Studio 37: The Secret Transmission Brought Color, Excitement, and Collaboration to Google DeepMind's 2025 Holiday Party
Client
What the customers say:
"I was only going to stay for 20 minutes, but then I got sucked in by the puzzles!"
The Challenge
Building on the success of our last holiday party collaboration, Google DeepMind challenged us to design a new gamified puzzle experience for its 2025 holiday party. It needed to engage & captivate 2,000 attendees over the span of two days while seamlessly integrating into their 70's broadcast studio theme.
Handstand Magic
We designed an immersive, tactile, puzzle-driven journey called The Secret Transmission. It lived inside of Studio 37, a 70’s broadcast studio that was the central theme of the holiday party world.
The journey included 3 "hijacked" machines – the Broadcast Map, the Production Console, and the Channel Programmer. Attendees had to roam around the party and successfully reprogram the machines in order to save the broadcast!
Guests reported that the experience was the highlight of their party with many crediting the experience as the reason they explored more of the venue and spent far more time at the party than they expected!
Case Study Video
Primary Installations
The Broadcast Map
A giant backlit map recessed into a coffee table where guests follow logical rules and manipulate knobs to ensure the correct message is broadcasted.
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The Production Console
A high-energy 3-player installation in which players respond to frantic studio commands to successfully produce on-air segments. It's like a more analog, more chaotic version of Spaceteam #iykyk
The Channel Programmer
A giant studio desk where guests decode the studio’s rules, deduce the correct show order, and help bring the broadcast back under control. Players insert real VHS tapes into the console to view videos on a real CRT TV.
Data Session Recording
Each puzzle success earned players a Quality Assurance stamp from our precision-aligned stamping mechanisms. Each stamp layer reveals part of a surprise image – the final stamp makes the entire image visible!
Finale Prizes
When players solved all three hijacked machines, they officially joined the Quality Assurance team and received their pin of honor.
Favorite Moments
“These puzzles are always my favorite part of these events!”
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“It was the right balance of challenge and gratification!”
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“This made us feel alive!”
Client
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