Nothing is better than a game of Clue. Quite frankly, it’s my favorite board game. So, when the evening activity on July 13^th at GM 2016 was a real life game of Clue, I was thrilled. For those who maybe opted out of this exciting activity, here is a recount.

The evening started with the arrival of paper envelopes to each village marquee, one per patrol. Upon opening the mysterious envelope, girls spied a package of papers, some rope, and marbles. The first thing to do was take out the papers and read the first page. It explained what the game was and any rules that we would need to follow. Aurora had gone missing and had been found with visible rope marks on her wrists and ankles. Taped to her was a note from her capturer – it explained that they hadn’t meant for things to have gone this far.

The mystery was on. We had to figure out who did this to our beloved mascot! Inside the package was a bunch of puzzles ranging from mazes to word scrambles. Each puzzle revealed a secret word that would be useful to figure out the mystery of Aurora’s abduction. Two girls from each village were sent out on a quest to figure out the “who”, “what,” and “where,” while the girls left in the village figured out the “when’ of the mystery.

In true Clue fashion, the girls who left the village visited the village marquees to grill the characters on their whereabouts during Aurora’s disappearance to determine if they were guilty. The girls asked the characters who they were, what they were using during that period, as well as where they were, leaving only one item of each section unaccounted for. This meant that the remaining items had to be involved in Aurora’s abduction.

Meanwhile, back at the village, patrols were busy unscrambling words, figuring out mazes, and tying Aurora’s favorite knot – the Monkey’s Fist; a complicated knot which held a marble in the middle – to make Aurora feel better after her traumatic experience. The secret words obtained from each puzzle created a clue to figure out the “when” portion.

By this time, many girls and leaders were frustrated, but not my patrol. We were excited to figure out the mystery and win some Village Cup Points in the process. We wrote our final answer down and placed it, along with the many Monkey’s Fists we tied, in the envelope to be returned to the marquee, hoping it would shed some light on Aurora’s disappearance.

We never did find out if we truly solved the mystery. I won’t let you in on our findings, but leave you wondering, whodunit?