10 Great Christmas Gifts for Mystery Fans, Escape Game Lovers, and Sleuth Wannabes

Still haven’t gotten around to gift buying this holiday season? Well, neither have we at Krakit Vancouver Escape Room. All we can say is, thank goodness two-day shipping exists!

Below we list ten gifts that we’re sure any of our escape game players—along with any mystery film fan, detective novel buff, or sleuth in training—would love.

1. Lock picking kit

You need to be careful who you give this one to (maybe not your 11-year-old niece), but not only is a lock picking kit very cool looking, but it can legitimately come in handy.

2. Mysterium board game

This unusual mystery board game takes some serious creative thinking and collaborative teamwork to win. Not to mention it’s rather beautifully designed.

3. Escape game passes

Give the gift of experience with an escape game voucher, and get those puzzle-solving brain cogs turning at full speed.

4. Veronica Mars Investigations mug

If there’s one thing all sleuths can agree on, it’s the necessity of coffee. Especially when it comes in a Veronica Mars mug.

5. Hollow book safe

Any private investigator in training needs a good place to hide things from prying eyes, whether that be a candy stash or a secret diary. You can even make this gift yourself!

6. Benedict Cumberbatch’s face

Give the gift of Sherlock this Christmas—quite literally.

7. Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries television series

For the mystery-loving hipster on your list: an obscure 1970s serial mystery show hosted by Orson Welles and created by Roald Dahl. Warning: this hard-to-find gift will require some sleuthing of your own (bootlegs or torrents only!).

8. Spy the Lie book

For the more serious and cerebral mystery fan, we’d choose Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception, a training guide to becoming a human lie detector.

9. Columbo “Just One More Thing” T-shirt

There just won’t be a time when Columbo isn’t super cool, so a T-shirt with his catchphrase is a pretty safe bet.

10. Rebus 20 Highland Park Whisky

The holy grail of mystery-fan gifts—a mystery unto itself, really. Rebus 20: a limited edition single malt created by Highland Park in honour of Ian Rankin’s whisky-loving detective Inspector Rebus. Maybe start looking for it this Christmas, and give it next Christmas. (That way you’ll also have time to save up …)

Make someone’s Christmas merry, mysterious, and bright by giving the gift of an escape game. You can learn more about Krakit’s four themed escape rooms here: http://www.krakit.ca/room-themes.php.

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.