
>
>

> *000001101001011100110010000001110100011010010110110101100101001000000111010001101111001000000110011101101111*
>
>

"rule: you will know when it is time to go"

> *011101000110100001100001011011100110101100100000011110010110111101110101001011100010000001110000011011000110010101100*
>
>

> *0010111001101100101001000000111001101110100011000010110111001100100001000000110001001111001001011100010111000101110*
>
>

"thank you. please stand by..."

### Anagrams

On April 1st at 9:29 PM PST, the account began tweeting anagrams.

> *HONEY CONE MAY CUE LAX AURA*
>
>

This is an anagram for "ALEX CAN YOU, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" which corresponded to an update to the voicemail as well. This was confirmed with a retweet of the decoded message.

> *LURE IDIOT AGREEMENT*
>
>

"RULE: IGNORE TIME DATE." It is unclear if this means the time and date on the Tweets or the time and date of when Tweets are posted in real-time.

> *AFT IN EAST BRIDGE*
>
>

"BATTERIES FADING." This is in reference to several 4:00 AM Tweets being deleted.

> *IF AGENT FLED*
>
>

"FADING FLEET." This is in reference to several 9:00 PM Tweets being deleted.

On April 3rd at 1:48 PM PST, another anagram was tweeted.

> *STORY, LIST HEISTS HERE!*
>
>

No solution was found.

On April 4th at 8:21 AM PST, the account gave a hint.

> *TIS SLOTH ERR*
>
>

"SHORTER LIST." This lead to the reposting of the previous anagram, "STORY, LIST HEISTS HERE!", which was then translated to "YES, THE LIST IS SHORTER!" This is referencing the list of batteries and ferries in the 4 AM and 9 PM Tweets that are being deleted.

Immediately after this confirmation was retweeted, another anagram was posted.

> *ANNOYS... A HULK TYPE BEAST.*
>
>

"THANK YOU PLEASE STAN[D] BY..." This turned out to be a presumably erroneous anagram, as the decoded message that was retweeted had an added "D".

Shortly after the last translation was retweeted, this Tweet from @randompanda was liked by the Twitter account.

> *Don't let that happen again @xray9169363733*
>
>

The original anagram Tweets were deleted after the last anagram was solved.

### Cryptograms

On April 9th at 7:05 PM PST, a ciphered message was tweeted that corresponded to a new voicemail recording.

> *,‡\*5) ,?); ;‡ 5\*:‡\*8 0);8\*6\*3 ]8(8 ;(5..8†*
>
>

This translated to "JONAS JUST TO ANYONE L[I]STENING WERE TRAPPED". Similar to the last anagram Tweet, a letter was omitted from the message.

Several more of these ciphered Tweets followed. Three of which appeared to be anagrams.

 4/9 9:09 PM
 4/10 10:23 AM

On April 11th at 8:12 AM, another ciphered message was tweeted.

> *;45\*7 :‡? .85)8 );5† 2:*
>
>

This translated to "THANK YOU P[L]EASE STA[N]D BY", and ended the use of that cipher as far as we know.

### Alphanumeric Substitutions

On May 7th at 4:38 PM PST, two coded messages were tweeted.

> *00110423, 19070818 0818 00110423, 001303 1118190413, 031413’19 02141204 1914 040322170318 1811001303.*
>
>

This translated to "ALEX, THIS IS ALEX, AND L[I]STEN, DON'T COME TO EDW[A]RDS [I]SLAND." Note several omitted letters.

> *070019042104 241420 0314, 09201819 031413’19 021404 070404. 18190024 07141204. 190024 18000504.*
>
>

This translated to "[W]HATEVE[R] YOU DO, JUST DON'T CO[M]E HE[R]E. STAY HOME. [S]TAY SAFE." Note, again, omitted letters.

## Xray's Discord Appearance

Recently on the fan-made Discord server, several users had noticed the appearance of an "xray9169363733" user. As speculated, this turned out to be the real Xray.

On May 7th at 7:21 PM PST, the Twitter account posted a screenshot of their user in the Discord server's user list.

