Lost Experience is the name of an alternate reality game that runs alongside the second season of the popular television show Lost in the UK, and during the break between season 2 and 3 in the US/Canada. Showmakers ABC have joined with Channel 4 in the UK and Australia's Seven Network along with 30 other broadcasters to release clues to the game. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Lost is an American drama-mystery-adventure television series that follows the lives of the survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... The Seven Network (ASX: SEV) is Australias largest television network, owning the most free to air channel in Australia. ...

The Clues

May 2, 2006 - UK TV advert

On May 2nd in the United Kingdom, during the commercial breaks of the Lost episode broadcast on Channel 4, there was an advert for the fictional Hanso Foundation. Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Commercial may mean: as a noun: a form of advertising, as in a television commercial as an adjective: referring to commerce or for-profit activities or trade (compare with non-profit organization) a breed of cattle, Commercial This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The DHARMA Initiative. ...

The advert quoted a freephone number, 0800 66 66 40. Calling the number played a recorded message and gave five phone menu options. Pressing 1 gave general information, pressing 2, 3, 4 or 5 gave access to the voicemail of the Hanso executives. A recording of the call can be found in the external links section below. On occasion, selecting "1" gave extra information – a speaker calling herself "Persephone" gave the caller a password, "breaking strain". This password could then be used on the newsletter section of the newly relaunched Hanso Foundation website. A toll-free telephone number (or Freephone number in the UK) is a special telephone number, in which the calling party is not charged for the call by the telephone operator. ...

After providing the password to Persephone in the newsletter section, sending a message to Joop the orangutan (in Joop's corner) will reveal several secret documents.

Channel 4 also released a Hanso Foundation press release announcing the launch of its website and advert campaign.

May 3, 2006 - US TV advert

On May 3rd in the USA, the same Hanso Foundation advert was shown in the commercial breaks of the Lost episode shown that day. Instead of the UK freephone number, the US toll-free phone number 1-877-HANSORG (1-877-426-7674) was shown. Calling the number gave the same information as the UK number. A toll-free telephone number (or Freephone number in the UK) is a special telephone number, in which the calling party is not charged for the call by the telephone operator. ...

May 4, 2006 - Australian TV advert

On May 4th in Australia, the same Hanso Foundation advert was shown in the commercial breaks of the Lost episode shown that day. The advert was also shown immediately after the episode. The phone number given was 1800 22 77 17. Calling the number gave the same information as the UK number.

May 5, 2006 - Hanso Foundation press release

On May 5th, the Hanso Foundation website started showing scrawled lines, with faded and flickering text in places. The front page of the website included the message "It has come to our attention that our site is experiencing some sort of disruption. Our sincere apologies - please read the full press release here.". Clicking on the "here" link gave a PDF document, which contained a hidden link at the bottom left of the page to persephone.thehansofoundation.org. Visiting the address displayed the sequence "106 98 111 32 117 98 115 32 114 115 110 102 32 102 118 32 102 118 101 71 32 49 32 108 110 90 32 116 117 98 46 83 69 71 32 103 110 32 111 118 32 116 98 73". Several groups of fans [1] [2] came to the opinion it could be translated into "Log in at THF.org May 8 This is safe for now", by interpreting the numbers as ASCII codes and applying a substitution cipher. However, fans disagreed as to whether the phrase should read "May 1", "May 6" or "May 8". For other uses, see ASCII (disambiguation). ... In cryptography, a substitution cipher is a method of encryption by which units of plaintext are substituted with ciphertext according to a regular system; the units may be single letters (the most common), pairs of letters, triplets of letters, mixtures of the above, and so forth. ...

May 6, 2006 - New Persephone numbers

On May 6th, the numbers on persephone.thehansofoundation.org were changed to the sequence "72 65 83 32 87 73 78 32 72 79 83 84 32 80 67 32 73 78 32 78 73 76 32 85 82 71 69 46 32 56 44 32 110 111 116 32 49 32 97 110 100 32 54 46". Interpreting these numbers as ASCII codes gives the statement "HAS WIN HOST PC IN NIL URGE. 8, not 1 and 6". There are different interpretations of what this means. Some fans believe the statement is an anagram of "SIGN IN WITH HANSO PR CLUE. 8, not 1 and 6." [3], however there is no consensus on this. [4] [5]

May 8, 2006 - Hanso's Movements

On May 8th, 2006 There is new information on Alvar's Hanso movements from 2000-2002. If you go to Alvar Hanso's profile, and click on the date hyperlink, the animations reports that Hanso's last public appearance was in 2002.

May 9, 2006 - Who's is Jimmy?

On the morning of May 9, 2006 There where messeges such as "WHO IS ALVAR HANSO? TELL US JIMMY!" and "I KNO WHERE U LIV JIMMY!" left in many websites including Wikipedia, The Hanso Foundation website and the Lost Experience forums almost simultaniously before it was removed a few minutes later. Wikipedia (IPA: [] or []) is an international Web-based free-content encyclopedia. ... In the fictional world of the television series Lost, The Hanso Foundation was formed by arms purveyor Alvar Hanso who turned his attention away from keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems and focused instead on the development of new technologies to create a brighter future...

The Websites

The Hanso Foundation

The official ABC Hanso Foundation website is where the Lost Experience began. When signing up for the newsletter, you are prompted for a password. After entering the password, sending a message to Joop will take you to a secret part of the site. In the fictional world of the television series Lost, The Hanso Foundation was formed by arms purveyor Alvar Hanso who turned his attention away from keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems and focused instead on the development of new technologies to create a brighter future...

External Links

• ABC Press Release
• www.thehansofoundation.org – The Hanso Foundation fictional site.
• Recordings of calls to the Hanso Foundation phone number, as displayed in adverts:
  • Recording of a call to the UK phone number
  • Recording of a call to the US phone number
  • Recordings of calls to the Australian phone number
• thelostexperience.com, a Lost Experience blog run by fans of the game.