Finders Seekers is a monthly puzzle subscription box for anyone who loves puzzles, escape rooms, Sherlock Holmes, mysteries, or anything requiring a little brainpower. Finders Seekers features a new destination each month, so in addition to the puzzle/escape room experience, you get a mini travel experience, too, exploring a new city and its culture every month.
DEAL: Save $5 on your first box! Use this link and coupon code BRAINQUEST.
FYI – there are SPOILERS in this post!
A thrilling adventure delivered to your door.
Explore world cultures solving puzzles, decoding cryptic messages and discovering underground societies. A new city each month!
As a subscriber (limited numbers can join each month), you are invited to join the Society of Seekers, a group of like-minded puzzle fiends who use their heads and a little bit of internet-search know-how to explore a city and solve a mystery each month. We’re going to MEXICO this month!
Everything that you’ll need to solve the case is inside the box, placed inside a large white envelope! We’re excited to solve this one!
Everything in the box!
Also included in this month’s box is a welcome letter and checklist of every item that should be inside the package, with all the clues you’ll need to solve the mystery. Plus, we now know where to start the journey! In this case, we are invited to uncover the secrets of a newly unearthed Aztec calendar that contains the key to their visions and prophesies.
The website took us to Mexico City.
Welcome, Seekers, to the mysterious capital of Mexico; the most populous city in North America that was founded by the Aztecs in 1325. According to legend, the god Huitzilopchtli sent an eagle to the Aztecs to lead them to the spot where they should build their empire. By 1519, when European conquistadors arrived, the city had reached around 250,000 inhabitants, making it perhaps the largest city in the world at the time.
The Aztecs faced years of war, famine and disease that eventually led to the demise of their culture. However, their architectural wonders remain today as do the ghosts of these innovative and fearless people.
The Society of Seekers has been summoned by scholars to travel to Mexico City and help unlock the secrets of a newly discovered Aztec calendar that was unearthed during recent renovations on the Templo Mayor. The calendar is believed to contain the key to receiving Aztec visions and prophesies. To decode the calendar, you must explore Mexico City, collecting a series of 10 curious rock carvings.
What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!
At the bottom of the welcome page is another picturesque location in Mexico City! To finally start with the journey, I clicked the “Get Started” button.
Then it took me to the first location, the Chapultepec Castle, which is a colonial castle built on the top of a hill that was once a sacred spot for the Aztecs.
In the first puzzle, we must find out where the prominent families lived inside the castles.
As always, each puzzle that you will be able to solve will lead you to another until you solve everything. For this box, after solving a puzzle, you will be given an Aztec Rock carving.
And here are more clues to keep us going (along with the website!):
Paint Set. You will get a paint set that will be used on some of the puzzles. It consists of 6 colors and there’s also a paintbrush included.
Round Aztec Calendar. The Aztec Calendar, also known as the Mexica Calendar, is a calendar system used by the Aztecs, and the people from Central Mexico. The calendar shared the basic structures of calendars from throughout the ancient Mesoamerica. It consists of a 365-day calendar cycle called the xiuhpōhualli, and a 260-day ritual cycle called the tōnalpōhualli.
Map Of Mexico City. We also got the map of Mexico City, where they also indicated a starting point at the Angel of Independence.
Azteca Stadium Puzzle. For the Azteca Stadium Puzzle, there are given categories that will help you solve the puzzle by eliminating some words, and it will leave you a six-word phrase.
Garden Puzzle. For the garden puzzle, it features beautiful images of different flowers, and there’s even a butterfly! Xochimilco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its name comes from Nahuatl or the language of Aztecs that means “flower garden.”
House Of Tiles Puzzle. Another puzzle features the House of Tiles, which was built as a palace in the 1700s and its facade is completely covered with tile made by hand. The tiles are colorful with bright blue and while that gives the building a very ornate feel.
The six tiles look like they were inscribed by random letters. For this puzzle, we must decipher the 6 words hidden on each tile!
Frida Kahlo And Diego Rivera Grid. Diego Rivera is a prominent Mexican painter, married to a girl half her age, Frida Kahlo. Here’s another puzzle that features the couple’s house grid.
Microfiber Cleaning Cloth. There’s also an included artistically-designed microfiber cloth. It shows the colorful and awesome patterns that are used in some Mexican crafts.
Templo Mayor Puzzle. The Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Aztecs in Mexico City, and it was a stepped pyramid that reached 197 feet tall. The temple was completely destroyed and buried during the Spanish conquest to give way for a cathedral to be built on its site. In 1933, its main staircase was discovered despite the original location being forgotten, and in 1978, excavation began and until this day, it remains an active archaeological site.
To solve the puzzle, identify the accurate renditions of the 2 flat boxes illustrated, and we’ll earn the next carving.
Teotihuacan Puzzle. The mystical civilization of Teotihuacan can be found 25 miles outside Mexico City, and some of its buildings date way back to 200 BC with its largest Pyramid of the Sun being completed by 100 A.D., with the inhabitants being multi-ethnic. These days, the city has been carefully excavated and the sites can be explored and the pyramids can be climbed.
To earn the next carving, we must decipher the word hidden on the eight circular nobs on the wall as we enter the structures.
Vanilla Puzzle. In a Mexican legend, vanilla was created when a princess was forbidden by her father to marry a mortal man. The lovers then fled but then they’re captured and beheaded, and their blood dropped to the ground where a vine of tropical vanilla orchid grew. Vanilla is a valuable commodity in Mexico and until the 1800s, Mexico was the chief producer of the spice.
For this puzzle, we need to decipher it and provide the 12-word phrase.
Search engines can help you a lot with unlocking some puzzles, and if you really had a hard time solving one puzzle, you can consult the Facebook fan page for hints. Don’t worry, there are just hints and there are almost no spoilers so you’ll still feel the thrill fully!
It’s really amazing to be able to explore Mexico City through this subscription. We had fun with all the places and puzzles they provided! It’s rich in history and places that are worthy of a visit in real life. We love how we learned more about the ancient civilization of the Aztecs, especially on how they tell what date is it with the use of their calendar. Some of the puzzles are really hard and it took us some time to solve but we all love challenges! There’s also the really helpful Facebook Group if ever we find ourselves stuck in some of the puzzles. We’re excited about the next location we’re going to visit and explore!
Did you solve the mystery? How long did it take you? Let us know in the comments below!
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