I won the custom Dishonored 2 PS4. Here’s how:

I found out about this event wasting time on twitter one day. Ran into it accidentally. I RSVP’d as fast as I could and told my boyfriend he was coming with me.

The week before the event at the Edison, boyfriend couldn’t go so I invite my friend Andre, who has been getting hyped for this game since I’ve been talking about it.

It was at The Edison, which I’ve never been to, but I know its in the heart of bad traffic and worse parking, but also on a Monday night, so maybe it will be okay, but I leave work early at 5 anyway, just in case.

Event starts at 7.

I tried to learn everything I could about what was about to go down. I stalked through the hashtags on twitter for anything about the San Fran event that had already happened. I tried every google key word search I could think of to see if I could find a blog post or article giving details for anything that might be helpful for the “Scavenger hunt”…

The official flyer for the event lists an evening of drinks, food, demos and swag but also a scavenger hunt with the chance to win prizes. I had to dig around but I found a link to the “official contest rules”. The rules said the scavenger hunt would run until 10pm and if you completed it, you got one entry for a drawing to win one of the custom Dishonored 2 consoles. The other prizes were pop heads, an art book, the regular copy of the game, the collectors edition of the game and of course, the grand prize console.

The official Dishonored account tweeted that at the LA event, they would be giving away the custom PS4, which is the best looking one out of all of them IMO, and the one I’ve been coveting since September 2nd, when IGN posted a video from PAX that revealed it.

There was also a contest at PAX west that included twitter to win one, that winner tweeted out pictures of their prize, the Emily XboxOne custom.

I wanted it even more now.

I couldn’t find any details about the hunt from the san fran event, or which console was the prize (xboxone or PS4). So I was going in blind.

I left work at 5 and picked up my friend at 5:30. We made good time and parking was a breeze so we were in line by 6:10. Maybe 30 people in front of us.

The line was across the street from a dog park which was fun to watch for an hour while we waited. I started talking to the girl in line behind me whose name was Emily and was also a huge Dishonored fan.

There were also two actors dressed as guards from the game who had come out to intimidate the crowd. They were dedicated to the character, it was a great precursor for things to come.

By the time the doors opened the line was wrapped around the building, though I’m not sure how far it went.

When we got to the door they checked our IDs if we wanted to drink, and we got a black wristband. We also got a ticket with a tearaway stub for swag and two drinks. Inside we got a poster and t-shirt…and no information about the scavenger hunt… we get in line to take pictures in the photo booth and while Andre waits in line I try to find someone working the event. I find the demo guys and ask them what they know. They said all they could say was we have to talk to the citizens of Karnaca. At that point I look around and see not just some cosplayers, but people that look hired by the event, actors like the guards from earlier. There were Howlers, Overseers, Aristocrats. So I tried talking to the first person I could get to, a lady Howler, with perfect scars across her face and signature red scarf. Two sentences in I could tell their how deep their dedication to the role ran. I tried to ask about about the “Mystery” or the “secret” and after a lot of incoherent back and forth she finally said, “Come back to me when you have more information.” We talked to a tall black man who was also a Howler and had a deep scar down his face. He was holding a deck of cards and asked us if we had something of value to put down for a game. We said no and he told us to keep looking. There was a shorter older man playing a banjo and covered in dirt. He told us about a missing Miner, Aramis, who disappeared and no one had seen him since. We found a thin blonde aristocrat dressed in white perfectly styled to the type of high class ladies found in the game. She mentioned how she loved the Grand Sekonian Orchestra. There was a brunette aristocrat woman in dressed in dark purple who we talked to but she had nothing to tell us yet.

We tried talking to the overseerers and they said nothing at all. They were taller than most people at the party. They would stop and stare down at you until you ran away cowering or frustrated.

