The Mystery Agency, a brand new collection of immersive, escape room style mystery puzzle experiences launched on Kickstarter today.
The Mystery Agency was established by Henry Lewis, an Olivier Award-winning writer and actor and the Artistic Director of Mischief Theatre, alongside Kenny Wax who is the multi-award-winning Theatre Producer of SIX The Musical, Top Hat and all the Mischief shows including The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery. Kenny is currently serving his final year as the President of the Society of London Theatre. The Mystery Agency offers an experience to be enjoyed solo or with friends that can be delivered straight to your door. The Mystery Agency is available to back on Kickstarter today for the next month.
The sales of games and puzzles between January and May this year went up by 43% in comparison to 2019 with consumers looking for ways to entertain themselves, families and friends during lockdown. The effects of lockdown are still being felt with online and at home experiences still in high demand. The Mystery Agency will launch with three premium experiences each containing up to 20 interconnected escape room style puzzles, tasks and clues to solve, with original and atmospheric stories told through authentic objects and documents. Each mystery includes beautifully crafted artefacts and objects with hidden secrets that you must decipher and solve either against the clock or in your own time.
The Balthazar Stone: Join Elsa Winslow on her journey to Sharkstooth Island. To solve the mystery you must unlock an ancient treasure chest, find Balthazar’s Stone and break its ancient curse.
The Vanishing Gambler: Locate the whereabouts of casino cheat Roy Marshall. Discover hidden messages, hack into Roy’s bank account and even go undercover yourself.
The Ghost in the Attic: Terrible things happened to those who play this haunted board game when it was released in the 1950s. But the only way to solve the mystery is to play the game yourself.
Henry Lewis, Artistic Director of Mischief Theatre said: “As someone who works primarily in theatre the current world situation is challenging and uncertain. I have no doubt theatre will make a triumphant return but during this extended interval, I felt it was important to explore some other creative ideas. The Mystery Agency was born during lockdown when I organised an “escape room by post” for a group of close friends (something I almost certainly would never have done outside of lockdown!). I had enormous fun putting it together and so I was delighted when my friends had enormous fun solving it. It occurred to me that with a bit more work and refinement the idea could become an exciting new business venture. You can become part of this journey too, by backing us on our Kickstarter page you can help bring the project to life and become one of the first people in the world to receive a mystery from The Mystery Agency. I’m so excited to be launching this intriguing new blend of stories and puzzles and I’d like to thank everyone involved for helping make it happen and for being such wonderful collaborators.”
Each mystery takes between 60 to 90 minutes to solve and is suitable for ages 14 and up. Support the Kickstarter campaign today, pledge £40 for each mystery or £99 for all three, with Early Bird discounts available.
Find the clues, piece together the story and solve the mystery. Head to themysteryagency.com or follow @MysteryAgency on Twitter and @MysteryAgencyGame on Instagram and Facebook to be the first to learn its secrets.
