Treasure Hunt: are you in for the "treasure", or for the "hunt"?

For some time now, I've been "hunting" for Treasure Hunt Games... :))) Somehow that's funny 'cause it seems I'm not doing a good job as a treasure hunt game-hunter :D (yup, wrote it on purpose :P) Only recently, I got the chance to take part into one!

As I noticed, they are quite popular... Also part of the team-building activities provided to companies. But, as usually, my colleagues wouldn't vote for "such activities".

One day I learnt about a treasure hunt by bike :) that was music to my ears, as I very much enjoy bike-riding... As I was reading the event details in parallel to getting my hopes up :P I noticed it was organised for children. Someone "Treasure hunt" - game provider should really consider this idea!

Treasure hunt for tickets to concerts. This was last month, but I was at work :-) oh well... I didn't feel so much regret when paying the concert ticket, as I felt for missing out on the Ticket-hunt fun and excitement!

Sooner or later I was going to find one suitable for me, my schedule, my adult age, my friends :-) and I did!
Initially, I evaluated the treasure hunt as a fun activity! After trying it, I'd like to assign also exciting, adrenalin rush and must try :D as #tags to this activity!
It all depends pretty much on the quality of organization, but I enjoyed it, in spite of the flosses,
I feel we lost precious time due to some organisation topics, but let's assume we all did (equal disadvantage for all teams :))) seems fair)

Most of the teams were parents & children. Were the adults in, only for the children? or also a little bit for them? :-) cause in the essence... we are all children somewhere deep down in our souls... Some of us keep a strong connection with the inner-child, others may get way too carried away by daily tasks and loose this connection; stop "feeding" the child; stop playing... And once we've stopped playing, we start aging; we grow old; the soul looses it's vitality!

And that's why... I was in, for the hunt! Not for the treasure, not for the prizes, not for the winner-cups. I was in for the mission, I was in for the new experience, for the adventure: collecting clues from different places of the old city center.
I was in, for the adrenaline rush; in my mind I was running from one location to the other :-)

We didn't win any prize, but we completed the quest successfully... Yay!!! :D
I was amazed to find out that, a lot of teams gave up the quest, as soon as all the prizes were taken, by the first 3 teams (when all treasures had been hunted :D)... Those people were in for the "treasure", the prize, the material gain (not so much worth, by the way!); they were not in for the "hunt"; and I'm not even sure they were in for the fun... Because highly competitive people never get to really enjoy the game... or do they? I believe  that the stress of not failing and the fear of loosing will darken the "fun" part and throw it into question.

I didn't feel like we (my team) lost, just because we didn't complete the mission on the first three positions (on the clock). But, I would have felt we lost if we hadn't completed the quest at all. But we did! We gathered all clues from around the city and found the final Password... we were just not as fast :D as the winner teams... should have brought running shoes :-) then, the adrenaline rush wouldn't have been only in my head :-)))

All in all, my prize was completing the mission, a prize for the soul, that brightened my day... as each day, in which I try some cool activity-thing, becomes brighter and full of positive energy! :-D

My first lateral thinking puzzle: 'The party'

I've been thinking about a puzzle for some time now and I finally have an idea :-)

You can write your questions and/or assumptions in the comments and I will answer.
PS: they must be yes/no questions [more info on puzzle rulez here on my blog].

This is the puzzle (first lateral thinking puzzle created by me) ;) Enjoy!!!

Three young men are invited to the same party. They all want to attend the party with the same woman; and they do so. How is this possible, since all three enter the party with their girlfriends?


Update: Find the response and other lateral thinking puzzles created by me.

Thinking out of the box, with "lateral thinking puzzles"

Ever since I first learnt about the existence of Lateral thinking puzzles, I've been intrigued by them.
I was impressed both by the ability and patience that is required to solve them and by the ability to write such a puzzle (to create it) :-)

While playing, they are like fuel for the brain, increasing your creativity, your capacity to see beyond the obvious and your deductive skills... but all this in a fun and socializing way, because they're to be played in groups of friends; and you can also play online (dedicated sites / blogs).