We went back to the lady howler and mentioned the lost miner, she knew he was a Silver mine baron and was missing but knew nothing else. We mentioned the Grand Serkonian Orchestra and she told us to watch out for Bloodflies. The crowds were much thicker now that more people had trickled in and it was getting harder to find the Karnaca citizens in the throng. We searched for the blonde lady in white and told her about the bloodflies. She pulled us aside and immediately went into a spiel about the infection they cause and how dangerous it is and how she is too beautiful to die and we must help her find the elixir to preserve her life. We asked everyone we could find about the elixir and they all knew about it but no one knew how to get one. One of the howlers told us to bring them something of value made of dust. I’ve read every article and watched every video I could find about Dishonored 2, I’ve been hyped for this game the second it was announced at E3 2015. So when they said to bring them something of value made of dust, I knew it was silver dust, from the mines. There were also boards around the floor with information about factions, characters and sections of the game, so if one didn’t know about the silver dust from the mines, they could have read about it on the walls. We proceeded to ask everyone if they had any silver dust… and everyone turned us down. Then we hit up an overseer and he pulled us aside, though one at a time. Jackpot. He hands me a heavy cast die, (may have been cast in bronze but let’s all pretend it was silver for the sake of the game). We rush back to the howler with the cards and told him we have something of value to trade. But there was a line of three people ahead of us. When our turn came he pulled out his cards, they looked like a custom deck made for the event, close to the tarot card pre-order bonus from gamestop given out for the first game. We played a game of war which I won (I’m sure this was planned) and he handed me a small bottle filled with a red liquid and told me to take my die. I had taken his last elixir however and he told my friend to go see another Howler. So I pointed her out to him and he waited his turn to talk to her while I furiously looked for the blonde aristocrat. She also had a line by the time I found her, and everyone was very particular about talking to people one at a time, in whispers so no one else could hear. Sound did not carry well in that place and it was so packed there was too much noise to eavesdrop. I waited my turn and gave her the elixir. She sniffed it and said it was much too potent, I would need to mix it with something. She told me to go to the bar and order a special drink, the name of the drink had to do with my mission. I had no idea what that meant. She asked if I had played the game yet (referring to the demo), and I hadn’t because I’ve been trying to finish the scavenger hunt first. She said I should go play and I might know how to order the drink. So I grab Andre and we get in line. I notice everyone’s screen has the clockwork mansion level on it. I ask the people running the demo if we only play the clockwork level, he said yes. I knew person who owned the clockwork mansion was Kirin Jindosh, because this level is the only thing people have been playing at Gamescon and PAX and Paris games week and whenever anyone talks about it, they mention his name, because he is your target. I tell Andre I’m gonna try to order the drink, and he decides to stay in line. I get to the bar and two people are whispering to the bartender, the bartender shakes his head and says I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about, in a manner that says “Your answer is wrong, try again.” The group looks confused and walks away. I flag the closest bartender to me and tell her I need to order a special cocktail, she leans in close so I can whisper, I tell her “Kirin Jindosh” she asks me if I have something to mix the drink with and something of value, so I lay the die and elixir bottle on the bar. She smiles, “You got it.” she says, and pulls a silver tin mug out from under the bar and makes me a drink, it may have been a moscow mule. There is something I’ve forgotten, somewhere in the back and forth of the conversations between the Karnaca citizens, the brunette aristocrat told me to bring her a drink and the elixir and she would mix them for me ( I think, I don’t truly remember who told me to take both to the brunette and why). Fortunately she was hanging out near the bar and I found her right away. I gave her the drink and elixir and she pretended to pour the bottle in the cup and pocketed the bottle. “Enjoy your drink,” was all she said. Thinking that the next clue was in the bottom of the cup, I chugged the drink in 30 seconds. Now I felt a bit tipsy and digging through the ice cubes I didn’t see anything. So I looked on the bottom of the cup, there was something written there in black ink but the lighting was so dark I couldn’t see what it was. I walked to a nearby security guard who got very stern as I walked through the VIP rope but I asked him if he had a flashlight to help me see. I stepped back as he asked and he pulled out a flashlight, “The Duke” was written at the bottom of the cup.

