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Long read: How TikTok's most intriguing geolocator makes a story out of a game

Where in the world is Josemonkey?

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What's New? (21st Sept, 2007)

Oh hai I upgraded ur banazaz!

Dark blue icons of video game controllers on a light blue background
Image credit: Eurogamer

Waking last Saturday morning at about 10, I saw I had two missed calls from home. This wasn't enough to stop me falling asleep again. (In my defence, it was the first lie-in I'd had in my new flat - and you're not my real Dad.)

When I awoke again a couple of hours later, two had become four. I wondered if someone had died, so obviously I went to the shop and bought some biscuits. As I got back in, another call came through.

"Hi Tom," said my mum. "I hope I didn't wake you." No no, I said dazily. Is everything okay? "Oh it's fine. I was just clearing out some of your old stuff and wanted to check if it was okay to take to the dump."

Fair enough, I thought. "But since I couldn't reach you, we threw things out anyway. Did you need those two big boxes of DVD cases in your old room?" You mean every single videogame and DVD case I own, out of which I'd plucked the discs so I could keep them in big Caselogic disc binders to avoid clutter as I transported my entire life down the length of the M23 in my friend's overflowing Renault 5?

It turns out she did mean this. And by "throw out" she meant "into the tip".

As a result, I now have no game or DVD boxes whatsoever.

This isn't even a funny story. I haven't got time to write a funny story. I'm sitting in a café at Makuhari Messe grabbing my breath before diving back into the throng of Tokyo Game Show to play Beautiful Katamari. A woman's just told me off for sitting here and not buying any coffee. So for the benefit of anybody reading this far, this is just a cautionary tale, and the lesson is: ANSWER YOUR MOTHER'S PHONE CALLS, EVEN IF YOU ARE ASLEEP.

AND DO NOT BUY BISCUITS. TIME MAY BE RUNNING OUT.

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