A Roaring Conviction: A Great Gatsby Inspired Escape Room, Lecture notes of Dance

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A Great Gatsby Inspired Escape Room

The Story

There has been a hit-and-run. The victim: one Myrtle Wilson. Intel has identified the vehicle in question as belonging to a Jay Gatsby. But the real question here is who was driving this so-called “death car”. Now we, at the Long Island Police Force, have hired a team of private investigators, being you, the players, to go undercover and collect various pieces of evidence on two primary suspects. These investigators will be separated into two groups based on location, with one group searching East Egg and the other searching West Egg. Now keep in mind, only one suspect is guilty of driving the vehicle and it is on you, the investigators, to identify and convict the correct suspect. You will be competing as two location-based teams and you only have one hour to complete your objective before the case closes. If neither team succeeds, the death of Mrs. Myrtle Wilson will forever go unsolved, so please choose your teams carefully. That being said, are you ready, investigators, to take on the challenge and find out who really killed Mrs. Myrtle Wilson?

Good luck teams,

East Egg

It is an important characteristic of the source material that the narrator in question is unreliable due to their connection and attachment to a particular character. While in the book, it is Nick's infatuation with Gatsby, here it changes per starting location with each player acting as an impressionable “Nick”. For players starting in East Egg, they will be led through their story by Daisy and thus will have an old money and old fashioned perspective. They will start in Daisy’s space, a room filled with white sheer curtains and a beautiful checkerboard floor. Once realizing that the curtains need to be pushed aside to reveal bookcases and glass windows overlooking the lake, players will find a mirror puzzle, a jewelry puzzle, and a diary puzzle that will turn on the always unattainable green light in the distance. The important information and clues needed to solve these puzzles are, of course, located in West Egg. Once the jewelry puzzle is completed, it will unlock the hidden entrance to Tom’s space, a luxurious speakeasy where players will need to realign photographs, mix ‘drinks’, and solve a poker problem, all while collecting evidence against various suspects. This evidence will be obviously labeled but will contain false details of the puzzles and spaces encountered by players to reveal Gatsby as the proper culprit (as West Egg is searching for evidence against Tom, he will not be included in East Egg’s suspect options). Once all puzzles are solved in the speakeasy, the door will open, leading to a joint room separated by caution tape. Players of both teams will have access to this room but will only be able to work on the puzzles on their side of the caution tape, though the animated all-seeing eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckelburg will overlook them all, following players as they move. For East Egg, this room serves as Mr. Wilson’s garage and will feature a color-coded gas pumping puzzle that will provide the final suspect evidence cards and the prompt to

Daisy ’ s Space

Tom ’ s Speakeasy

Nick ’ s House

Gatsby ’ s Party

unseen blood spots and a riddle indicating that players must put pressure on the blood spots in a certain order. The correct solution will reveal the final suspect evidence cards and needed briefcase. Players here will need to follow a similar pattern of suspect identification as East Egg to land on Tom as the proper culprit. Similarly, the correct response will open the secondary entrance to the final Long Island Police Force Station. With a West Egg victory, the news article will reveal Tom as the driver of the ‘death car’ and report on his torrid affair with Myrtle Wilson, opening up a potential and yet ambiguous relationship between Gatsby and Daisy.

More Info

If neither side completes their puzzles within the allotted hour, the third alternate ending will activate. This time it would be a news article on the unsolved and failed investigation into the hit-and-run of Myrtle Wilson. The ending would not immediately trigger on the hour mark, as a victory for the players is always preferred, but rather it would be triggered by the discretion of the game master running the room. The game master in charge would take on the character of the supervising Long Island Police Force officer, Officer Fitz, when giving any needed help along the way. Players would simply need to call out for Officer Fitz and the game master can respond to teams both separately and together. Because the goal is to have fun and to solve puzzles, there is no limitation or consequences on the amount of hints needed.

The Puzzles

Unless otherwise indicated, each puzzle, when correctly solved, will activate a voiceover by the specific location’s narrator (either Daisy Buchanan or Jay Gatsby). These voiceovers will indirectly inform the players that the puzzle has been completed properly.

East Egg

Daisy’s Space Mirror Puzzle In the shelves of the bookcases, players will find a riddle typed out backwards, and a piece of paper labeled ‘Jordan’s Notes’ stating ‘needs translation’ with four phrases on it. When held up to any one of the various mirrors in the room, the riddle can be read properly and will indicate that players must contact Nick (West Egg) with a code word of ‘golf’. (There will be a phone directory in each location.) West Egg players will know that when asked about ‘golf’ they must respond with “Jordan’s Notes” leading to the four phrases: eagle un, green neuf, putt deux, and par cinq. With the assitance of West Egg’s French to English dictionary, players will idenitify the phrases as: eagle 1, green 9, putt 2, par 5. (This puzzle will not trigger a voiceover as the code identified is still needed for future puzzles.)

Jewelry Puzzle Amongst the shelves, players will also find scattered jewelry, a locked jewelry box labeled ‘eagle, green, putt, par’, and a jewelry display. By using the code 1925, players can unlock the box to recieve the final pieces of jewelry needed to complete the display and a handwritten note from Daisy indicating that the servants keeping forgetting how to set up her jewelry properly and she should ask Nick for assistance. A diagram outlining the correct placement of each piece is located in West Egg and players would need to work together with the opposing side to complete the puzzle, as hinted in Daisy’s note. With the successful comlpetion of the puzzle, a section of the bookcase will open to reveal Tom’s hidden speakeasy.

