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Night at the (Ayala) Museum


All Hallow's Eve... the best time to spook each other, right? Well, the Ayala Museum upped the ante by collaborating with Mystery Manila for a very memorable evening: the museum was open til midnight and visitors were turned into detectives; they were supposed to solve the mystery of the murdered curator. I was last here during the day; I wondered what the experience would be like as a visitor at night.


Fresh from solving the crime of the Century, I was raring to solve another mystery! Good thing newlyweds Noan and Joven, and their friend, BJ, were in for an adventure-filled evening. Otherwise, I'd be playing this game by myself; not as much fun as with a group. 



We started off with a tour of the museum, my first time with a tour guide, starting from the third floor. As we wound through the Lunas, the Amorsolos, and finally the Zobels, we heard a shout... the tour guide has discovered the curator's body! A voice recording made by the curator before he died was heard. We were then handed sheafs of paper containing information about possible suspects, an incident report, and an access card for a room where a clue could possibly be in. And then, we're off!

I had high hopes about our group because there's only one PhD. Well, there's another potential overthinker, because of the MD training, but at least the odds of getting to the solution was a higher. Two engineers in the group boosted the probability of success because they think differently. My assumptions about overthinking were wrong though.

No biggie... I thought that we were making good time picking up clues. Until we got stumped with one. We searched aimlessly through the museum, thinking how to crack the next clue. But when we finally did, we were on a roll again!

An hour and 40 minutes later, we think we have solved the case and brought our solution to the Command Centre. The staff there confirmed that we got the right answer. We were so happy! We got bragging rights! Then we were told: the staff would compare our finish time with those of the other participants. Then we'd know if we won anything beyond a year's worth of bragging. We should expect a message around midnight, we were told. And so we went to dinner in a celebratory mood.


Midnight came and went, but we still didn't get a message. A bummer. But still... we came to solve a mystery and we did! The biggest surprise was Noan's message saying we actually placed second on the leaderboard. Second! Unbelievable!

Another Mystery Manila mystery solved! I want to play again!
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