Society of Curiosities - "Winchester Mystery House: The Glasshouse Ghost"

Updated: Apr 29

Photo above is property of Society of Curiosities

Company: Society of Curiosities

Game: Winchester Mystery House: The Glasshouse Ghost

Country: Canada 🇨🇦

Language: English

Type of Game: Digital Escape Game 💻

Genre: Paranormal, Mystery

Date Played: January 11, 2022

Difficulty (based on 5 players): 4/10

Size of Team: 1-4 Players (Recommended Ages 10+)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested 45-90 Mins)

Price: $15.00

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The Winchester Mystery House is the famous architectural wonder, once owned by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Winchester and heiress to a portion of the Winchester Repeating Arms Fortune. After her husband’s death, Sarah continued a long running renovation of her home where she built a massive mansion with rather unique traits such as doors with no exit, stairs to nowhere, and more. This continued until her death in 1922. It is said Sarah participated in seances and was told to continue building her house at the suggestion of a medium…Are there ghosts that walk these halls? What do they want? You have been recruited to help unravel some of these paranormal mysteries and your first stop… "The Glasshouse Ghost".

Note: This game is a mixture of history and fiction.

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"The Glasshouse Ghost" is an online digital game where you will be directed by a character through a chatbox feature to examine clues and submit your answers. The historian of the house, Taylor, is your ground support as he will explore the house for you at your direction. Taylor has provided you with a radio that he believes the spirit is using to attempt communication and you must unravel the clues left by the ghost to find the three digit radio frequencies in addition to finding secret objects left in the house.

Taylor will send you images of the things he finds from maps, letters, music sheets, newspapers, etc, and they will be stored in your inventory at the bottom of the screen. You can maximize the size of the image through opening them in separate links. Taylor will guide your investigation in a linear fashion as you search through clues and solve puzzles to answer his questions. Once you have the answer or the number you will text him back and he will dial the radio station or check out what you recommended. At the time we played some of the responses needed more precise answers but since the chatbot is AI based it will learn and eventually not need super specific phrasing to get a response. If you get stuck, there's a detailed step by step hint system at the top right of the screen right beside the chatbox.

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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I loved the mixture of history, mystery, and story that these puzzles had. Each item

provided not just an important clue for a current or upcoming puzzle, but they also

provided meaning to the story. The overarching goal of this is to identify the ghost,

figure out what they want, and help them achieve that; each puzzle fit well into this theme from letters from the spirit, relevant music that spirt would know, and the development of sentimentality behind certain pieces. The items were also subtle

enough that each time I was faced with a question from Taylor I got a giddy “Ohhh!”

when I recognized which item I needed to solve the puzzle. You knew the item had a

puzzle but only when you were on the right step did you know what was needed. Once

an item was no longer relevant it would be taken away from the inventory.

The puzzles themselves were tailored for newer players; though, experienced players

would have a lot of fun with how well these are designed. I got a few moments where I was extremely excited and proud to find figured out the solution. I think this just indicate how well-made Society of Curiosities games are that no matter your player experience, you will find enjoyment in these puzzles. They provide a good variety from riddles, logic puzzles, pattern identification, and more. I think what I liked the most was the use of music as a clue with the radio. It was both in theme as there is the belief ghosts will use radios to communicate and engaging as the moment you start hearing music you are excited to know you solved the puzzle.

Note: If you need to re-listen to the radio because you missed the hint, simply type

“replay” after it.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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"The Glasshouse Ghost" is a wonderfully themed experience with a poignant story, fun paranormal trappings, and a series of puzzles that were well made and satisfying. I loved how at the end there was this little debrief to review what elements of this game are inspired by the real house and to know they plan on exploring more rooms (on the Winchester Mystery House website they mention 160 rooms!) I am excited to play and learn more about this house. It has such a fascinating history and I think paranormal enthusiast, puzzlers, history lovers, and more would definitely enjoy this experience. The estimated run time for this game is accurate as we took around 60 minutes to complete the game. I highly recommend trying this out and if you love Society of Curiosities you can also check out our review of their Bewitched Circus if you’re looking for more digital games!

Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank Society of Curiosities for providing us with a sample of this game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.