Fun Activities That’ll Turn Your Kid into a Sleuthing Genius

Photo: Melissa Hillier (CC-BY 2.0)

You’re a complete escape game fanatic, and you've only got so much time to make sure your kids follow in your footsteps.

Luckily, it’s not too hard to get your kid hooked on all things sleuthing, code breaking, and problem solving. Why? Because these things are super fun.

Observe:

Clue

A complete classic, the board game Clue—or Cluedo, if you’re outside North America—has made detectives out of many generations of kids. It’s nearly 70 years old, but it’s still one of the best ways to introduce young kids to the wonderful world that is sleuthing.

Spy kit

Remember writing secret messages to your friend in invisible ink and—just to make it extra secure—using a decoder ring? Of course you do! Spy kits have come a long way since you were a kid though: now they include things like audio enhancers and UV flashlights. Jealous? Us too.

Harriet the Spy and Encyclopedia Brown

What better role model for budding escape game enthusiasts than successful detectives who are around their own age? Harriet the Spy and Encyclopedia Brown both have some solid tips to pass along to sleuths in training, whether in book or TV form.

Scavenger or treasure hunt

Summer holidays mean camping, and camping means no internet (if you’re doing it right, that is). Curious kids plus the great outdoors makes for a great opportunity to devise one of the greatest scavenger hunts your children have ever seen. Turn up the difficult by making a clue list and requiring a compass and map, and your kids’ problem-solving muscles will get a hefty workout.

Kid-friendly escape game

It can be surprising how quickly kids, even young ones, can figure out clues in escape games that even adults have trouble with. Make sure the theme is age appropriate (maybe try our Alice in Wonderland room rather than the Saw one!) and watch your kid kick your butt at your next escape room experience.

Book an escape room at Krakit for you and your family here: http://bookeo.com/krakit

The 5 Greatest Things about Columbo

The Columbo statue in Budapest, Hungary (CC BY 3.0)

He looks like a bumbling and easy-to-fool man, but Lieutenant Columbo provides a great lesson in why looks can be deceiving. That’s especially true when it comes to solving mysteries—and something we see often at our Vancouver escape games. That is, it’s not always the most confident-seeming person who’s got the solve in the bag. Sometimes, it’s the unsuspecting person hiding in plain sight.

Columbo knows the value of being underestimated by the people you’re trying to win one over on. Those criminals just never seem to see it coming, do they?

It’s hard for us at Krakit Escape Game to choose just five of our favourite things about Columbo, but here we go.

5. The Columbo statue in Hungary

There he is, looking as confused as ever, staring at his beloved basset hound, Dog. He may be looking confused because there’s no rhyme or reason for there to be a life-sized bronze statue of Columbo on Budapest’s Falk Miksa Street. But there it is, and that’s what makes it so great.

4. Columbo’s cat-and-mouse games

The episode “Try and Catch Me” (season 7, episode 1) sees Columbo engaged in a game of cat and mouse with a successful author named Ruth Gordon. He actually forces the murderous writer to deliver her own gotcha moment, by making her read out all the clues left behind by her victim during a speech for her adoring fans. Zing. This is just one example of how Columbo swiftly gains the upper hand.

3. Peter Falk’s gravelly voice

OK, sure, we know this doesn’t actually add to his ability to outsmart all the criminal masterminds, crooked politicians, and arrogant art types he takes down. But for some reason it is so much more satisfying to hear Columbo’s epic “gotcha” speeches in his rough-and-tumble New York accent instead of a crisp British clip.

2. The memorable nemeses of Columbo

Columbo ran for 13 seasons, partially in the ‘70s and partially in the ‘90s. This has made for some varied and memorable recurring characters to pit Columbo against. But the age-old question remains: Who IS the ultimate Columbo nemesis—Jack Cassidy, Robert Culp, or Patrick McGoohan?

