Clue 2014 Recap - "Space: The Fall of Darkness"

Well another year of the Clue Game has come and gone. I found out from Rick (who used to plan it) that the first game was in 1995 and we have only missed a couple of years since then, so that puts us at about 17 games in 19 years. Pretty sweet!

For those of you who were not at the event or haven't been part of a Clue Game, we run it as an outreach event for our teens. We sign up a TON of volunteers, who claim rooms around the church to decorate based on our theme. Since I started working at Bethany, we've done Countries of the World, Time Travel, Quest for the Holy Grail, Night at the Movies, Original Edition, and this year's Space: The Fall of Darkness. We already have ideas about what theme to do next year!

On game day, the kids work in teams of 3-5 people to visit the rooms, complete tasks, and earn clues that help them solve the mystery. Our students are encouraged to invite new friends and we have prizes and incentives for doing so. We also structure our event calendar so newcomers have an easy time coming back for other events so they can get connected! This year, we welcomed two visiting churches, Oxford Baptist from White Rock (both Daniel and I have friends who work and attend there), and Ebenezer Baptist (we do the NAB May Camp retreat with them). It was fun to have new friends join us! This year, about 80 students participated, making up about 15 teams.

I'd like to give a BIG congratulations to our winning teams:

• First place: Mark, Keenan, Connor, Kris and Tyler - for three of them, this is their last game before graduation and gave them all a first-time win after years of JUST missing the win. Congrats guys! They were in the lead the entire evening!
• Second place: Emily, Breanna and Paige - I would almost guarantee that they will take first place one of these years. We never expect 14 year old girls to focus so hard each year, and they do! Nice job, ladies!
• Third place: Riley, Bailee, Sarah and Micka - another group of girls from my small group! For all but Riley, it was their first time playing and I am thoroughly impressed that they caught on so quickly!

The Game Plan

In 2011, Sheldon and Carlon started planning Clue, and each year they outsmart me with their ideas! This year was a bit too complicated and I'm really glad we ended on time! They are great for strategizing and coming up with a cool story. This year, we also had help from Bob (he does our tech/sound, and makes clues), Paul (he helped with the storyline) and Adam (he helped with prep work and clean up) as we planned the night. 

The storyline is anything but simple, but in a nutshell here is our story for Clue 2014. In this invented series of galaxies run by the Galactic Counsel, a bad guy named Melkor from Planet Zurg was determined to take over the universe. He started creating a secret droid army, and when the Galactic Counsel (Peter) sent the Counsellors (Carlon, Sheldon and Adam) out on a mission to stop Melkor, their ships were shot down. The kids walked into our Space world with a mission to figure out how to stop Melkor from creating darkness and destruction.

By visiting each room and wandering person (good and bad guys!), students collected several clues to get them on their way. They had to collect three wires, the forgotten tools from Counsellor Revan, and Security Clearance Level 1. Then, when they found Revan (Carlon) in the asteroid belt, they had to use the tools and wires to fix a locator machine, which lit up where the other two missing counsellors were. They were given Level 2 clearance from Carlon, who sent them out on 3 final missions: find Counsellor Lum (Adam), Counsellor Nolder (Sheldon) and track down the Zurg Military Personnel (Heidi and Jake). Finding Adam led them down a series of clues to discover that Kathleen was a traitor. Finding Heidi and Jake gave them codes to destroy the droid factory. Finding Sheldon led them down a path to find and earn the blueprints from Melkor himself. Finally, they arrived at the droid factory entrance (the elevator) where they presented the traitor's ID, two codes, and blueprints to Michelle who let them down to the factory, where they found the Motherboard and returned it to the Galactic Counsel, signalling a win. 