So... what are they? Few initial facts and much added logic... but not the "brain push-ups" kind of logic that you use for logical puzzles or for math exams... and not the kind of creativity you use when writing literature... It's somewhere at the border, where logic meets creativity... By using logic you analyze all possible / impossible / probable / improbable scenarios imposed by the little information you have.

The story teller (a.k.a. the person in the group who knows the puzzle) presents a scenario or situation with very few details. The story will seem quite confusing and illogical at the beginning :-) like "What?!" ... that is usually followed by a quick interior brain-storm (search for a possible logical explanation) and then you realize this is not logical and the facts apparently have no connection to each other... Nope, you conclude that it's not logical at all... well, that just means it's lateral :-) You must think out of the box to solve this one! 

I cannot continue explaining without an example... so... with the risk of ruining one puzzle for you :P I will use one of my favorites... So, imagine you're spending time with a group of friends. Wondering what to do next, one of your friends tells the group, the following Puzzle:
"A man pushed his car. He stopped when he reached a hotel, at which point he knew he was bankrupt. Why?" (source and also other puzzles here).

As you read the facts, there's no straightforward connection between them.
This kind of puzzle is intriguing and apparently hard... but in practice it's really fun and quite relaxing for the brain! Especially if there are several players, that work together and elaborate explanations.

So the goal would be to find out those missing links , between the parts of the puzzle, that would link all information in a logical way, so that each detail makes sense.
Some questions arise, like:
Why was he pushing the car?
If he ran out of gas (logic assumption) why push the car to a hotel and not to a gas station? :-)
How can he know he was bankrupt? And why in front of the hotel?

By means of questioning the story teller, you get closer and closer to the facts that are relevant for the story to make sense. This is the most important focus of the game: ask the right questions and the answer will reveal itself little by little.

Unfortunately for the curious players but fortunately for the fun of deduction, the story teller will only answer yes / no questions, not why / how and other questions! The good thing is that, the players may ask as many questions as they want... 

There's no question-limit and no time-limit imposed! 

These only depend on the patience of your story teller :-)))

The players cooperate, each can ask questions, it's not a competition and even if only one will think about the correct solution, they would have all contributed to solving the puzzle, via their questions.

So, what is the difficulty based on? The players usually stumble on direct assumptions, done implicitly by logic; these usually throw the players on a wrong path from the beginning. In this case, from the first sentence we assume that the car is either broken or without gas (that is actually wrong).
Making such assumptions in case of lateral thinking puzzles can throw the players off the right-track and only after they exhaust all alternatives they come back to the starting point...
So people will probably focus initially on linking the hotel to the bankruptcy, linking the man to the hotel making hypotheses on whom he met and so on... while the real solution is based on other 'unsaid' details... as you will see.

The story can go something like:
"Did he walk into the hotel to find out he was bankrupt?" >>> "No"
"Did he meet anyone in front of the hotel?" >>> "No"
"The hotel was his and when he got there he realized something happened (e.g. the hotel was on fire or something)." >>> "No, he does not own the hotel; nothing happened to the hotel."
... and the list can continue ...
At some point, people will focus also on the car:
Was his car broken? >>> No
Did he push his car for a long distance? >>> No, actually very short (even if the "very short" is a literally relevant hint :P , players will not notice this at first.)
There are some key questions that are highly relevant for the puzzle.
For example:
Did the car have suffice gas? 
The car is an important detail of the puzzle and in this case, both Yes / No answers would be wrong. So, the story teller must find a suitable answer, not to give away too much but also not to hide facts.
By replying "yes, the car had no gas" (which is also true, as you will see), the players assume that's the reason why the car was pushed... and this way he/she can throw players off the correct track. I would say something like: "It had no gas, but that is not the reason why he was pushing it". This way I keep the players still focused on why did he push the car?

As you can see, it is quite challenging also for the story teller, to keep the players correctly informed! He/she will decide how much information to reveal. If the puzzles seems too hard for the players and there's a risk they become frustrated and loose the interest, the story teller can give additional hints.

