Precursor: Ong’s Hat
In the 1980s transmedia artist Joseph Matheny[2] launched the Ong’s Hat game, inspired by play-by-mail multiplayer games run by Flying Buffalo.[3] Though Ong’s Hat may not have set out to be an ARG, the methods by which the author interacted with participants and used different platforms to build and spread its legend has been reflected in later games.[4] Also known as The Incunabula Papers, the game incorporated the practice of “legend tripping”[6] in which a group of people visit sites known in folklore for horrific or supernatural events. Matheny built a mythos around a supposed ghost town in New Jersey throughout the 1980s through works disguised as research shared on bulletin boards and physical zines.[8] One of the earliest archived theories about the alleged legend appeared in the October 1993 issue of Boing Boing and was posted online as early as February 11th, 1994.[7]
Between 1994 and 2000, posts about Ong’s Hat were planted on a number of different Usenet groups to spark discussion, including sci.math[9], alt.illuminati[10], alt.conspiracy[11] and alt.society.paradigms[12], among others. In 2001, Matheny stopped the project[13] and went on to publish two books about it, as well as archiving all the materials on the Incunabula website.[5]
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/alternate-reality-games
Joseph Matheny 
brilliant, awesome, other words like that. i’m a fan for life. game-hoaxing is the closest format to real life, only better.
cocktails yr next visit to stupidville.
-Martin O
emartin888@aol.com
Before it became known as ARG, I called it “Living Book”. However, you know Hollywood. 5 minutes after they discover something, they invented it. :-p Now it’s called Transmedia, which I like even less.