## Secret Alternate Trailer

On May 7th, YouTuber Jesse Cox made a Reddit post linking a YouTube video describing a mysterious email that he had received from Night School Studio.

When Jesse opened the email, all that was inside was a Google document titled "xray9169363733". The document contained what seemed like the PS4 trailer. However, at the end of the trailer, on the screen announcing the release date, several letters were highlighted in red, including the surrounding elements of a URL ("www." and ".com"): I, A, S, A, S, D, R, D, E, W, N, D.

When rearranged, the letters spelt: WWW.EDWARDSISLAND.COM.

The website contains an audio clip embedded in the page composed of WW2-era radio frequencies, Morse code, and the magnetophone theme (plays during time loops). The Morse code in the audio clip spells out "DONT LISTEN TO ALEX TELL XRAY IT IS TIME TO GO" when played in reverse. This message is a response to the voicemail greeting updated the same day from Alex telling herself not to go to Edwards Island.

In addition to the audio, the page consists of only an image of a note supposedly written by Alex. Several pieces of the note are censored. When the page element is inspected, the alt text for the image reads "108 101 97 118 101 32 112 111 115 115 105 98 108 101", which translates to "LEAVE POSSIBLE" using ASCII numbers-to-text conversion.

Translation Tip: If using an online converter, be sure to add a "0" before each two-digit value (Ex: "97" would become "097", translating to the letter "A").

## "Milner is Ward"

For a long while, it had been theorized that Bainbridge Island's Fort Ward would be a more-than-likely location for the object.

It had also been theorized that all of the omitted letters from several "sessions" of code-breaking would spell out a hint or location. After the last Substitution cipher had been tweeted, the omitted letters had, in fact, spelt out a phrase.

On May 7th at 8:11 PM PST, the theories were confirmed, as the Twitter account retweeted the solution "Milner is Ward".

## Object-Retrieval Instructions

From 8:13 to 8:22 PM PST, following a Tweet reading "Good work, everyone.", the Twitter began giving directions in relation to the retrieval of the object.

At 8:15 PM PST,

> *It is (almost) time to go. Select a date and gather your party.*
>
>

At 8:20 PM PST,

> *The snowy mountain and the river flowing from canyon will take you to Thornburgh-Vinton-Mitchel.*
>
>

At 8:21 PM PST,

> *But Fort Ward is only the general area, and there is nothing to find yet.*
>
>

At 8:22 PM PST,

> *The exact location of will only be revealed on the date of travel, and only to the traveling party.*
>
>

And finally, at 8:22 PM PST,

> *But there will also be something for everyone who took part, whether you go or not.*
>
>

## The Object Retrieval

After the members of the Discord server selected June 11th as the final date for the object retrieval and assembled a team of people to embark on the excursion, the date was confirmed by Xray on the Twitter account.

On June 11th the team headed for Bainbridge Island, WA, and, with the help of clues given via www.edwardsisland.com, was led to Battery Thornburgh. At the battery they uncovered the "object", which was a WWII-esque gas casualty first aid kit that contained a music box and two strips of music, which were "Lost" and "The Beach, 7AM" from the OXENFREE OST. After the object was found, a video was posted by SCNTFC on June 11th, 2016, giving a demonstration of the music box. A video of the unveiling of the object was also published by CptDamien on June 11th, 2016.

In addition to this, 16 letters were found with the object that were written from Alex to several recipients. A document containing pictures and transcripts of the letters can be found here.

The final step of the ARG was deciding who the final holder of the object would be. After a group vote, it was decided that the object would be sent to Alex (AKA "Void Mom"/"timeloops"/"oscilloceans"), the creator of the Discord server, for, as they put it, her contributions and influence during the course of the ARG. The object was shipped to her within the next couple days following the retrieval and resides with her to this day.

A short video detailing the expedition to Bainbridge Island was published by Koots on June 27th, 2016.

A full-length documentary detailing the events of the ARG was published by CptDamien on August 1st, 2016.