It was raining in the City — a hard rain — almost hard enough to wash the slime from the streets. But it never does. When the rain stops, the boulevard dries and the snakes once again slink from their holes. That’s when my door opens and the helpless, the desperate, walk through with a heart full of hurt and a pocket full of nothing.*
My name is Bullit. Traci Bullit. I’m a private dick without the di – well, you get the picture. My bosom buddy is Mr Redemption, because he’s helped me out of some tight scrapes and spends time in a holster under my right arm.
The rain was still falling when my door opened, only it wasn’t the helpless or the desperate who walked through. It was the Governor’s special assistant. He had instructions for me to get down to the Silent Peacock Hotel where the local gumshoes were tripping over themselves trying to sort out a spate of disappearances. I don’t usually do requests, but Governor Linden is a good egg, and I figured there’d be no harm in doing her a favour. Besides, girls should always stick together...
So might begin the mystery of Room 326, the latest grid-wide hunt from MadPea Games. I was actually hesitant to blog this piece, as I visited Hoshi Island last week and tried my hand at following some of the clues (I don’t as a rule “do” hunts), prior to abandoning things due to other pressures – and then Honour McMillan brilliantly covered the setting (I swear, one day I’m going to have to superglue her shoes to the floor to stop her getting to all the fun places ahead of me…. 😉 ).
MadPea routinely produce grid-wide hunts as a part of their broader résumé of games, and all are both imaginative and cleverly themed. Room 326 runs through until the end of the month and involves players becoming sleuths attempting to unlock the mysterious disappearance of 15 people who stayed in the titular room at the Silent Peacock Hotel. The mystery can only be resolved by following a trail of point-and-click clues across the grid.
The game is HUD-based (costing L$50 from the vendors in front of the hotel entrance). Your first task on purchasing it is to activate it, which requires finding Room 326 and the information inside.
Once you have found the required information, your HUD will activate and reveal the 15 missing people, clicking on a photo will provide you with information on a person and – importantly – the location of the clue associated with them. Clues take the form of envelopes which must be found and clicked on. Unlike other hunts, the envelopes don’t themselves give out prizes. Instead, players must collect all 15 envelopes; only then will they be given instructions on how to proceed to the final gameplay area where, as they say in the time-honoured tradition, “All will be revealed…”
Room 326 runs through until January 31st. Even if you’re not into hunts, it’s an entertaining distraction.
Related Links
- Room 326 Hunt on Hoshi Island (SLurl, rated Moderate)
- Madpea Games website
*Quote from “The Big Goodbye”, scripted by Tracy Torme
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 