Diary Puzzle Scattered around Diasy’s space will be various ripped out diary pages recounting her past involvement with Gatsby. When placed back the proper order, these pages will reveal Daisy’s preferred hiding spot of the diary. When placed back where it belongs, the glowing green light at the end of the dock will turn on and a black light in Tom’s speakeasy will change the photgraphs from pictures of Tom and Daisy to annotated pictures of Daisy and Gatsby.

Tom’s Space Photograph Puzzle Scrawled in the margains of Daisy’s diary, (which once triggered can be moved) will be the proper order in which to realign the photographs of now Daisy and Gatsby in Tom’s speakeasy. There will also be three missing photgraphs needed to complete the

gas pumps (a red, blue, green, and yellow). These gas pumps will have correlating yet ‘mixed-up’ colored nozzles. So the red pump will have a yellow nozzle, the yellow pump will have a green nozzle, etc. On each pump there will galloon amounts. Players must use the corresponding colored nozzles to fill the corresponding colored cars with the amounts on the corresponding colored pumps. So the green nozzle would be used to fill the green ‘car’ with the amount of gas shown on the green pump. Once each car has been filled with the proper amount of gas, a large toolbox will open. Here players will find a briefcase, an instructional prompt, and the final suspect evidence cards.

Final Evidence Puzzle At this point, players should have collected a total of 10 suspect evidence cards (2 in Daisy’s space, 4 in Tom’s space, 2 in Wilson’s garage, and 2 in the toolbox). There will be mutiple cards on each suspect (2 on Nick, 2 on Jordan, 3 on Mr. Wilson, and 3 on Gatsby). Each card will identify details of the various spaces in the rooms that the players have previously encountered. All details will be correct except for one of Gatsby’s cards. When this card is accurately placed in the briefcase, the final two doors (one on each side of the caution tape) will open to the Long Island Police Force Station and the winning East Egg video will play, assuming this puzzle is completed before the other side. If the puzzle is not completed first, the door will be opened when the other side completes their final evidence puzzle and the video playing will be the winning West Egg video.

West Egg

Nick’s House Book Arranging Puzzle In Nick’s house, players will find many scattered books, empty spaces on the shelves labeled 1, 9, 2 , and 5, and a message to ask Daisy about Jordan’s note the next time ‘golf’ comes up. Working with East Egg to translate “eagle 1, green 9, putt 2, par 5,” West Egg players will know to put the book entitled ‘How to Get an Eagle Every Time’ in the space marked with a 1, the book entitled ‘The Secret to Staying on the Green’ in the space maked 9, the book entitled ‘Top Putters and Their Techniques’ in the space marked 2, and finally the book entitled ‘Par is the New Boogey’ in the space marked 5. Once rightly put in their places, a locked panel of the bookcase will open to reveal a Louis Armstrong vinyl and a gramophone crank.

Plant Identification Puzzle There will be 3 distinct plants in the outdoor garden section of Nick’s house, each with 3 different labeled buttons, and a handwritten note to ask Daisy if her gardeners had a copy of a plant identification book as Nick’s has gone missing. With the help of the book on East Egg, players will need to accurately identify and label (press the correct button) each plant. Once correct, a locked drawer in the desk will open to Nick’s favorite writing pen.

Journal Witing Puzzle On Nick’s desk there will be an open digital ‘book’ containing a three riddles. Players must solve the riddles and write in the

the crank and the correct vinyl are in place, Louis Armstrong will start to play on loop and colored floor panels will light up. (Since this puzzle triggers music, it will not trigger a voiceover.)

‘DDR’ Puzzle The colored floor panels will correalte to the colors in the firework display of lights. This display will demonstrate the order in which to step on the panels (as previously noted in “everything seems to shine in the right order when Louis Armstrong plays and it makes me want to dance ”). Note that the display will loop and will start and end with no light so the players know which color is first. By stepping or dancing on the floor panels in the correct order, players will open the door to the final joining room.

Gatsby’s Pool Pool of Blood Puzzle There will be a small towel next to the elevated pool that reads “water erases all lies.” From here, players need to place the towel into the water. Once wet, the towel will read, “Obsession can be draining.” They must recognize that this means to drain the pool and flip the corresponding drainage switch on the pool maintenance breaker box. Once recognizing and triggering the drainage of the pool, a black light will turn on, revealing otherwise unseen blood spots and a riddle indicating that players must put pressure on the blood spots in a certain order. The correct solution will open a panel underneath the pool containing the final suspect evidence cards and needed briefcase.

Final Evidence Puzzle This final puzzle is very similar for each location-based team. At this point, West Egg players should have also collected a total of 10 suspect evidence cards (4 in Nick’s house, 1 in Gatsby’s party, 3 by the pool, and 2 with the briefcase). Again, there will be mutiple cards on each suspect (1 on Nick, 3 on Jordan, 3 on Mr. Wilson, and 3 on Tom). The puzzle works the same, with all details correct except for one of Tom’s cards. This card will trigger the doors to the Long Island Police Force Station and the winning West Egg video will play, assuming this puzzle is completed before the other side. Again, if the puzzle is not completed first, the door will be opened when the other side completes their final evidence puzzle and the video playing will be the winning East Egg video. In the case that the third alternate ending is triggered, the doors to the Long Island Police Force Station will open on their own and the video playing will be the ‘failed’ video.