Lost masterminds Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse say in a new interview over at Lostpedia that last summer’s “Dharma Wants You” alternate reality game was all about prepping the audience for this season’s Dharma Initiative storyline. “Essentially the whole idea was to signal to the audience that our characters… were going to end up in Dharma times.” So the purpose of “Dharma Wants You” was to foreshadow what was going to happen in the second half of Season 5, in the same way that “Find 815” was about the fake wreck and “The Lost Experience” was about the numbers.

There’s more interesting trivia about the show in the interview, though all of it in a “looking back” kind of way. There’s nothing about what’s yet to come, and definitely no spoilers.

Image: Ryan at Hawaii Blog.

Well it seems the Lost Experience video finally unlocked Hurley’s numbers. The video details how a mathematician was commissioned by the United Nations in 1962 to calculate the timetable for humanity’s extinction. The resulting Valenzetti’s Equation was based on factors represented by Egyptian hieroglyphics, each of which was assigned a numerical value: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 - Hurley’s cursed digits.

Here’s the complete video with all 70 frames:

It seems that we’re currently in Stage 3 (of 5) for the Lost Experience.

The third stage of the game was announced at San Diego Comic Con during the Lost Q&A pannel where Rachel Blake stood up and accused the show’s creators of conspiring with the Hanso Foundation. Near the end of her irate speech she intstructed for all who “want the truth” to go to hansoexposed.com.

Stage 3 is based around piecing together frames of a video Rachel Blake filmed while in Sri Lanka. According to her, the video will “tear the Hanso Foundation apart.” Blake has gone into temporary hiding, placing the glyphs online, in advertisements, and via podcasts to find each of the 70 parts of the video. To see 60 of the frames, click here.

Stage 3 also introduced the website for Apollo Candy Company and gave away free Apollo bars.

Make sure to watch this video for some important info about Dharma and Hanso. It contains over 60 fragments, put together from hansoexposed.com.

a href=”http://www.widmorerace.com/”>Widmorerace.com just opened up, with a complete course of the race! Maybe this gives more clues on how to find the island.

You’ll have to follow Lost Experieince!

ABC says the online game will reveal the meaning behind the 4-8-15-16-23-42 number string - and also promises information on the mysterious Alvar Hanso and his Hanso Foundation. This will happen before the game concludes at the start of the show’s third season.

“The reward we’ve always promised from the Lost Experience is information, which is currency to anyone who is a fan of the show or a participant in this game,” says Mike Benson, head of marketing for ABC Entertainment. “This additional form of storytelling allows us to engage current and new fans in a genuinely innovative way while delivering the same extraordinary content that ‘Lost’ provides as a television series.”

Wow, I just found the most amazing recap of all of the Lost Experience clues over at LOST-n-Found! It starts from May 3rd and goes through July 1st with a day by day account of what’s been discovered.

Looking to get caught up on the Lost Experience Alternate Reality Game? Check out Bonnie’s Covel’s extensive list of articles and sightings at About Lost.

Most recently you’ll find a Week 4 and 5 Summary that discusses Mathematcial Forecasting Initiative, Worldwide Wellness and Prevention Development Program, Genomic Advancement, and Retrievers of Truth.

A press release from Hanso Foundation: