Sunday, January 1, 2012

2012: Happy New Year

2 months ago on Halloween my husband surprised me with reservations for New Years Eve.
This was HUGE deal, as he typically is not a planner (or so he claims).
We would be renting...

 a cabin in...
(Right outside of Brown County, in southern Indiana).

We would be joining our good friends Ron and Janet and Niki and Kevin to play a live game of CLUE!

Dinner by candlight at the
 Inn's restaurant, promptly at 5pm.
We gathered with the other players for a gourmet feast.
The game was simple, just like Parker Brothers board game (of course with a Hopwood twist).

Part 1:
With your team of 4, solve the 16 riddles to locate bags and envelopes that contained a certain number of coins (1-3). The coins would then be exchange in Part II for clues to solve the mystery.
(Very much like the Amazing Race).
(This was probably my favorite part, I liked racing around the grounds- even in the dark and the mud, and solving the riddles.)

At the call of GAME ON we race around (in the dark) hunting for the bags.
There were 2 bags per location and each team could only take one. It was a matter speed and strategy.

Rob and I raced around the grounds, having chosen to divide our riddle list in half with our teammates.



 We managed to find 5 clue bags to add to our teams collection.
In just under 2 hours, all 32 bags and envelopes had been collected, all riddles correctly solved and it was time to reconvene in the main cabin for Part II.

Part II
 It was time to solve the mystery of WHO, STOLE WHAT, from WHERE.

In the end, our team prevailed and took home the victory. (Over 2 hours with several helpful hints at the end)

It was a lot of fun.

We toasted the new year together (the game having finished only a few minutes before midnight) and then returned to our cabin and our children. (It was so wonderful to have our children close by. A babysitter stayed in our cabin with ALL the children while the adults played. It was a great set up).

After a quick breakfast at McDonalds, a short stop at the outlet mall, we returned home to De-Christmas our house and to tackled another mountain of laundry before beginning our week at work and school.

It was a wonderful weekend and a great way to celebrate with friends.

Just keep a close eye on your DIAMOND RING, if MRS.GREEN visits you in the DURANGO ROOM.