Know Before You Go: 2025 Edition

Hello everyone!

We are about two weeks away from Mysterium and there are only a few days left to pre-register online. Can you believe it? Are you excited?

Before you hit the road, we’ve outlined some important information for you to know.

Escape Room Assignment Survey

If you’re participating in our escape room excursion and haven’t already done so, please check the email you used to register for a survey invitation from us. Your responses will be used to assign you to rooms, plan for transportation needs, and distribute liability waivers.

We’ll begin reviewing responses on Sunday, July 20th. Please complete the survey by then.

Enjoying Mysterium in Atlanta

Atlanta is unquestionably hot at this time of year. This week, high temperatures reached the mid-90°F range with a high heat index. We strongly encourage you to bring a hat; an insulated, refillable water bottle; and sunscreen. Water stations will be available within the convention space for your convenience.

Badge Pickup, Registration, and Swag Flow

Badge pickup, registration, swag pickup, and swag sales will open in phases, as outlined below. These times may change; refer to the schedule for the most recent information. Unless otherwise noted, all registration or swag-related activity will occur inside the Piedmont Ballroom.

Pre-Registered Badge Pickup Pre-ordered Swag Pickup Walk-in Registration On-site Swag Sales
Thursday, 7/31 at 8 PM Open** Closed Closed Closed
Friday, 8/1 at 9 AM Open Open Open (See Below) Closed
Friday, 8/1 after Opening Ceremonies Open Open Open Open

**Thursday’s Pre-Registered Badge Pickup has moved to the hotel’s Media Lounge, located to the left when entering the lobby via the main entrance.

On Friday morning at 9 AM, there will be two lines to enter Piedmont Ballroom. If you already picked up your badge on Thursday night, use the right line. If you still need to pick up your badge, use the left line. Regardless of which line you are in, you will be able to show your badge and pick up pre-purchased swag at the swag table.

Walk-in registrations will open after we have checked in lined-up, pre-registered attendees.

Georgia Aquarium Experience and Policies

If you are joining our Georgia Aquarium excursion, know that the experience is indoors, though some outdoor walking will be required if you are planning to travel via MARTA. Using MARTA is encouraged to avoid downtown congestion.

The Georgia Aquarium only permits outside food and beverage for children or individuals with allergies. Refillable water bottles are encouraged for everyone and may be filled at a number of stations around the aquarium.

For more information, we recommend reviewing the “Need to Know” section at the bottom of this page.

Creativity Prompt

June’s Creativity Prompt winner was redwoodrroad’s envisioning of Gehn’s beach day.

Digital painting of Gehn at the beach. He is standing with a beach chair under his right arm, a how to book in his left hand, sunglasses, and a frilly hat. His extra short swim trunks expose most of his legs.

Submissions are still being accepted for this month’s topic, “End of Ages.” Send them in on Discord!

 

The Committee truly cannot wait to see everyone! This has shaped up to be a fantastic year and we hope you enjoy some leisure, puzzles, and laughs amongst friends.

This will likely be our last post before the convention begins. If you’re attending and aren’t already part of our Discord server, now is a great time to join! Be sure to mark that you’d like to receive on-site announcements in the “Channels & Roles” section so you can get important information as it becomes available.

Safe travels, everyone. We’ll see you shortly!

Curator and Drew
Mysterium 2025 Co-Chairs

Not A Scheduled Post

Hello everyone!

While this is not a scheduled post, it most certainly is a post about our schedule. We’ve got some exciting announcements to share!

2025 Schedule is Live!

We’re happy to announce that the Mysterium 2025 schedule is ready to share with the world. This year features a mix of presentations, group activities, and excursions (more on those below). We hope this year will offer an opportunity to meet new attendees, recognize the work of our community, experience what Atlanta has to offer, and, most importantly, have some fun!

Official Excursions

We are offering two official excursions this year:

  • Friday: Breakout rooms at Breakout Games, Atlanta/Buckhead
  • Saturday: A trip to the Georgia Aquarium

If you are interested in joining, tickets may be purchased through July 1st. Head to the Registration page to learn more.

Reminders

As a reminder, we have some important deadlines approaching:

Other deadlines:

March and April Creativity Prompt Winners

We had two winners for March and April’s Creativity Prompt, “Thawing.”

In first was redwoodrroad’s Gehn piece:

Painting of Gehn as seen behind a barred window with his hand longingly touching a picture of Keta.

Second, and breaking a three-way tie, was Harley’s story, “Thawing.”

Thanks, everyone, for the great submissions this round! Voting for May’s topic, “Chicken,” is open and submissions for June’s topic, “Beach,” are being accepted on Discord.

