CluedUpp Game Day: Witchcraft & Wizardry

In the heat and humidity Saturday a week ago, as I was securing the last fittings and endcaps to seal off the remaining elements of the new irrigation system, a heretofore unexperienced phenomenon occurred. A happy group of four folks came 'round the corner of Holly Avenue and Spring Street and worked their way up to the front of the house, as if it were their intended destination. Turns out: it was their destination, thanks to their participation in the UK-based CluedUpp Games app that involves mysteries and searches and clues all over whatever city it's targeted. For the people who paid $48 per six-person-team to participate (it was sold out, too!), one of the places they had to find and check in at (in order to receive their next set of clues) was none other than the Roediger House. I have no idea how we were so lucky to be included, but as the day went on, I bet 75 folks sought out the house and then lingered in front of it while they read and digested the unlocked clues.

It seems the house was designated as the site of The Mystery Mirror, or so I understood, so after a few groups had come through and it looked like it was going to be "a thing" that day, I fetched a mirror from the cellar and set up incense sticks on either side of it on the front steps leading up from the sidewalk. That made for a fine portrait setting for some of the teams. Lots of folks were dressed in their wizarding caps and capes, some with wands, lots of kids made up like Harry Potter, plus tons of Harry Potter t-shirts and such. Sumner loved mingling with a lot of 'em and it looked like people had a pretty good time. I chatted with a lot of them, too, but I was shy about asking to photograph any of the groups, so this pic at a distance will have to do: one group is working out the next place to go, and on up the sidewalk towards Fourth Street, you can see another group that had just departed.

Look: there are tons of cool old houses within easy striking distance of here. But maybe because I've given the Roediger House a pretty extensive web presence, and also because it seems to have been picked up by Google and others as a recommended historical sight (with a high star rating, even!), and also because it really is right close to lots of the other places and features that a scavenger hunt-mystery clue game taking place downtown is likely to include, I suppose it makes sense that some folks in Great Britain included us in the game. I'm adding this to the things that a cool house like this seems to, well, conjure up, we might say.