191 – Clever Kids Mysteries with John Zilch – The Family Gamers Podcast

Let’s start with our fact for 191 – thanks to Dwayna. Special Orders 191, issued by Robert E. Lee, created a domino-effect during the American Civil War which lead to Lincoln’s timing publicizing the Emancipation Proclamation. More information: https://youtu.be/HjKKoLHwwB8 and https://www.nps.gov/mono/learn/historyculture/so191.htm

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What We’ve Been Playing

Codenames (our Disney video)

Bloom Town (from Sidekick Games)

Go Nuts for Donuts (Gamewright)

Mountains (HABA)

Cities: Skylines (Paradox & KOSMOS)

5-Minute Marvel (Spin Master Games) – surprisingly fun even with younger kids who are still working on symbol-matching.

The Game of Life inspired the kids to make their own game! (We’d recommend other games, but always glad to see kids trying game design.)

Imhotep: The Duel (KOSMOS)

Clever Kids Mysteries

We’ve never done a “real” escape room, but we like escape rooms in a box. We usually keep on hand some EXIT boxes, Unlock, etc. but none of them is as good for kids as Clever Kids Mysteries.

John’s goal has been to create something simpler than the other escape room boxes, and something that would be great for families with kids to work on together. The existing boxes (Mystery at the Lux Museum, Case of the Wayward Sleigh) each have eight puzzles for kids to solve to get to a final solution to a problem posed at the beginning.

John’s inspiration was an odd event that happened when his kids were around 6. They found a notebook with some text in it. In their heads, it was a mystery, and they were trying to solve it.

“What if a real letter came to your house with clues and a story, and the detectives were asking for a kid’s help?”

John Zilch

Depending on your family and your kids, you may want to play through the mysteries together, or simply be available for “hints”.

Each of the mystery boxes is $10 plus shipping, and we think they’re well worth it. They’re obviously hand-crafted, and getting a package in the mail is very exciting!

We reviewed Mystery at the Lux Museum and really enjoyed it.

Case of the Wayward Sleigh was a post-Christmas activity for our kids.

We’re looking forward to Curse of Arcana Island, which should be out in May/June. This was in development longest, which is why it’s not yet available.

To help offer some respite during the COVID-19 crisis, Clever Kids is offering a quick case (four puzzles), called Scavenge in the Attic – FREE!

This case is all contained in one room, set up so that you can print it all at home (even in black and white if needed!)

Find Clever Kids Mysteries Online

Website: www.cleverkidsmysteries.com

Facebook: @CleverKidsMysteries

Twitter: @CleverKidsMyst

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