Fellow RadiKS (Relaxed Alchemical Dilettantes Investigating Kurious Spells) member David photo-blogged our adventures going to Hogwarts this past weekend. You can see his photos here.


The sorting hat wisely classified RadiKS as a Hufflepuff team. Slow and steady, fair and honorable...


The wand we were issued was truly magic. It contained a motion sensor, and Game Control invented a way to translate words into gestures that we were taught in our Defence Against The Dark Arts class. When you successfully cast a spell and waved the wand back and forth, LED's would use persistence of vision to scroll out a message in thin air. While David was our wand master, I got really good at casting the "Nope, I don't know that one..." spell that Seth is demonstrating here.

The Hogwarts Express left the Emeryville Amtrak station bright and early Saturday morning, packed full of bouncy and eager students ready to learn the secrets of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Little known fact: the Hogwarts campus is located in downtown Sacramento. It is amazing that Wizards can hide magical castles from Muggles right in the middle of a major city. And the vaults of Gringots bank? An old gold mine in Placerville...

Another little known fact: The mythical Draconus Device was very nearly assembled and activated on Sunday - an effort only foiled by the diligent efforts of sixteen Hogwarts study groups risking expulsion by sneaking out of their dorm rooms Saturday night, adventuring all night long and pulling together in the end across house lines to ultimately save the magical world.

Saving the world is tiresome stuff though.

When the Hogwarts Express returned to Emeryville Sunday afternoon, most of the students were barely awake.

It is now 4AM on Monday morning. After getting back to John's place eleven hours ago, I laid down in his living room to shut my eyes for just a moment...

I must have triggered a sleeping spell. How did it end up dark outside?!?

I guess I might as well just give in and grab a few more hours sleep...

This time yesterday afternoon I was contemplating the universe while sitting alone out in the deep open playa - far beyond the perimeter of the remains of Black Rock City.

This time tomorrow I will be attending Hogwarts, fully immersed in witchcraft and wizardry (and puzzles and spells).

No wonder Reality Camp feels so weird right now. I'm not even stopping in it long enough to even begin re-calibration.

One good thing I can say about Reality Camp though -- the long HOT showers are WONDERFUL. *ahhhh*

I got this from Sunshine via SMS this evening:

8D 2C 10S AD 2D
2S 8S 7S 7C 8D
5H 6C 2S 8C 3C
3S QD AD AS 7S
AH 7C 9H 2C AS

I don't think I've ever been invited out to dinner in code before! Yay!

PS: Whoever is first to reply here with the solution, I will take you out to dinner too when I next see you.

See: www.gotohogwarts.com

Yesterday afternoon my friend Sunshine and I raced against the clock to solve the five puzzles necessary to find the hidden application page to apply to attend Hogwarts this September.

We finished in time - and my team "RadiKS (Relaxed Alchemical Dilettantes Investigating Kurious Spells)" has been accepted!

We made it just in time - within an hour or two of our application being turned in, all 16 slots in the fall term had been filled. As of this AM, there is already a waiting list. The current roster of accepted teams is here.

We had to answer two essay questions as part of the application. Here are the answers I turned in...

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First essay question:

"In order to place your study group in the proper year at Hogwarts, we need to know your level of magical skill. Please describe briefly what magic you have learned or successfully used in the past."

RadiKS has a long history of magical prowess. We first came together to study Kurious Spells when the magical lands were threatened with Voldemort's Espionage efforts.

We then studied chocolate magic under the great Wizard Willy Wonka, debugged some mystical Doors, stayed up until a second dawn in the magical Matrix, enjoyed some Heavy Lifting of Tired Friends, downed some FoBiK potions, chased the Goonie treasure, and got scared witless in the OverNightmare.

More recently - we pursued both Justice and a magical McGuffin.

We've also studied at some lesser magical academies, doing day-long seminars led by wizards of fame and notoriety.

RadiKS in the past has been called both "legendary" and "infamous". Both seem fitting.

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Second essay question:

"Every study group must compose a short essay (no more than four paragraphs) describing why you would be successful at Hogwarts. Familiarity with all four of our school's founders may help you mine the full range of what the admissions committee is looking for."

( WARNING: Puzzle spoilers. Don't peek here if you intend to solve the puzzles on the website! )
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Special thanks to Sunshine for joining me in three hours of intense puzzle solving yesterday, immediately after she had gotten home from a 36 hour shift having worked all night at the hospital!

I guess she is already getting ready for the Game, eh?


PS: If you have NO IDEA what I am talking about, check out this LJ post from two years ago, or see this page created by my friend Curtis (who is the mastermind behind the Hogwarts game, BTW) listing all the past major Games in the Bay Area.

Imagine a team of 4-8 people in a minivan, driving all over creation living an adventure that involves non-stop mental and occasional physical challenge.

The longest and coolest Games are fully immersive weekend-long affairs that last from early Saturday morning to late Sunday night - non stop. Smaller games last a day, an afternoon, or even just an evening.

The SF Chronicle has recently published a feature story about all of this insanity:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/05/PNGGC58DQ21.DTL

Anyway - I love this stuff - and I am the captain of a team called RadiKS that has become legendary in the underground Gaming community. (Just don't ask "legendary for what?")

And -- there are a bunch of new Games on the horizon!!!

Check out: http://www.shinteki.com/

This is a 12hr Game that is open to all comers, not just experienced teams. It is happening on three seperate weekends in May, so they should be able to handle a lot of teams...

And: http://www.bloodandbones.com/thegame/bang6.html

This one is on foot in Palo Alto, and is just three hours long...


Anyway -- did I mention that I love this stuff?!? :-)

If the idea of playing in this sort of game gets your heart racing too, let me know. I am always looking for new recruits for RadiKS. Or - sign up for one of these upcoming Games. Maybe I'll see you on the course.

Get good, and you might find yourself invited to one of the mega-cool super-secret weekend-long Games. :-)

- chris