Puzzle Hunts in Washington, D.C.

For starters, you’ve been poisoned!

But don’t panic! On this brain-bending scavenger hunt at the National Air & Space Museum, you can find out how to get the antidote and save your life. The maniacal genius behind your poisoning has packed this murder mystery game with puzzles that will ultimately challenge you to crack the code to a mysterious message. Never mind escaping a room—can you decipher the message and escape the Air & Space Museum alive?

On teams, you’ll explore galleries filled with jets and missiles and rockets and moon rocks and more, searching for answers to questions about what you find on display. Along the way, you’ll need to interact with our hunt host for a surprise challenge.

You don’t need to know anything about the museum or aviation. All you need is good teamwork, sharp eyes, and comfy shoes.

Don’t get locked in an escape room game—escape a museum!

This is a great game for all kinds of groups—including people who aren’t big fans of murder mystery puzzles. On this unique scavenger hunt they’ll still have a blast uncovering fun, fascinating secrets in the Air & Space Museum.

Contact us to learn more about our Air and Space Museum scavenger hunts—and find more fun in Washington, D.C.!

You’ve been poisoned!

That’s the bad news at the start of this scavenger hunt. But wait—there’s good news! (Sort of.) The evil mastermind who did this has challenged you to solve a series of puzzles to save your life: come up with the combination to a box and you’ll get the antidote. Sure, you can escape a room, but can you unlock the box and escape the East Building of the National Gallery of Art? Your life depends on it.

You’ll follow the villain’s diabolical clues, which lead you to explore the visually spectacular East Building, searching for telltale works through the galleries that feature eye-popping 20th-century art. Your team will have to answer devilishly tricky questions about secrets in a wacky Warhol, a mind-bending Magritte, a daffy Duchamp, a quirky Calder, a puckish Picasso, and more. You’ll also interact with our staff and tackle sneaky puzzles to crack a code.

Don’t be daunted! No knowledge of art or the museum is required: you just need sharp eyes, comfy shoes, and excellent teamwork.

Beware: there’s a killer in your midst

Someone playing this game with you is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. His or her good side knows nothing about the evil side—and the evil side has challenged you to prevent your own murder. Everyone in your group has been poisoned, and the clock is ticking down on your time left to live. To reveal the killer’s identity, you’ll have to complete a series of photo challenges, solve interlocking puzzles, decipher coded text messages, and more. If you succeed, you get the antidote. If you fail…well, you know.

If you love escape-room games, you’ll love this murder mystery scavenger hunt. But even better, you won’t be locked in a room for an hour: this game can be played almost anywhere. 

An in-person murder mystery for any location!

We have a variety of versions, depending on where you want to play. Such as…

• A city, town, or neighborhood
• A science or history museum
• A zoo or aquarium
• An office building
• A school or campus

A murder mystery scavenger hunt perfect for team building

Here’s a game that will help you solve the mystery of how to entertain a diverse group of people while boosting morale and teamwork. It’s perfect for any private party or a corporate team-building outing of any size. Our clients who have enjoyed this game include T-Mobile, TD Bank, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Michigan in Washington, and others too numerous to mention.

What are clients saying about the Murder Mystery Mayhem game?

A 5-star review on Google: “On my yearly company meeting near Philadelphia, we had Watson Adventures organize a scavenger hunt for about 25 of us in Conshohoken, PA. We all had a wonderful time, I would love to do another!”

“Everyone had a great time at the hunt! We are all still talking about it.” —an electrical engineer whose group played the game at the Houston Zoo

“A HUGE THANK YOU. Everyone had a BLAST and your hosts were FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for another great event!!” —an office coordinator in Los Angeles

“We had an amazing time and will be in touch for the next hunt we’d like to do in the near future! Tokia [the hunt host] was amazing, and we’d love to work with her again!!!” —an organizer for a group in Washington, DC

The hunt’s afoot! Contact us to learn more—and find more team-building fun anywhere!

The murder-mystery game you can play anywhere

Terrible news! A Watson Adventures host, David Park, was on his way to lead your team-building activity today, but he was found dead in the parking lot. We need you to go through David’s backpack of game materials and see if you can figure out who would want him dead and why.

On teams, you’ll play the game that David created, answering trivia questions, solving fun puzzles, and—spoiler alert!—uncovering secret messages that reveal that David was leading a double life. There might even be a spy in your group!

We’ll send you the backpack full of game materials, and a Watson Adventures host will get the game started, then answer questions (and offer hints) as you go along.

You can choose whether you would like our Host to lead your group remotely, via Zoom or a similar platform, or you can opt for an in-person host, live in your office.

The game requires one hour and can be played in any room where you need to provide a break for your group, ramp up the fun, and get people to bond and work together in a whole new way.

Do you need a hybrid solution to bring together players working from home and in the office? Check out the Murder by Team Building Game: Virtual Edition.

A Teens Edition is also available.

What players are saying about the murder mystery game

A 5-star review on Google: “What fun we had! Josh was an amazing guide and I would recommend Watson Adventures!!”

Contact us to learn more about this murder mystery game—and find more fun!

You can escape a room, but can you escape a vintage game store?

As part of his acclaimed new book, The Puzzler, best-selling author A.J. Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically, The Year of Living Constitutionally) partnered with Watson Adventures to create a devilishly fun murder mystery game packed with puzzles. In his book he describes the experience of creating the game—now it’s your turn to play the game! But first…

Shocking news! The owner of a local board-game store has been murdered! Authorities are baffled by the mysterious killing, and they have called in you and your team of expert puzzle-solvers to crack the case.

The killer has hidden clues to their identity in games scattered around the store. It’s up to you to solve a series of puzzles and piece together the name of the murderer. Clearly the murderer loves to play games—but in a gaming store, that doesn’t narrow things down much!

On teams, you’ll tackle up to 10 mini-games that are inspired by classic games—but with humorous twists. Each challenge you solve will lead you a step closer to unmasking the murderer. Can your team unravel this mystery, catch the culprit, and show the villain that they toyed with the wrong people?

What players are saying about the virtual puzzles game

A 5-star review on Google: “Fun and engaging game for our remote team. The host was energetic and kept everyone participating. I will definitely book them again for another corporate event.”

Contact us to learn more about this online murder mystery game—and find more virtual fun!