This year, SOMA will pull off its very own MP3 experiment. What is an MP3 experiment, you ask? A large number of voluntary participants download the same MP3 file, but don’t play it until they arrive at the official time and place of the experiment, where they all then play the file at once. And the jovial madness ensues. It’s part mass hypnosis (in a good way), part party, and part comedy.

MP3 experiments were popularized by comedy group Improv Everywhere. Their sixth and most recent gathering, which took place this past June on Roosevelt Island outside NYC, had over two thousand participants.

Luckily for all us Penn Staters, SOMA has been kind and adventurous enough to organize an MP3 affair for this week’s Homecoming festivities. The time and place: exactly 2:00PM, Sunday, October 18th; the mall outside Thomas. Once the masses have assembled, they will all press play at exactly the same moment, and they will simultaneously be listening to an MP3 of over half an hour of instructions full of activities, music, and games, leading everyone without any communication amongst them. The end result: crazy fun.

To be a part of the merriment, all you have to do is follow these eight simple rules:

1. Download the MP3
2. Load it onto your iPod, Zune, etc, or burn it to a CD.
3. DON’T LISTEN TO IT! If you know what’s going to happen, it totally ruins the fun. Keep it fresh, and hear it for the first time at the event.
4. Bring a newspaper.
5. Bring a watch with a second hand, or make sure your cell phone can tell you specific seconds.
6. Get to the Thomas mall BEFORE 2:00 PM.
7. Press play at 2:00 PM
8. Have fun!

For more details visit the SOMA Presents: The 2009 MP3 Experiment Facebook group. And remember: The more attendees, the better this whole bash will be. So be there!

[Photo courtesy of laughingsquid.com]