I said my thanks and rushed back to find the Duke. He was no where to be seen. I found his guards and keeping in character I said “I have urgent business with the Duke, where is he?” The guards said they were looking for him too, he was believed missing. At that point I thought I was too late, I missed the Duke and missed my chance for an entry into the drawing, I checked the time, two hours had already passed. I looked for Andre and he said he just tried to order the drink and the bartender said there were no more cups. The game was done. I looked around at who else had a cup, I saw three others floating around looking as puzzled and suspicious as me. The black howler man who played cards with me and gave me my elixir came up to me, ” I see you have a silver cup.” “Yes,” I said “but I need the Duke and I can’t find him, he’s missing…” “You’re fine,” said the howler with a wry smile. “You have the cup, that’s all you need.” For the first time that night I took a breath and relaxed. I guess it was time to enjoy the party. Somewhere during my hunt I lost my ticket and therefore my free drink stubs. I was already on a high from getting a cup and chugging the drink on an empty stomach gave me a lingering buzz. Andre offered to share his free drink stubs with me, but I felt bad he didn’t get a cup and I was driving us back later so I told him to keep them. So he sipped his drink while we waited in line to play the demo, at long last. But then I hear the voice of the Duke, calling us to the stage. We make our way over and he summons the silver cup holders to come up and meet him. On the stage I look around, there’s only ten people with cups. He asks us all our names and how it feels to have a cup, I told him I felt tipsy. The crowd laughed and I was ushered offstage. A man told us to write our names on a piece of paper with our emails and said to come back at 10:30 for the raffle. Then I finally played the game. There was no line at that point so I never got kicked off and was able to complete the clockwork mansion mission. After beating the level I realized that had I played the demo first, I would have agonized about naming the drink the “Sokolov” as rescuing him was also a part of the mission in that level. “Sokolov’s Elixir” is also an item in the original game, but perhaps that’s why they went with “Kirin Jindosh”, they wouldn’t want old players to just guess the obvious. With the demo played and no drink tickets to use, I walked around and appreciated the space we were in. The Edison is closed on Mondays, so we had the place to ourselves. It was beautiful and the perfect setting to complement the design of Dishonored. The Karnaca citizens were no longer walking around and I found an empty worn leather chair big enough for two people to relax in. I went looking for Andre and I ran into the Emily I met in line, who was also a big Dishonored fan. She was with her boyfriend and Andre soon joined us. We talked about my silver cup. I was becoming anxious and nervous. 1 in 10 chance to win the console now. I was so close, but it could all come crashing down with one pull out of a hat. The Duke came back on stage and told the silver cups to come gather around, it was time for the drawing. We were already close to the stage so the four of us stood to get a better view of the Duke and his guards, one of whom was holding a vintage black velvet hat, holding ten slips of paper, each written with a name. An assistant handed a laminated picture of the Dishonored 2 pop figures to the Duke, “x4” was written on the back. The Duke announces the prize and reaches into the hat to pull a name. The first name he pulls, is not mine. He pulls three more names for the pop figure prize. Not me. Not me. Not me. I exhale. I made it past the first round. The next laminated picture is of the art book. “x2” written on the back. He pulls a name, my heart is pounding. Not me. I still don’t breathe. One more name to pull…not me. Andre is shaking my shoulder and the Emily next to me is holding my hand is wishing me luck and I’m holding on to her because I can’t take the tension. I want this so bad and with every round I get past I want it even more. Got the silver cup. Made it past the first round Made it past the second round. So close, so close. But everything can fall with a single draw. The next picture comes up, it has the regular edition of the game on it. “x2” written on the back. The first name is pulled, I am literally holding onto the girl I met hours ago and taking all the support she will give me because I can’t even stand to watch him pull names out of the hat anymore and i have to consciously remind myself to breathe. Not me. Second name… not me. I am shaking at this point and will not let this poor girl’s hands go. She keeps smiling and wishing me luck and all I can do is try to keep my pounding heart from beating out of my chest. Andre is shaking his head in disbelief and saying “You’re gonna win it, I can’t believe this, you got it you got it.” I hear him but I can’t listen to him, it’s making me more nervous. The silver cup holder in front of me turns and says, I think it’s down to you and my friend, he points across the floor and I see another girl looking as anxious and excited as me, holding a silver cup. I raise mine to her, “Good luck to us” I say. She holds her cup up back. The last picture comes out, it’s of the collector’s edition of the game. There is a 1 in 2 chance I win this. There is a 1 in 2 chance I win the PS4. I try to calm my breathing. I resolve in my head that I’m only winning the game, which is fine, that’s $100 I don’t have to spend. That is okay. I’m not the person to win the big prize. That’s not my life. But it’s 50/50 right now and I’ve come this far and the Emily whose shoulder I’m digging my face into is so excited and happy and wishing me luck and Andre is saying “you got it, you got it…” and I hold my breath as the Duke pulls a name and pauses… “Cynthia!” he says into the microphone. I took a second to register the name, not me…and started screaming, making a scene and embarrassing everyone around me I’m sure.

I still can’t believe I won.