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!
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 off to CHICAGO this month!
We’re excited to solve this one!
Everything that you’ll need to solve the case is inside the box, placed inside a folder from the Chicago Police Department!
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 commissioned by the Chicago Police to help solve a cold case from 1935.
Here’s the suspect line-up and we need to identify the 9 suspects before we go to the final puzzle.
Each evidence form has a puzzle that we need to solve, and as we go along, we will verify 9 suspects from this list by scratching off the gold coating underneath their photos.
For our first evidence submission form, it is the Art Institute of Chicago. It is established in 1879 with nearly 300,000 artworks.
At the back of each form are hints, and there 2 hints for this one. The paintings will help us to solve the puzzle.
The second evidence form is for Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria. It is the home for Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza, which is created by Lou’s father, Rudy Malnati.
For this puzzle, we need to reveal the culprit’s name with the use of the cash register.
Pizza Restaurant Recipe. This receipt will help us up with the cash register, to reveal the culprit’s name.
Wrigley Field, an iconic baseball field that opened in 1914, is in our 3rd evidence form. It is designed by architect Zachary Taylor Davis, and it was originally the home of the Chicago Whales baseball team.
For this puzzle, we can make use of the foam hand and the ticket that’s also included in the case file.
Foam Hand. It is said that the words in this foam hand are also found on the ticket.
Baseball Ticket. We got a ticket to game 6! Here, we need to look for the word that lines up with numbers that will determine the booking number of the next culprit.
The 4th evidence involves the Grant Park, also known as the “Living Room of Chicago,” and it provides a waterfront view of Lake Michigan.
We’ll need the 5 Grant Park postcards for this puzzle, according to the hint.
Grant Park Postcards. The postcards feature the Lincoln Monument, Field Museum, Millenium Park, Soldier Field, and the Buckingham Fountain.
On each postcard, there are noticeable black squares at the bottom.
Aligning all five postcards revealed the word “Falcone.”
The Robie House is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prarie Style architecture creations. It is now a part of the University of Chicago campus and protected as a National Historic Landmark.
The architecture window sketches will have use for this puzzle.
Architectural Window Sketches. We can decode the booking number of the next thief by determining the number of the colored shape on each window.
North Avenue Beach is Chicago’s premier beach on the shores of Lake Michigan.
For this puzzle, another set of photos will be used, which have the images of the abandoned items with the Medeci crest on them.
The Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the country’s old zoos, it is established in 1868 where it offers free admission to all visitors, and it features 1,100+ animals from 200+ species.
This has the shortest hints among the evidence forms, and the clues are actually very straightforward.
Postcard. It is said that the postcard has a familiar aroma that will determine the next culprit.
The Green Mill opened in 1907 as a premier venue for up and coming jazz and blues performers.
The files included a music sheet that we need to look at.
Music Sheet. We’ll make use of this music sheet as the musician wrote down and circled five measures from this piece.
These notes are also found on the safe’s combination dial.
The notes correspond to a letter that will spell out the name of the next culprit.
The Chicago Tribune held an international design contest for its HQ back in 1922, and it is won by architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. The building is 462 feet high, and it features sculptures of Robin Hood and howling dogs.
For this puzzle, we will make use of The Chicago Record newspaper page.
Chicago Newspaper. Folding this newspaper in half will reveal the culprit, according to the hint.
Crime Scene Photos. Each photo is labeled so that we will know when to use them, or from what evidence form they are related to.
After completing the list of guilty thieves, it’s time to determine the leader of the heist. We are then taken to the final puzzle on the website.
Black Rectangles. We also got a set of 16 black rectangles that will be used to cover the innocent ones on the suspect list.
After entering the correct name, we finally did it and solved the case!
There’s one more thing to do, get the prize! By clicking “Enter To Win Prizes,” you can get your price by providing information on the form.
For this case, we didn’t really use the website as all the puzzles and clues/hints are provided in the case folder. It’s a somehow different approach but it is still fun and engaging. We also learned about the different places that you can visit in Chicago, and there are even historic sites! I also like the process in solving the puzzles and the box providing a list where we can determine or verify the culprits first before we decide on the last puzzle, which is knowing the heist leader. Again, if we got stuck in a puzzle, the Facebook Group can lend us a hand! We’re looking forward to the next location and all the challenges that await us!
Did you solve the mystery? How long did it take you? Let us know in the comments below!
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