In the lead-up to the Backrooms movie, A24 implemented an ARG that tied in with the release of merchandise and events. The first phase of the ARG revolved around Cap’n Clark’s, while the second phase took place on a bulletin board that was reminiscent of such systems in the late 80s/early 90s called the South Bay Bulletin Board and would be used to promote merchandise and events.
April 3: Cap’n Clark’s TV Advertisement
A TV commercial for Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire started showing on streaming service Pluto TV. The commercial ‒ in the style of an advertisement from the 90s ‒ features Clark (Chiwatel Ejiofor) in his store talking like a pirate and advertising a range of bargains.
The store is listed as being in Santa Clara Valley which is a suburb of San Jose (San Jose is where the Async Research Institute is also located).
A phone number was also included. Calling the phone number gives a series of beeps of differing lengths/frequencies.
*The phone number actually ended up being a fax number, as outlined in the following section. Although initially fans thought it was a phone number as the fax icon is partly obscured in the commercial. Some were trying to analyze the beeps thinking that they may have been some kind of code.
Fax from Cap’n Clark’s
“Get lost in an endless sea of quality tables, chairs lamps, couches, and bedroom sets!”
Cap’n Clark’s phone number ended up being a fax number! User Spinfal on X used an online fax service to send a fax to the number and received a fax in return.
The received fax listed an address in Santa Clara, with Google maps showing Capitol Square Mall at this location. Several users ended up visiting the address and found a vacant store (apparently this used to be a Spirit Halloween store). Users looked in-depth at the store and one user even took a lot of photos and re-posted them on Reddit. But no one had been able to find anything that indicated a continuation of the ARG. One speculation was that the site would be turned into a Cap’n Clark’s just before the movie released as some kind of promotion or pop-up shop, however this didn’t end up happening. The real address didn’t appear to play any part in the ARG itself, however just before Everything Must Go was released, the site was used for a small video of an Async worker putting up a blue tape outline.
A website ‒ www.capnclarks.com was also found. Initially it had a prompt for a login to access, but was changed to redirect to A24’s Backrooms ticketing page.
The fax number stopped returning faxes around a week later with users reporting that although they could still send a fax to the number, they no longer received anything back.
April 20: Join the South Bay Bulletin Board
On April 20, A24 released the official Cap’n Clark’s T-shirt which could be purchased on their online store. A user on Kane Pixel’s Discord server decided to send a fax to the number again and this time received a flyer for the “South Bay Bulletin Board”. There was another number listed on the flyer which this time ended up being a phone number.
Calling the phone number led to an automated voice message of a man saying “You have reached the South Bay Bulletin Board Archive. This number has been out of service since 1991. For access to the archived South Bay Bulletin Board, visit 408bbsarchive.net”
South Bay Bulletin Board Archive Website
408bbsarchive.net takes users to a site that appears to be a terminal. On pressing enter, the sound of a modem connecting will sound and you will gain access to the site.
When the user enters their email / phone number, they are promoted to continue and then taken back to the main page.
Initially, the site didn’t give access to the bulletin board itself, but instead gave users a prompt to enter an email address and optional phone number. Later these would be used to to advise of the opening of the archive.
May 12: South Bay Bulletin Board Archive Opens
Users who had previously signed up to receive email/SMS reminders received notifications that their “accounts” had been approved.
Upon visiting https://408bbsarchive.net, users were now greeted with a menu board. However if the site was accessed through a device that hadn’t been used to access it before it, the registration screen would be shown instead of the menu screen (re-entering an email address then allows the user to proceed to the Main Menu).
Bulletins
Upon pressing B, users are greeted with a timeline of posts starting in 1990 and dating back to 1989.
The first bulletin, from 03/15/1990, features someone complaining about trash being dumped in the Freemont parking lot, with it attracting every Seagull in the Bay area, looking for advice.
The second Bulletin, dated 03/13/1990, promotes an enrollment program at Santa Clara University, with a summer session beginning on May 29th, 1990. Several courses are listed as being available.
The next bulletin, dated 1/8/1990. Complaints about a neighborhood stop sign have arisen, with the poster upset at what seems to have been an act of vandalism. However, based on what we see in the movie, that may not quite be the case.
This bulletin, dated 11/9/1989, is promoting a community event for Santa Clara City Hall, mentioning a proposed construction project and overview of the plans for the meeting. Interestingly, the representatives are from a ‘Reverchon Ventures’- which may interest The Oldest View fans.
The final bulletin from 04/2/1990 is more simple- someone seeking players for an “epic DnD campaign” at a comic collector shop in San Fernando.
Directory
The “Directory” (accessed by clicking D) contains a list of files that can be downloaded. When the bulletin board first opened, it only contained the one file. Additional files would be added as new merchandise and promotions became available.
The directory page takes you to a document titled ‘ENTER.TXT’ which, upon downloading, leads you to ANOTHER website- https://enter.backrooms.mov.
This website takes you to what appears to be a waitlist for a pop-up BACKROOMS EXPERIENCE in LA! The site allowed people to regsiter for a session to attend, later they would receive an email advising that slots had become available where they could potentially reserve a spot to attend.
(The page is still active, however it shows “no availability”.)
Information
This section simply provides links to the Terms of Use and Privacy policy. These are likely the same as those on the A24 website and aren’t really relevant to the actual ARG (in 1990 there wouldn’t have been requirements for companies to provide these on their websites or bulletin boards like there are today).
Settings
Some settings can also be adjusted in relation to the display of the board, these can be accessed by pressing “/”.
- Theme: changes the color of the board – default (black background), Blue or Gray.
- Brightness and Contrast: sliders allow the changing of the brightness and contrast. It is also possible to make the screen unreadable!
- Borders: adds/removes a box around the board.
- Reset: reset any changes to the default values.
May 20: Bookstore Signing of “The Window Within”
A new post appeared on the South Bay Bulletin Board Archive on May 20 with a bookstore mentioning a signing of Dr. Mary Kline’s book “The Window Within”.
The post advises of upcoming events at the Recycle Bookstore. The last event (to be held on February 25) is a reading and book signing by Dr. Mary Kline. She will be reading from her book “The Window Within” which will be followed by a signing and reception.
Additionally, the directory includes another .txt file which mentions that advance buyers who purchase their tickets through backrooms.mov will receive EARLY ACCESS to a LOCAL 408 BUSINESS HAT- the first merchandise related to the ARG (this ended up being the ASYNC hat).
June 4: ASYNC Container Inventory
The South Bay Bulletin Board Archive next updated on June 4, with a new bulletin entry and a .zip file leading to ASYNC’s supposed “container inventory” of A24 merchandise items!
This bulletin was posted by electronics store, Harbor Electronics to let people know that Sony Walkmans and Discmans were back in stock.
Under the Directory section, a new file called “SHOP.ZIP” was made available. The zip archive contained two files – fax.bmp and a README.TXT file. While the text file contained the address of A24’s Online Shop, the BMP file gave a list of ASYNC’s supposed “container inventory” of A24 merchandise items.
Interestingly, this file also implies there are ‘Threshold Sites’ beside ASYNC’s office in San Jose. The co-ordinates on the inventory sheet lead to what appears to be a random house in Vancouver. We already know the film’s KLWNA area is also associated with Vancouver, so this is quite concerning…
This would be the last update that would be made to the Bulletins section of the board.
other directory files
Additional files were also added to the directory to coincide with different Backrooms related merchandise releases or events.
- SIZE.TXT – May 27 – Added with the release of the Backrooms Wallpaper, contains a link to the A24 shop page for the wallpaper.
- SWEEPS.TXT – June 2 – Contains information on a competition to win a sample of Backrooms Wallpaper signed by Kane Parsons. Includes the address wallpaper.backrooms.mov where users could enter the competition and download a desktop or phone version of the Backrooms wallpaper (note competition is now closed).
- LIMINAL.TXT – June 18 – Added with the launch of the Liminal Cinema Archive, the file contains the address of the archive at liminal.backrooms.mov.
- BADGE.BMP – July 5 – A scan of Naren Warne’s ASYNC ID that Clark finds in the movie. The scan contains the address async.backrooms.com in the top right corner, however this is actually a typo, as that domain relates to an online role playing game that has nothing to do with the movie or even the Backrooms. The address should have been async.backrooms.mov which takes users to a site where they can customize their own ASYNC ID Card.
BADGE.BMP would be the last file added to the bulletin board. Further merchandise releases as well as the release of the digital and physical versions of the movie weren’t included as part of the board, which led many fans to believe that the ARG had now ended.
