Hanukkah LOL

Behind the Scenes of Hanukkah LOL

I’ve been writing up, on Medium, the long story of how we designed Hanukkah LOL. I go into detail about how we came to structure the hunt and how designed the puzzles, including lot of stories and pictures that didn’t make it onto the AMA. I’ve published about 10,000 words so far, in four parts. Start at part 1 and go from there:

Part 1: The beginning

Part 2: The theme

Part 3: The gifts and the room

Part 4: The community

Thanks to all you crazy folks who bought stuff during our eBay auction, we were able to raise a healthy chunk of cash — $1062 — for Heifer International. Thank you! Here’s the list of everything we sold, and how much everything went for.

Ashford's Bad Comics receipt — $21

Baseball card binder — $22.50

Black menorah with times — $25

Busted Globe — $5.50

Chess board — $22.72

Corn Holes — $15.50

Directional lock — $20

Dirty socks — $7.16

Dreidel — $61

Exercise poster w/ instructions — $27

Four cut-up sweaters — $20

Funny Pages with missing cats & blacked out words — $2.75

Mannequin torso — $22.32

Note from Tom & Karlee — $23.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Clogged Duane — $6.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Mad Donna — $10.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Mad Max — $16.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Rappin' Ron — $16.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Rustin' Justin — $16.50

Pair fo GPK cards: See More Seymour — $15.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Smelly Kelly — $5.50

Pair fo GPK cards: Upliftin' Clifton — $15.50

Pillbox — $5.50

Road to Utopia VHS — $17.16

Scoundrels map — $15.50

Seven special CAH cards #1 — $152.50

Seven special CAH cards #2 — $122.50

Seven special CAH cards #3 — $212.50

Shaving cream — $41

Trivial Pursuit picture frames — $18.50

Unopened CAH game w/ red X — $43

Wall menorah light sockets — $4.25

Get your hands on some medium-quality basement stuff!

You asked — we delivered. You can now own a historic piece of the Hanukkah LOL basement. We’ve put 27 items up for sale on eBay, from the dreidel to the fake shaving cream to a bunch of the GPK cards. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Heifer International. 

Auction ends mid-day Wednesday. Almost everything can be signed by Dad, Tom, Karlee, or Sandor. We’re happy to do it.

We tore down the room yesterday. As were doing so, we broadcasted to Periscope 3 times and took questions about the room. You can watch them on YouTube here:

Behind the Scenes part 1

Behind the Scenes part 2

Sarah, Wil, Jon and I will be holding an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2pm CST. We have lots of stories to tell about how we made the puzzle, how various parts of it differed from what we expected, and what we learned from it all. We’re excited to talk about it.

Dad is free! Thanks to everyone who played along and helped our Dad out. We hope you had as much fun as we did. There’ll be more news in the coming days about how to claim your prize. And we’ll post details about our Reddit-hosted AMA, which will probably be on Tuesday. In the meanwhile, you can support our partners by…

Signing up for The Mystery League’s mailing list

Liking The Mystery League on Facebook

Buying stuff from CAH

And if you really had a good time, and you’re feeling that holiday spirit, you can send a little something to The Mystery League via their Square Cash page. Or, they’ll never say no to bourbon, chocolates, and love letters, which you can send to 1917 N. Elston, Chicago, IL 60642.

Us, we’re off for a while. We want to give Dad some space. He’s been through a lot. But we’ll be back.

Video #24. The blue light special.

Instructions:

Refuse to leave the basement. You are King of the basement! Sit on your lawn chair throne and raise your whiskey scepter high!

Dramatically reenact the movie you were planning to see

It's about time you explained how you were placed in the first locked room when it was locked from the inside.

What do you want from China Garden tonight? The Rubesteins are coming over and we're going to see the we star war!

Tell your children you are proud of them.

Unscrew those bulbs and lock yourself back in the first room!

When you get out of the basement, football spike the bottle of booze

Tidy up. You're probably about to see your wife for the first time in three weeks you really want her to see you/the room like this?

Throw us the whip! We'll throw you the code!

Well now that you've escaped, start planning how to lock Tom and Karlee in a basement next year. With Jessica.

Get back in the basement. It's your happy place.

Take a selfie with that lit up menorah.

COME BACK! DAD! DON'T LEAVE US! DADDY PLEASE!

Send me your address so my company can bill you for all the lost productivity this month.

Video #23. OREO FUEL CAN’T PI STEEL JESSICA.

Instructions:

Look at the words opposite SUM, FIVE, PHONE, and PREFIXES on the mannequin.

Type MAX into the keyboard!

Type WALKER into the keyboard!

Type GARY into the keyboard!

Break everything. Knock all the books off the shelves. Scatter your destruction across the room. Time to teach those kids not to lock up dad

Remove the label on your bottle of hooch. Maybe there's a treasure map on the back!

Shout "If you are going to leave me locked in the basement for 3 weeks, next time leave better alcohol. $12 bourbon?!"

Finish bottle of booze.

Sell those Garbage Pail Kids cards and make a fortune!

Take the letters that came with each gift, and call the CAH employee's mothers for advice.

List the basement on AirBnB once you get out.

Video #22. Dad needs to go back to Hebrew School.

Instructions:

Inspect The Book of Genesis.

Examine the chair.

Open the cabinet behind the exercise poster.

Enter 3039 on the safe.

Eat the scoundrels map

If you could be any Garbage Pail Kid... who would you be??

Tell us what your favorite Kevin Bacon movie is and why is it tremors?

Apply sunscreen and prepare your eyes for the harsh light of Earth's sun.

Crack open the paint can and start sniffing paint

Since you probably finished the bottle, light the doobie you hid under the trash can while you listen to some of those records.

Make dat booty clap.

You didn't escape before Hanukkah ended. Seppuku is the only option.

Video #21. Clean up after yourself already, Dad.

Instructions:

Enter 2484 on the safe.

Enter 2188 on the safe.

Open the drawers of the KULLEN.

Inspect the BITRADE with the blacklight.

Inside, we both know what's been going on

Hop Pop. We like to hop. We like to hop on top of Pop. Remove the KULLEN's drawers and inspect the underside of its top.

Get a new dreidel.

Chug the whole bottle.

Turn off the lights, shine the blacklight up at your face, and tell a ghost story.

Come up with your own names for the objects in the basement

Start a conversation with the little girl who always seems to be standing behind your left shoulder. Ask her about all the blood.

take the brick and smash everything in the room

Click your heels together three times, and say "there's no place like home"

Video #20. Blacklight eyes, never not creepy.

Instructions:

Inspect the LACK with the blacklight.

Inspect the SPRUTT with the blacklight.

Inspect the ceiling above the KULLEN with the blacklight.

Enter 2613 on the safe.