Over the last few years, Nancy Drew Night has been a tradition amongst my wife and her friends who have been fans of the Nancy Drew series since the beginning. Around the time a new Nancy Drew adventure is released, they throw a party involving food, soda, and of course, Nancy Drew. After the mingling and food are done, the ladies gather around the TV (hooked up to a PC) to begin their adventure. This time around, Her Interactive sent us a care package offering up some cool goodies including retail boxed copies of various Nancy Drew titles (yes, amazingly to some, boxed copies still exist), books, puzzles, shirts and more. To claim these prizes, however, would involve extensive knowledge of the Nancy Drew series. I put each of the gals (Charlene, Ruthann, Donna, Ranna and Stephanie) to the test using two quizzing methods.
The Nancy Drew Challenge Match Game
The first of these challenges involved matching a portion of selected box art to the corresponding game. The total number of points available was 20. One point for each correct match and a bonus of 6 points if all were correctly matched up to the correct title. Stephanie, Ruthann and Ranna all posted perfect scores while Charlene came in with a total of 12 points. Donna, who has the least amount of Nancy Drew experience, chalked up 8 of her own. Ranna was pretty quick on the draw with her selections and when asked if she needed to think about her choices, she smiled wide and chirped, “Nope!”. Obviously, she was confident for a reason. All of the gals said this game was quite fun to play.
Ruthann taking a moment to look over her choices.
The second and final round saw the girls faced with 24 Nancy Drew trivia questions. These were multiple choice and broken up into Amateur and Master (the two difficulty levels in Nancy Drew) sections. 5 points were given to correct answers for Amateur, while 10 was the max on Master. The questions ranged across all 28 Nancy Drew titles spanning 15 years. For example, an Amateur question asked, “Which collectable item was recently added to the Nancy Drew games?” Everyone shouted out the correct answer which was Phone Charms. Master questions were along the lines of, “Name the only three games where the player actually saw Nancy?” Overall, the quiz portion of the contest was a major success.
The Winners – Upper Left: Stephanie. Upper Right: Ranna. Lower Left: Charlene. Lower Middle: Donna. Lower Right: Ruthann
At the end of the contest, Ranna took home 1st place with a slim 5 point victory. Her prizes included a copy of The Ghost of Thornton Hall, leather bound Nancy Drew notebook, Collector’s Edition tin and other goodies. Charlene finished in second place and Ruthann rounded out the top 3 with a strong 135 points. Last but not least, Stephanie and Donna were also given consolation prizes for their efforts.
Now on to the game – The Ghost of Thornton Hall. One of the strongest aspects of Nancy Drew games is the story. In Thornton Hall, this was no exception. According to Ruthann, “I loved the story line of this game. I love the fact that it could have actually happened. I could imagine reading a story about it in the news. It’s an awesome story line and I like the whole family drama aspect.” Ranna agreed adding, “The story had enough twists that you didn’t really know what was going to happen next.”
Harper Thornton
In terms of characters, everyone agreed Harper Thornton stole the show. Known as the misunderstood black sheep of the Thornton clan, Harper has been keeping a secret from outsiders for years. Charlene chimed in with, “Harper was amazing and disturbing at the same time. Definitely the most dramatic of them all.” Donna also mentions, “She was just so crazy and refreshing from all the people trying to hide things to protect themselves.”
Overall, the night was a great success. Good food, great friends and exciting times were had by all. Once again, many thanks go out to Her Interactive for making this an extra special Nancy Drew Night. To grab your copy of the newest Nancy Drew title, please visit the official site. In addition, read what our very own Armaan Khan had to say in his review of The Ghost of Thornton Hall.