By focusing on the car, the players will eventually discover that it's not a real car, but a small (toy) car. And by another set of questions related to the hotel / the distance / the bankruptcy topic, in 30 min to 1 hour :P (kidding... may take less :P may take longer ) of questioning the story teller, they will reach the correct solution:
The guy in the story is playing Monopoly. After throwing the dice, he moves his car - on the board of the game - reaching an opponent's "hotel". He then briefly computes that after paying the fee, he will become bankrupt, in Monopoly money, of course :)

As you may realize, the solutions to the puzzles don't just come popping in your brain, just like solving a math problem, or a logical puzzle.
Logical puzzles are also quite intriguing and some very hard to solve, but in lateral thinking, that logic is used is totally different. To make connections, to find an explanation for something that seems impossible.

So... puzzle your brain from time to time, or else it will get rusty!!! ;;)

To make up for the puzzle I "ruined" (by using it as example), here's another one!

A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man said "thank-you" and walked away. What happened?
(puzzle source same as the previous, but please don't read the solution right away! :P)

Introduction to Real Room Escape Games

The so called Room Escape or Exit Games, were - for me - the biggest "woow" of the year! Until this spring, I didn't even know these things existed :P ...though they were around (at least in Europe) for some years now.

I wish someone had told me about Room Escape games sooner! 

Now, I'm telling you ;)

So... we were on a small trip in Europe. We reached Prague - with absolutely no idea or plan on what to visit there, besides the classic city tour. Prague is great, by the way! :-)

I asked for something interesting to do, Tripadvisor came up with this suggestion: "MindMaze exit game!"

When I heard "mind maze", I was already intrigued...
Before booking a game, we read the basics about "Exit Games":
The team (2 to 4/5 players) are locked up inside a room and they have 60minutes to get out, meaning they must find the "key", from the inside!
In order to unlock the door (or to solve the mission), the team must work together to find clues, keys to the locks and solve all sorts riddles, puzzles to break the codes of the code-locks, to find more clues..and so on, 'till the mission is solved (or 'till time's up). 

I'm not sure about you, but for me, that was enough information, to look forward to this challenge! I've always loved logical puzzles and anything that involved connecting the dots :-)

Besides, this was actually a real game! not a PC* game, not a board game! 

We, the members of the team, were actually the meeples and the room was our playing board :)

*)actually there are also online exit games, good for practice, before going on a real mission ;;)

I loved that game more than I would have expected... There's logic, collaboration, communication, team-work... all in real-time! 
I was really impressed by the set-up, puzzles ideas and by the outcome! I cannot giveaway any setup or game details - even though I'd love to, cause they are smartly made and interesting - but it would spoil the game for future players.

You can only play one game once! After you have revealed the secret codes, found the keys and unlocked the door (or at least completed part of the mission), there's no fun and challenge in doing that again.
But, the good part is that each game location is different and the game-providers rethink the games from time to time. Usually one game provider offers several game-rooms (with different themes).

Since Prague, we've Escaped (or Not! :P) from several Games around Europe... and everywhere I go, I search for such games... usually you can book them online, which makes it easy!

From all these experiences, here's an overview, without revealing too much ;;)

Each game is different in the story line, layout, location, goal, but the main ideas are the same:
- the game's location consists of a room or several rooms
- it can be played in teams of 2 up to 4 or even 6 people (depending on the size of the location)
- the group is locked* inside and has 60 minutes - on the clock - to escape**
 *of course not literally locked, you can quit and exit at any time if you don't like the game
 **depending on the "game provider" the goal of the game may be to actually unlock the door, or it can vary (e.g. open a vault and find a treasure, or other story-lines)
- when the team manages to complete the mission in time (less then 60 minutes), they win (or successfully completed the mission); otherwise, they fail the mission and the game ends.

- the Game Moderator may help you during the game (either by walkie talkie, or other communication means)

During the game, the goal is to find clues inside the room(s), that will help you unlock e.g. drawers / boxes / parts of furniture or doors to other rooms in the game!
You and your friends must pay attention to each detail in the game and team members must constantly exchange information, for a successful mission!

Don't miss a chance to try the real experience!
Just google "room escape" or "exit game", whenever you're looking for something fun to do in your town or in vacation!

Below are some of my favorites, that I found the most challenging! Enjoy! ;;)

Room Escape Vienna
Exit Games Timisoara