The original Canadian Caper and A Night at the Speakeasy – you’ll need a password to get in

The original Canadian Caper was a rescue operation involving four American diplomats who narrowly escaped being held hostage when the US embassy in Iran was taken over in 1979. The diplomats were sheltered by other Canadian diplomats for several months until a plan was developed back in America. The CIA hatched a plan to send some agents to Iran with the cover story of scouting the country for good movie locations for a movie … called Argo. The same story was the inspiration for Ben Affleck’s movie released in 2012 called Argo.

A caper as Google describes it is a “illicit or ridiculous activity or escapade” which leads us into the company Canadian Caper and their upcoming event next week – A Night at the Speakeasy. You are invited to step into a 1920s inspired speakeasy bar run by mobsters but getting in is the tough part as a password is needed. Ruthless Don won’t make it any easy either as he has set up a series of puzzles for you to crack before even getting into the speakeasy. Since it’s a theatrical live event as well, you could find yourself in a interesting conversation with Ruthless Don sometime during the course of the night as well.

Bloggers Escape Room Addict, Escape Games Review and Escape Games Toronto have all contributed to this event and there will be puzzles, multiple rooms and of course an exit located somewhere waiting to be found. A Night at the Speakeasy only runs for one night in Toronto, Canada on September 19^th at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm timeslots where groups of six will compete against fifteen other teams navigating their way through the speakeasy (or bar).

A Night at the Speakeasy
Date: Saturday 19^th of September 2015
Price: $27 CAD per person ($5 CAD discount with promo code: EGT or ERA)
Location: The Gates – 66 Gerrard St E (Gerrard and Church), Toronto Canada
Website: http://canadiancaper.com/

We’re hoping it’s going to be a roaring success.

Unlock Masquerade: The original armchair treasure hunt that started in a children’s book – lives again

Intervirals Spotlight: The Unlocked Series
It was a children’s book designed to inspire the imagination of kids everywhere with its paintings and also promised an exciting real world treasure hunt for all ages – to find a real amulet buried within the geographical limits of England.

Written by Kit Williams in 1979, Masquerade was the story of how Jack Hare was delivering a treasure that the Moon had sent to her lover, the Sun. However when Jack finally reaches the Sun, he discovers he has lost the treasure and here is where the reader takes part. The reader would need to look at the paintings throughout the book and solve the clues that would hint at a particular location in England. Upon arriving at the location, the first person there would be able to dig up and unlock the buried treasure – a golden hare amulet with jewels, estimated to be worth $30,000. The treasure was sealed away in a ceramic structure as to prevent discovery by people walking over the amulet’s location with metal detectors in hand.

‘The idea was to bury something in the cold wet earth. It was the romance of it, that whatever people were doing, that jewel was waiting for them.” – Kit Williams, Daily Mail UK.

Eventually in 1982, the riddle to the puzzles in the book was solved by two teachers who then had to proceed to Ampthill Park on either the Spring equinox or Autumn equinox. A equinox occurs about twice a year and means the day is roughly split in equal – there are about twelve daylight hours and twelve night-time hours.

As instructed by the riddle, they then had to find a statue within the park and when noon struck, they had to dig into the ground where the statue’s shadow touched the ground. The two teachers started digging into the ground, didn’t discover anything and walked away. The buried treasure actually laid undiscovered in the dirt they had dug up and was found by someone else.

Fast forward to 2009, Australian Kate Mulvany contacted the author Kit Williams to discuss creating a stage adaptation of Masquerade due to her love of the book while she was only a child in hospitial undergoing treatment for cancer. He gave permission saying she could create the play but only if she added her own childhood story to it as well.

As a result, the play starts with a mother reading Masquerade to her child in hospital but Jack Hare seems to run into his own problems too, causing a collision between both worlds.

Masquerade (the stage adapation/play) runs for 120 minutes from the 7th to 8th of January 2015 (previews) and regularly from the 9th to 17th January 2015, at the Drama Theatre in the Sydney Opera House, Australia.

Masquerade: The Stage Adaptation Ticket Information –
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2015/masquerade

Free Artist Talk by Kate Mulvany and other artists – 17th January 2015 –  http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2015/artist-talk-performance-and-the-personal

Source: Daily Mail UK – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121867/Its-Masquerades-hare-runs-goes-public-display-time.html#ixzz3Nf7JGwao

Has anyone read Masquerade? Or has another book inspired you to go on an adventure? Leave a comment below.

– Essa

===

P.S. Also, a warm welcome to Escape Game France who has a list of locations where room escapes can be played in France – http://www.escapegamefrance.fr/escape-game-france/

Part of The Unlocked Series @ Intervirals.