1. Columbo’s infuriating catchphrase

Columbo’s most famous move, in which he lets the criminal think they’ve gotten away with it all and then reels them back in with a final zinger, is basically what we’re waiting for at the end of every episode. “Oh, just one more thing …”



Do your best Peter Falk impression in one of Krakit’s four themed escape games. Book a room for you and up to 6 other people here.

5 Unassuming and Underestimated Detectives

Nancy Drew, doing some unassuming sleuthing in one her many books

If you’re a criminal and you’ve got a Sherlock Holmes, Stella Gibson, or John Luther on your case, you’ve got no choice but to immediately start quaking in your boots. But it’s not just intimidating and decorated detectives who always get their man. There are some sleuths who the bad guys never see coming, including the seven underestimated crime-solvers on our list.

Don’t forget: you can try your own unassuming detective hat on at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game and catch your friends off guard with your sleuthing brilliance.

1. Miss Marple

The simple fact is: no one suspects the little old lady—of anything, least of all of being a shrewd investigative mind. That’s probably why people are willing to say things in front of Miss Marple they’d never say in front of Sherlock, helping her to catch them out.

2. Nancy Drew

If no one suspects the little old lady, they certainly don’t suspect the teenage girl, precocious though she may be. Hardworking and determined, Nancy Drew never fails to far exceed people’s expectations of her.

3. Poirot

Tiny, fashion forward, and with a slight limp, Poirot cuts a far different figure than the towering dominance of John Luther. However, his unassuming physical appearance lures people into talking to his “benign confessor” character.

4. Jessica Fletcher

Novelist on the outside, brilliant detective on the inside, Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote is able to use her day job as a mystery writer to gain insight into real-life crimes—always to the criminals’ downfall.

5. Dirk Gently

People might expect Dirk Gently—a man obsessed with the spirit world and otherworldly pursuits—to be full of a lot of hooey. But though Gently may seem like he’s running a sham business with his “holistic detective agency,” he’s not messing about in the slightest. Gently is the real deal.

Get sleuthing at one of Krakit's four Vancouver escape rooms by booking you and up to seven other people into one of four themed escape games.

The Sleuthing Spectrum, from Sherlock to Clouseau

There’s more than one way to crack a case, and there’s more than one way to make your exit from Krakit’s four themed escape rooms. Each type of problem solver gets to the solution in their own way—the only important thing is that you get there.

Below we take a look at the different approaches of famous sleuths, to give you a little inspiration before your next game.

The Know-It-All

These types are what might be considered “classic detectives,” often portrayed as private investigators. The biggest one is, of course, Sherlock Holmes, whether it be Conan Doyle’s original smartypants or the antisocial version played Benedict Cumberbatch.

These investigators have a high degree of fluid intelligence, able to piece together a million tiny bits of information to backtrack through mysteries. They also have vast knowledge on seemingly every imaginable topic—just like kid detective Encyclopedia Brown—to help them crack the case.

The Unsuspecting

In this category you have your Veronica Marses, your Jessica Fletchers, your Nancy Drews. Yes, these are all women, and that (unfortunately) does have something to do with it. Especially back in Nancy Drew’s time, people just weren’t ready to believe that ladies could get the crime solving done.

However, sleuths like Veronica Mars are more than willing to play into people’s ignorance, duping them into thinking nothing out of the ordinary is going on—when really they’re stealing all the confidential files they need to get a solve.

The Techie

This type of sleuth is, like all of the above, extremely clever, but they really excel in one particular area. Veronica Mars’s sidekick Mac is a perfect example of this, using her technological prowess to hack the systems of countless evil businessmen.

Other investigators who fall into this category are television’s Dr. Quincy—medical examiner extraordinaire—and the geeky roles on forensics shows like CSI and NCIS. You know the ones: they always have a lab coat on.

Bonus: The Deadweight

Try as they might, these types just can’t cut it. Think of the classic Inspector Clouseau or the character Jonathan Ames in Bored to Death. Bumbling and incompetent, they more often cause crimes than solve them.

Whether you take the approach of a Sherlock or a Veronica at your next outing to Vancouver escape game Krakit, just remember one thing: Don’t be the Clouseau.