Our volunteers were amazing and so creative! It wasn't the easiest theme to decorate and dress for but the rooms and people looked fantastic. Here is a list of our wonderful volunteers who made the night possible:

• Space Station Headquarters - Farren, Iana and Taylor
• Space Station Archives - Kristina, Laura, Lauren, Tyler and Kayla
• Galactic Counsel - Peter, Isabella and Eva (poor Shawna was sick!)
• Space Station Jail - Harry and Heather
• Giant Bug Planet - Oxford church - Josiah, Laura, Mark and Mikey
• Glow in the Dark Planet - Temi, Matt and Adam
• Moon - Harvey and Helga
• Volcano Planet - Joseph, Heidi, Susanna and Lilly
• Gas Planet - Horst and Tonia
• Alpine Planet - Bernie, Connie and Tiana
• Space Diner - Janine and Jody
• Asteroid Belt - Sheldon, Carlon, John, Steve and Ethan
• Planet Zurg - Paul (with a fiberglass dinosaur helmet!)
• Robot Planet - Ebenezer Church - Isaac, Anthony, and Darren
• Space Military - Jesse and Mitchell
• Desert Planet - Christine and Ryan
• Water Planet - Pastor Stef, Josiah, Micah and Faith
• Futuristic Cloud Planet - Marni
• Galactic Counsel Police - Val, David, Jane, Rick, Jennine, Toby and Lowen
• Zurg Minions (robbers) - Daniel, Desiree, Jeff, Ryan, and God
• Traitor - Kathleen
• Zurg Military Personnel - Heidi and Jake
• Stargate (stair) workers - Simon, Desiree, Bernie and Robert
• Droid Factory Guard - Michelle
• Stock Market/coat checj - Lorraine, Taunya, and Cora
• Space Market - Andrew and Hannah
• Photographer - Sue
• Gamemaker - me!
• Protector of our sanity - Bob (seriously, we couldn't do it without him)

Whew! As you can see, lots of people bring their kids to help and we have a pretty full house!

Here are some photos of the event. Thanks Sue for taking them! You can find more on her Facebook. This is definitely not an exhaustive list and doesn't show off the details of the rooms... so I guess you'll have to play or volunteer next year to REALLY know what it's like to be part of the magic that is CLUE!

Melkor in Planet Zurg - our bad guy in the game, played by Paul, my brother

Sheldon and I - he was lost Counsellor Nolder and I was the "Gamemaker" who kept things running smoothly

Sheldon with John and Steve in the Asteroid Belt

Tiana, Bernie and Connie in the Alpine Planet 

Horst and Tonia in the Gas Planet - complete with beans, whoopie cushions and a Gas-o-Meter!

Eva, Peter and Isabella ran the Galactic Counsel

Andrew and Hannah worked at the Space Market selling translators

Farren, Iana and Taylor ran the Space Station Headquarters

Christine and Ryan in the Desert Planet

Bob... a rare shot of him in a Clue costume! Bob does all our tech/sound/lighting and LOTS of game set up!

Janine and Jody ran the "Space Diner" concession and proceeds are going to Red Cross relief in Syria

Daniel and Ryan were the Zurg Minion robbers

Sue, our photographer and Lorraine, who ran the Stock Market (my mother in law!)

David, Jane and Val were Galactic Counsel Police

Bernie and Robert worked at the Stargate stair passage

Simon and Desiree working at the other Stargate stair passage

Jake (a Zurg Minion robber) is clearly bugging Michelle, our Droid Factory guard

Harry and Heather in the Space Station Jail

Laura with little space people Tyler and Kayla in the Space Station Archives

My parents, Harvey and Helga, the moon people

Lauren and Kristina in the Archives

A shot of the Giant Bug Planet, run by the Oxford youth leaders, Josiah, Laura, Mark and Mikey

Toby and Lowen, Galactic Police, with Iana

Dale doing the task in the Water Planet, run by Pastor Stef and his kids Josiah, Micah and Faith

Marni ran the Futuristic Cloud Planet, complete with cotton candy!

Jennine, a cop, and Kathleen the traitor!

Jesse and Mitchell in the Space Military Planet

Ebenezer church ran the Robot Planet - I love their sweet backdrop!

Ethan guarded the entrance to the asteroid belt

Joseph, Heidi, Lilly and Susanna in the Volcano Planet

The winning team, Mark, Tyler, Keenan, Connor and Kris (with a photobomb from Jeff)

The second place team, Emily, Paige and Breanna with Heidi, one of the Zurg Personnel

Third place winners, Bailee, Riley, Sarah and Micka

Some friends from Oxford church

Some friends from Ebenezer Church

Overall it was an amazing night! Looking forward to many more years of Clue in the future. It's a game older than any of our competitors! Thanks for your prayers and support leading up to the event. We're stoked to get to know new students better at some of our other outreach events like Gross Night and Oscars.