 

It’s hard to believe Mysterium is just two months away! We hope you’re as excited as we are. We’ll send you off with a picture of this year’s pins, which safely arrived last week!

Photo of Mysterium 2025 pin set with a planet for Todelmer on the left, a Relto book with DRC helmet and cone in the middle, and piranha chicken on a beach on the right.

 

Until next time…

Curator and Drew
Mysterium 2025 Co-Chairs

Schedule!

We have published the schedule for Mysterium 2024! Read on for details.

Special Guests

We have a few more guests to announce:
  • Mary DeMarle is an accomplished game writer whose portfolio includes both Myst III and Myst IV
  • Patrick Fortier has a number of gaming titles under his belt, including serving as the creative director for Myst IV
  • Sebastien Yelle is now a teacher, but way back when was a level designer for Myst IV
Check out all the guests’ full bios on the Special Guests page!

Schedule

Our schedule is now live! We’re still filling in details on a few events, but we’re ready to release the 2024 schedule to the world. See the Schedule page for all the details.

Unconferences

As you’ll see on the schedule, we’re bringing back a few long-standing Mysterium traditions we’d put on a shelf for a few years. One of these is Unconfererences. If you don’t know what those are, they’re a set of mini-conferences on topics decided by attendees. Pitch your topic and get people interested so they want to join! That said, we need topics for people to choose from. If you have an unconference topic you’d like to discuss, fill out the form here.

Marker Missions

If you can’t make it to Mysterium this year, don’t feel left out! We’ll be hosting an in-cavern marker mission beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern Time the Friday of Mysterium. Curator, Rayne, and Yuki will also be streaming whatever shenanigans they manage to get up to at that time. For more information, see the Marker Missions page (note: you will need to follow the setup instructions in advance if you want to be able to join on time).

Last Call for Writing & Artwork Table

Annacat is still accepting submissions for writing and artwork, but these will close Sunday. If you’d like a work displayed at Mysterium, make sure to get your submission in before then. For more information, see the Submissions page on our website.

Riven 2024

Some of you may be aware that there was a remake just released of a certain Cyan game. Not everyone has had a chance to play it yet so we’re going to discourage any discussion of spoilers from the new game at Mysterium. That said, Cyan’s presentation will likely contain spoilers, and we cannot control every conversation people have.
 
We’re looking forward to seeing you all in Montreal in just two weeks!
 
Annacat and Dan, Mysterium 2024 co-chairs

Special Guests

We’re excited to announce our first few special guests for this year’s Mysterium!

Special Guests

This year we’ll have some guests from Myst IV: Revelation. The first we’re ready to announce are:
  • Meinert Hansen is an illustrator who served as the art director for Myst IV.
  • Katie “Kha’tie” Postma is a long-time member of the Mysterium family and the Social Media Manager for The Myst Documentary.
  • Joshua Reinstein is an editor and researcher for The Myst Documentary.
  • Philip Shane is is an award winning documentary filmmaker currently working on The Myst Documentary.
  • Guy Sprung is an actor, director, and writer Myst fans know as Achenar from Myst IV.
Check out their full bios on our Special Guests page.
We’ll have more guests to announce in the coming weeks!

Last Call for Swag Orders

Reminder that swag orders are closing June 9. We will not be selling any swag during Mysterium, so if you want any, you must order it by Sunday.

Also note, there was a mistake on the swag page on our website. It mentioned the shirts are black. That was from copy-pasting the description from last year. The images on the page do show they are light blue but just to clarify in case that wasn’t clear.

Policy Update

There’s a small change to the Conduct section of our policies. Please take a look as it will apply during this year’s Mysterium.

More special guests and this year’s schedule will be announced soon!

Annacat and Dan,
Mysterium 2024 co-chairs

Event Submissions

Greetings! We don’t have any big announcements just yet (although we should have information on a hotel Soon™) but we are opening event submissions for this year’s Mysterium.

Event Submissions

Have a cool design you’d like to show off at Mysterium? An activity you think would be fun for everyone? Event submissions are open until May 12. See our Submissions page for details.

Last Call for T-Shirts

Final reminder: T-shirt designs are due February 25. The designers of the two selected entries will each receive a free t-shirt, and you do not have to attend Mysterium to submit a design. See our Submissions page for details.

January Prompt Winners

For January’s topic of “Horizons”, redwoodrroad once again took home the visual art prize with this image of Gehn:

The written winner this month was Talashar with “The Lighthouse”

We’ll have more to announce, including hotel information and con registration, before too long!

Annacat and Dan,
Mysterium 2024 co-chairs