My older brother taught himself to read by watching Wheel of Fortune, and then taught me to read before I started kindergarten. While I enjoyed reading as a kid, I was never what you would call a voracious reader. When I was in grade school, our district introduced the Accelerated Reader program – a system which assigns levels and points to books, and quotas to students based on their reading levels. I suppose it could be seen as a way to “gamify” reading, but for me, and many other students, it turned reading into a chore. By junior high, I was pretty…
Puzzles and mysteries for adventurous minds
Posts Tagged‘recommendations’
Space Alert
I’d love to post about mysteries and puzzles today, but honestly all I can seem to think about is Space Alert, a real-time collaborative board game by Vlaada Chvátil. Last weekend, a friend of ours brought over Space Alert with the sales pitch “It only takes about 30 minutes to play.” Fast forward three hours later, and we had only decided to stop playing because it was 3 a.m. and our engineer was falling asleep at the terminal. This game is addictive. Here’s the basic concept: You and your teammates are recruits for a space research initiative. A ship aptly named…
Eden of the East
From grade school through high school, Japanese anime, manga, and music were probably my most passionate interests. I collected DVDs, graphic novels, posters and figurines. I got up early to watch Sailor Moon on the USA network before school and spent all my allowance money on Neon Genesis Evangelion, one DVD at a time. In college, I studied Japanese language and literature and even studied abroad in Tokyo, but by then my interest in anime and enthusiasm for keeping up with the latest series started to wane. It seems harder to find series that bring anything new to the…
The X-Files Game
Ever since I started this blog and started having more frequent conversations about mystery/puzzle/game topics with my husband, he has been constantly wanting to reference The X-Files Game, an adventure game based on The X-Files TV series which he played a lot as a kid but I had never heard of. We finally got around to playing it together a few weeks ago, finishing it up this week, and I really, really enjoyed it! The X-Files Game came out for PC in 1998, and Playstation in 1999. It’s a point-and-click adventure game with a unique visual style—all the settings and…
Neutral’s Room Escape Games
It’s the middle of the week, it’s rainy, and you’re bored. It’s the perfect time for a Flash game! Specifically, Neutral’s Room Escape Games. Neutral’s games follow the typical formula: You are inexplicably trapped in a room and must find objects and solve puzzles to find a way to escape. The style, quality, and difficulty of Neutral’s games are what sets them apart. The graphics are really pleasing to the eye, featuring soft colors and beautiful ambient light. While some escape games might stick you in a dark, creepy room, Neutral’s rooms are bright and pleasant, encouraging you to play…
Twin Peaks Roundup
I didn’t watch the famous 90’s cult classic mystery show Twin Peaks until just last year (we blew through the whole thing on Netflix pretty quick), but I absolutely loved it and I’m now a huge fan. I might do a more formal review-type post on the show later on, but for now I just want to round up some fun Twin Peaks links I’ve enjoyed over the past few months.
Ready Player One
I had the misfortune of getting sick right between Christmas and New Years, but being bed-ridden all day allowed me to read all of Ernest Cline’s compelling sci-fi novel, Ready Player One, in less than 24 hours. Since then, I’ve been recommending the book to pretty much everyone I know, and now I recommend it to you readers for its elements of mystery and puzzle-hunting. The story takes place in a down-trodden 2044 Earth, where everyone uses a free-to-play virtual world called OASIS as a refuge from the poverty and decay of the real world. When the creator of OASIS,…
Mystery on TV – Castle
One of my favorite shows on TV right now is ABC’s Castle, a fun crime drama with an emphasis of mystery starring Nathan Fillion (of Firefly fame) and Stana Katic. Richard Castle (Fillion) is a best-selling murder mystery novelist looking for inspiration for his next book. He begins shadowing Detective Kate Beckett (Katic) on her murder investigations and models the protagonist of his new books after her. Castle’s creative thought process as a mystery writer often helps the investigative team make connections they would have missed, and he proves to be a useful addition to the precinct, in spite of…
Sherlock (BBC)
If you’re a fan of mysteries, if you’re a fan of beautiful cinematography, if you’re a fan of well-written television, you should be watching the BBC’s Sherlock. Having just wrapped up its second season and gearing up for a third, there’s no better time than now to become a fan of this award-winning crime drama. Sherlock is a modern-day adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s infamous Sherlock Holmes character and stories. The characters in Sherlock use modern technology–cell phones, computers, DNA testing–to solve crimes and advance the plot. John Watson keeps a blog of the duo’s adventures, and even Holmes’s…
Betrayal at House on the Hill
In recent years, board games seem to be experiencing a huge surge in popularity, with lots of new and interesting titles popping up in game stores, homes, and college dorms. The Settlers of Catan has become a household name, and games like Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, and Small World are following close behind. Games of this new generation tend to have complex rules, strong themes, and beautiful artwork. So far my favorite title from this board game Renaissance is Betrayal at House on the Hill, published by Avalon Games. The horror theme is something fun and different, but what…