When I was little, I loved to indulge in those make-believe games where my backyard became the palace gardens of a majestic kingdom. I somehow had this great ability, as many kids do, to imagine brilliant fantastical layers on top of the mundane world. The crooks of trees became a pedestal on which to place magical transportation devices. One skate around an ice rink would be an entire journey from the ice castle to another faraway land.

When I was a little older and my imagination became less generative, I found that listening to audiobooks while I walked or worked in the garden was another way for me to layer other worlds onto my own. I still remember moments of “Ender’s Game” unfolding right in my back yard.

I remember my experiences in immersive imagination with great fondness and wonder. However, in all of these, my great journeys into the fantastic occurred as layers on top of the real world. Imagine embarking on an adventure that uses the real world as the actual landscape of the imagination. In fact, for the players of Alternate Reality Games (ARG) the journey begins very much in the physical world. Slowly, by tracking and tracing both physical and cyber clues scattered around the world and internet, the game becomes more and more fantastic. But it all unfolds not in a world layered on top of our own, but right here.

Take a look at some of the most well remembered ARGs. It takes a special type of dedication and sense of adventure to immerse oneself as a player of ARGs. But I think the thrill of immersive imagination might just be worth it!

“An alternate reality game (ARG for short) combines the best elements of viral marketing, role playing games and being an insane person who can’t tell fantasy from reality.” — Andrew Lang