The Detective Society - Family Adventures

 It’s been a bit of a crazy while, but I finally have the bandwidth to try out the three mini-adventures that came as part of The Detective Society’s Murder on the Moon Kickstarter. I’m actually not the first to play these individual copies. They’re labeled as ‘Family Adventures’ so I shared them with colleagues with kids to hopefully lessen some of the stress of this Administration’s attack on Democracy, Rule of Law, and General Decency. Yes. Capitalized. They’re important. And I could use some stress relief as well, so settling in with some Thai takeout and the puzzles with the window open to the breeze.

The Missing Potion

The first of the three adventures, the Missing Potion comes with cards of two sizes - slightly larger than index cards, and some the size of playing cards or Clue cards in a small envelope, with suspect body bits. Kind of like Guess who? One of the index cards tells me that we are off to help the Blink Workshop, and sends me to a video to watch. Super cute video with an actor very much into the making this exciting for kids role. I get slightly distracted by the tracery maple leaf (?) on the back wall. I already appreciate the energy, time to send Dr. Errol (presumably a nod to the Cryptex Hunt creator?) a message about his missing Invisibility Potion (clearly stolen by SeeMe labs). The link sends me to a chat room. First, I confirm that SeeMe Labs is probably behind the theft. Then I need to determine who at Blink Workshop helped. There are four suspects, one of whom I immediately suspect because she looks familiar from somewhere else. Another game? Amusingly, it turns out to be her - Sam Jenkins. I need to Google Image Search her later to figure out where she’s from. I figured out it’s her based on a series of helpful emails between her and “Rand Omman“ (Random Man) - the perfidious fiend stole her cat so of course she’s entirely justified in stealing the potion to get the cat back. 100% support her decision on this. 

From there we need to log in to her Blink account, but, oh no! We don’t know her password! Thankfully we have security footage and a hint about ‘any old shape’. Pictures from the security footage are on the index cards. The idea is that you color in the areas that are different between before and after shots. Thankfully it’s pretty obvious that the areas create a STAR. Wonder of wonders, that’s her password! We’re in! Following the clues to a grocery list with a helpfully laid out key - refer to the email dates and find specific line/word combinations. Was I not supposed to look at the emails before? Hmmm. Anyhow, the message we get reads: Tell Errol Look In Desk. Roger, on it! 

The desk leads us to a series of descriptors to put the suspect cards together. The cards were super slippery so washi came in handy. Build the three suspects and you get a message. Oh no! SeeMe Labs Has Built Your Machine! Also, the bearded guy’s code name is Eiffel Tower. He is French? Also, I thought it was a potion that was missing? 

Ok, it’s a “potion tracking machine”… For the next bit we need the last index card. Following the pattern of numbers and colors, we get values and letters for Voltage, Temperature, and Ph. And the mythical tracking code: 1NV1S1BL3. Yep, this puzzle speaks l33t. It’s also code name Big Ben. Lots of towers - subconscious phallic energy? lol. 

This leads us to another clue from Sam, a bunch of photos on her desk. They’ve taken her to the odd one out, I.e. the only one that’s not a pointy object - the Roman Colosseum. Oh look, the Prof is in Rome too, and the police are here to help! We’ve solved the case, and there’s a super cute audio vignette at the end. 

Time Travel Trouble

The second of the adventures is Time Travel Trouble. It’s the same format - robust index cards paired with ephemera. In this case, that includes a letter home, a coin, a playing card, a sticky note, and a copy of the Family Guide to Creepy Crawlies. In this case, we’ve been contacted by the National Museum of Legends and Mystery (would totally visit) and their Curator G. Wells (surely not a relative of HG?). Same as before, a QR code takes us to a video file. A very Dr. Who vibe, Baron Timesteal (yes, that’s their name) has stolen things from the museum using a special clock but likes to play games so left us clues. Again, super cute acting and overdoing it for the kids. Loving it. The puzzle proceeds with the same ‘chat room’ approach as the first - enter answers to get the next response. 

First puzzle - use the sticky note and the guide to creepy crawlies to access Baron Timesteal’s login page on ‘superhackers’. Don’t click on strange links, kids! Also, don’t write down your login and password on the back of a sticky note, Mr. #hackingislife. I feel like I’m watching Hackers from the 90s and the bad guy is about to pop up on his skateboard with some nonsense. The landing page is about that level of ridiculousness. Loving it. Now we’ve got to the bugs. To deactivate the virus attacking the museum, we need to poke the bugs in order of the number of legs they have, helpfully spelled out in the creepy crawly guide. Click on the 80s style graphics and get an alphanumeric cipher (also hinted at on the sticky). Oh no! Baron Timesteal has stolen The Heart of the Internet!! Whatever shall we do? (Other than giggling, of course). 

We are next sent to the Mayan exhibit, with the clue to follow the weapons and stop on the kings. The figures are in groups of 3x3 so guessing they’ll form letters. Bone Club. Woot. 

Next to the Monarchy exhibit. We’re pointed to the coats of arms on the wall and the playing card. The note suggests one of the kings is missing something - one of them is without his crown. The shield labels have selectively bolded letters, taking only the ones from the shields with crowns we get: Glory Diamond. Sounds like a name Baron Timesteal might use in his side hustle as a stripper. But we move on.

We are sent to the letter and the coin, the final pieces. The coin has a square hole in the middle with the cardinal directions on it. The letter from Francis Drake has squares on it the precise size of the hole in the coin, and there are letters/directions on the reverse. Putting the coin on the squares and taking the direction from the back points at a series of words: I stole the Gold Spade. Presumably from digging up the City of Gold? 

The curator is convinced the Baron works at the museum. We must look at the staff and see. Who could it be? Looks like we’ll be doing anagrams - several of the names look Timesteal-y. The best thing is, having identified him, the Curator’s response is “of course it’s [them]. [They’re] such an idiot…” Lol. Again, there is a super cute audio clip at the end. I love it. Oh! But we’re not done! When do these artifacts go? Once you’ve browsed the website and found the correct dates, input them into the clock and get more cute clips. Plus, and I should see if the other did this as well, you can get a certificate for solving it once you’ve gotten all four placed safely. Very cute. 

The Smashed Piñata 

This is the last of the three, and from the feedback from the families that did it, maybe the hardest? Will see. Hmmm. No introductory QR code piece. Will need to check with the families.