What is a Mystery Puzzle Game?

 Mystery Puzzle Games (MPG) is a term used by The Voynich Times to describe an explosively growing hobby of armchair detectives, ghost hunters, treasure seekers, and solvers of puzzles and mysteries...although we doubt we are the first to have put those words together to describe this or similar hobbies...but we need to define the hobby of which we are reporting on.

Defining this hobby can be as simple as knowing it when you see it, and as difficult as slicing through multiple overlapping Venn diagrams.  There is also disagreement as to where the lines are, and what belongs and doesn't belong, so we will be exploring this through our site over time.  

Many hobbies are defined by those within it, whereas this hobby has been created through multiple means, times, and methods without even the forethought of being a part of this hobby.  For example, some just wanted to create a more immersive murder mystery story, others wanted to add storylines or themes to puzzles, whereas others wanted to create immersive worlds and experiences.  Some have created books, some have added physical props to books, others have created subscription boxes with paperwork and artifacts, while others have moved to digital platforms...so how do we, at The Voynich Times define this hobby?

One of the best ways to describe the genre is to provide examples of the largest players in the field, and work outward from there: 
  • Hunt a Killer
  • Deadbolt Mystery Society
  • Murder Mystery in a Box
  • Mysterious Package Company
From there, there are many newcomers in the market, a small sample of which are:
  • The Curious Correspondance Club
  • The Scarlet Envelope
  • The Boundless Library
  • The Society of Curiosities
Another type is puzzle books, from companies such as:
  • Escapages
  • Escape Book
  • Montague Island Mysteries
And there are others we will be explorig.

So, what defines this hobby and separates in from similar hobbies?  We will also investigate what it is not, although that line can often be fuzzy (the Venn diagram of this hobby overlaps several other hobbies, not surprisingly).

What it is not:
  • Escape rooms (although they are a close cousin and often progenitor of this hobby)
    • In person
    • Virtual
  • ARGs (Augmented Reality Games) (another cousin at times)
  • WhoDunnit? Detective stories...a really close sibling that crosses the line at times
  • Board games (with some exceptions)
  • Card games (with some exceptions)
Confusing, isn't it?

So, what are the key elements of a Mystery Puzzle Game (MPG)? The three concentric circles of the Venn diagram are in the name itself
  1. Mystery
  2. Puzzle
  3. Game
It is a game, first and foremost.  It is a "game" in the fact that you the reader or player need to absorb information and act upon it -- versus a passive reading of a novel, for example.

It contains a mystery to solve.  This is the primary action the player must complete.  it can be as simple as guessing the killer from evidence provided, to uncovering layers of mystery and meaning through hidden clues and across multiple products.

It is a puzzle.  The mystery is not just presented, but must actively be solved, whether through deductive reasoning, decoding ciphers, researching real-world locations for clues, or drawing a map and folding a piece of paper, for example.

So, putting this together, our definition of this hobby is a game where you solve a mystery through puzzles.

We plan on revisiting this definition as we explore this hobby, so we would love your feedback!







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mystery Puzzle History: The Progenitor Age: Photocrimes

Image
The 1930s--The Golden Age of Detective Fiction!    Detective stories, pulps, and crime stories were very popular in the 1930s.  Agatha Christie was the preeminent  mystery writer of the time and Sherlock Holmes was still a major influence. It was in this era that Photocrimes was created.  Photocrimes was a feature in a newspaper consisting of photographs and text.  They starred Inspector Holt, who would solve the crime that was laid out in the paper.  The reader was tasked with coming up with the solution, then comparing it to the actual solution provided by Holt, which was printed elsewhere in the paper.  Solving the crime across the panels requires paying attention to the details of the case as written and the pictures themselves, as there are clues all throughout.  The reader cannot always solve everything about the crime, since the detective puts the clues and other evidence together in the story (including certain motives the reader does...
Read more

Mystery Puzzle History: The Progenitor Age: Cipher Stories Puzzle Book

Image
Cipher Stories Puzzle Book is a collection of 25 unrelated short story puzzles that all use a similar mechanism to solve.  It was first printed on February 28, 1928, published by Lewis Copeland Co. (1)  It was written by Kenneth S. Cooper and Illustrated by Olin Wakefield.  We cannot find any other works by either man at this point, so must think this was their first and only book, or that they were pseudonyms of others at this time that may not have wanted to be associated with this genre.    The short story puzzles are also called Cipher Stories and are actual stories that reach a point where a Transposition Cipher must be solved in order to progress.  To solve the bigger puzzles, the reader must first learn the key in a mini puzzle which is based on a hint in the story itself.  Most stories have two puzzles and have clues to assist you in solving them.   The primary cipher to solve is generally set up to look like a crossword puzzle in lay...
Read more

The Original(ish) Escape Room Video Game: Crimson Room Reviewed!

Image
Crimson Room "I drank too much last night.  I thought what time it was now. I felt thirst of the throat. The bed was different from usual. Is this a hotel? No, it does not seem like a hotel. I am shut up. I have to escape."  -- opening of the Crimson Room The Crimson Room is one of the first graphical video game escape rooms and considered to be one of the most influential for the genre.  It was released 04 Mar 2004 (1) and built on Adobe Flash.  The game was developed by Toshimitsu Takagi and was inspired by the graphical game MOTAS and the games Chasm and DROOM. (2)   The music and sound effects were by Oto-Jiten (Datacraft Co., LTD.) (2)  It was also preceded in 1988 by the text adventure escape room game Behind Closed Doors .   The story is a simple escape story...I woke up in a crimson room, apparently after drinking too much and having lost some memory (possibly due to the drinking?).  The room is locked and I need to get out. The room was ...
Read more