A San Francisco Alternate Reality Installation - Jejune Institute

I'm hesitant to write about this because I'm afraid that my description of it would fail to give it justice. There is a secret in SF. An alternate reality game that you can actually be a part of. Someone, for some strange reason, has set up an entire mystery novel inside the reality of San Francisco that you can do.

This pic was snapped with my iphone:



It begins with posters you see around the city. One advertises a camera that takes pictures back in time with a crude illustration of a house with a velociraptor fading in the backround. Another promises your memories to be transcribed onto VHS if you visit the offices of the Institute (they don't yet the technology to do DVD, but can transfer it all later, the ad explains).

If you follow the instructions and call the number, the voice on the other end will invite you to the offices of the Jejune Institute, located in one of San Francisco's most prominent skyscrapers in the Financial District at 580 California St.

Walking in, you explain to the receptionist that you are here for Jejune and she rings you up to the 16th floor.

The office you end up in looks like something out of Being John Malkovich. It's an actual office. There are actually people sitting working on computers and you feel like something has gone horribly wrong and you're in an awkward situation.

Until the receptionist hands you a key. The key has instructions on it that tell you to enter one of the locked doors.



Then, your life begins to change.

Mildly reminiscent of a scavenger hunt, mixed with a brain fuck introduction of a creepy cult, there are constant clues, instructions, questions, and riddles that take you through all of San Francisco and go deeper and deeper, increasing in difficulty and surreality.

The effort and time that someone has put into this is unreal. There is a radio station set up exclusively to give you one of the clues. There is a map involved, required trespassing into a tiny office in China Town, and what seems like thousands of people who are in on it. Next thing you know, the passerby are wondering why you are looking up light poles and running out of emergency exits (because you were told to).

Anyone, who lives within a driving proximity to San Francisco, HAS to visit 580 California St, suite 1607.

The Jejune Institute Official Website