The threads of the story can be traced back as far as the 1980s on bulletin board systems, and via mail art networks, early zines, and faxlore.
It may have started as an in-joke, or the first alternate reality game (ARG), a work of transmedia storytelling or as a memetic experiment, to see how far the meme could spread or a combination of all of the above.
[1][3] GamesTM magazine wrote that "Ong’s Hat was more of an experiment in transmedia storytelling than what we would now consider to be an ARG but its DNA – the concept of telling a story across various platforms and new media – is evident in every alternate reality game that came after.
"[4] In 2002, Lego created an ARG for their line of toys for Canadian children's TV series Galidor that featured some elements of the Ong's Hat story.
[3] Their story is introduced through two documents, Incunabula: A Catalog of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Curiosa, Conspiracy Theory, Frontier Science & Alternative Worlds and Ong's Hat: Gateway to the Dimensions.