The Stone (game)

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The Stone is an internet/online game developed by Rod Bruinooge in 1995.^[1] The mystery game was launched as a consumer product in 1997. In 1999, The Stone was profiled by Forbes Magazine^[2].

Puzzles of The Stone are located in a place called The Immediate. There are a total of 216 Stone puzzles, grouped into 6 categories, each category having 6 different levels of difficulty. Once all the puzzles are solved, The Stone is said to unlock an ancient mystery called the Enigma^[3]. The secret of The Stone is kept by the Stonekeepers. The solution to the Enigma was discovered in August 2007 by a Stone player called "grissy".

A player of The Stone is often referred to as a stoner. When trying to solve a certain Stone puzzle, a stoner may go to a place called The Commons and ask for a nudge (i.e., a hint) from other stoners who have already solved that particular puzzle. Once a stoner has solved all available Stone puzzles, he or she is in the Sisyphus Lodge.

"Stoners", a film about The Stone, was released by Bruinooge and co-director Scott Jaworski in September 2004. It covered the activities of the internet/online gaming community that emerged around The Stone.^[4]

The Stone Championship Tournament, also known as the Final Six Tournament, began September 30, 2005. The first Stone player to solve all of the six final puzzles would be crowned Champion of The Stone and would immediately be granted the status of Stonekeeper. The tournament was won August 11, 2007 by the Stone players "Gary_" and "cinnabar."

Subsequent to the completion of the Final Six Tournament, the tournament puzzles were opened to all the remaining Stone players as the Final Six Redux, featuring slightly different answers for some of the puzzles. The Redux was won by the Stone players "BlindSide" and "morgana".

Following the Redux, a set of eight final puzzles (including the last ever Stone puzzle "Essence") was released as a mini-tournament known as "Outside the Immediate". This mini-tournament was won by the Stone Players "Ultraspx", "morgana", "irisbb", "enobarbus" and "BlindSide".

On April 3, 2008 at Midnight PST The Stone shut down for good. The puzzles from The Stone can be found at The Stone Monument ^[5], although no user data was preserved so users must re-solve the puzzles of the Immediate. Stoners can still get nudges through the Scarecrow's Field forums. Just before the shut down, many users who had been lurking on the forums came out to bid farewell to the game that was such a large part of so many people's lives.