Merry Christmas 2013!

We have a lot to share with you today! First off, we will be out of the office these days:

The winners of the cookie contest have been announced! Visit the Dare to Play blog here to see who won! (Thanks everyone for participating!)

Today is the first day of snow for us here in Bellevue/Seattle, and our Lead Tester and Designer made a snowman this morning:

Now for the conclusion of this year's "13 Hints for 2013"! While I left a few in the dark and up to you to ponder, I am finally revealing what they all meant (except for 2, really). Here is what the completed list looks like:

1. At the beginning of the year, we posted the music video "I'm Nancy Drew"
2. We have begun to add "Badge" images for each game in the merchandise store. So far, only SCK and STFD are up, but there will be more to come: a different badge for each title!
3. We posted the Lost Files of Gummy Bear Theatre video to YouTube
4. We added many new Nancy Drew Moments to our social media sites
5. Video Interview with Creative Director, Tim posted to YouTube
6. The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes (ND Book) helped to inspire The Silent Spy
7. The talented actress of Prof. Hotchkiss returned to voice Harper Thornton in Ghost of Thornton Hall
8. Secret: It's still unofficial, but the big hint is in Creating a Character...
9. Excitement: We have a tease below for something in the future...
10. Charlotte's Mask was given away to 100 lucky fans who pre-ordered the BONUS Edition of Ghost of Thornton Hall
11. The pre-order contest for SPY was for the Kate Drew Spy Kit
12. Nancy Drew will be going "undercover" again in 2014
13. Fell, as in Alec Fell, a character from The Silent Spy

Here's your tease to #9:

"Fire so red, night so black. Dear, sweet Charlotte, please come back!"

And of course, have a Merry Christmas!

We also have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Sonny Cookies

We've been looking at all of the Cookie Contest Entries that came in, and now we are sorting them. By the end of the day tomorrow (Friday) we will have chosen our winners and will be posting the Cookie Cookbook in pdf form with all the entries submitted. This way, everyone can check out the cookies, and even make some yourself!

I wanted to point out this particular submission that made me laugh. I loved it! This is just the recipe part, but it screams "Sonny Joon" all over!

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy Drew for the Holidays

We shared this Nancy Drew moment with you today:

We heard that many of you already had the entire Nancy Drew game collection, and we understand. So we made this in honor of you. XD For those of you who are missing a game, Christmas is just around the corner! It's an excellent time to solve a mystery alongside friends and family, huddled around the computer, eating Christmas cookies and holiday foods.

Ok, perhaps I've been looking at these Cookie Contest entries for too long....I need to go get a cookie for myself right now....

Oh hey! Twitter Quote Contest is happening right now!

~Little Jackalope~

Cookies and Ornaments

I was out sick yesterday, and now I have returned to the office to open a newly arrived package containing a few of the prizes for the Cookie Contest winner. Take a look at how they turned out in real life!

I kind of want to get my own little Christmas Tree just so I can start a collection of the ornaments from the merchandise store. It would be a Nancy Drew-themed tree! Speaking of Christmas, it's only a week away! It sure is sneaking up fast! Are you ready for it? Perhaps we can get in the mood with playing snowy games like Treasure in the Royal Tower, The White Wolf of Icicle Creek or Warnings at Waverly Academy, and of course, baking holiday cookies (you only have 2 days left to enter!).

*Edited
I nearly forgot about the puzzle! It is a Drop Quote puzzle from a few of the recent games. Fill in the spaces on the grid with the letters (guess and check) to get the Quote said by Takae in Shadow at the Water's Edge: ["You just need to be patient and you need to learn to see more than you are used to seeing."] This is excellent advice for any detective! ;)

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #223

This is the last weekend to work on your cookie contest entries! This next Thursday is the last day we will accept cookie entries, so get a jump start on your cookie designs soon if you want to enter! 

Also, don't forget about the Christmas sale! If you wanted the physical game in time for Christmas, consider how long it may take for shipping, and order soon!

Finally, here is your weekend puzzle:

Next week I shall "reveal" everything from the "13 Hints for 2013" post.
Have a great weekend!
~Little Jackalope~

Gummy Bear Craze

Have you played The Deadly Device? (Excellent game because it's entirely indoors and there is snow outside, so it's a wintry type of game). One of our fans, Rozanna also created these for the cookie contest.

Of course I had to share it with you! Gummy bears are awesome!
It reminded me of this bag in our merchandise store:

We have a Facebook fan birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Fan Letters and Items for Fans

Today I received a wonderful letter from a fan named Nina. I was very excited to receive it! The envelope had stickers (some were 3D!) and crayon art, and inside were fan doodles and many references to Nancy Drew games! I LOVED it! Check it out:

Also, for everyone who sent in fan mail to me this year and hadn't received anything in return, I will be sending you a letter in return. (Even if you mailed me 12 months ago...!)

Randomness: Here are all those medallion designs that you can create in the merchandise store! The ceramic ornaments (smooth and flat) are the closest thing to the real deal! Add these to your ultimate Nancy Drew collection!

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Cookies Excitement!

Yesterday and today we started to receive a few cookie entries to our Cookie Contest! I'm getting super excited, too, and I'm totally nerding out right now. Why? Because our fans are SO creative! We had to share a few with you that came in today.

Carlahna designed some cookies inspired by Shadow at the Water's Edge: Sudoku puzzle, desktop icon flower, and the donut phone charm!

Rozanna entered a chocolate and marshmallow cookie inspired by S'mores in honor of The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Yum!

Have you started to make any cookies to enter for the contest?

 ~Little Jackalope~

Treasure in ... Your Home!

Have you entered the cookie contest? Last weekend we showed you the prizes for winning here:

Take a look at that! (I know, I'm still SUPER excited). One of the holiday ornaments (which are made of ceramic) are from Treasure in the Royal Tower! I pretty much added the three colored medallions from the game, but then I couldn't stop there. Since the ornaments are double-sided (you get to pick an image for the front and an image for the back) I also added Marie's favorite color: purple, to match the box art color. This way it seems more matching, I think.

You could also choose to purchase these medallion ornaments in our store here. One idea: buy two circle ornaments, on one ornament you could have the red and blue, the other could be purple and green, that way, you have all the colors. ;)

Looks like you all solved the weekend puzzle! Using semaphore flag code, you can decipher the little jackalopes to read [Bird names]. Which, as some of you did suspect, is not, in fact, a reference to SPY...

Also, I wanted to highlight some more awesome fan art sent in to feedback@herinteractive.com:

We have a birthday today!

~Little Jackalope~

Weekend Puzzle #222 + December Things!

There are a lot of things going on this Christmas and holiday season! If you have already been following us, you'll already know all that's going on. For those who are just now joining us, here is a recap of this week's news:

Win a Nancy Drew Laptop! Visit our home site here to find the the laptop contest to the left of your browser window.

Christmas sale! Shop here! Be sure to order your games in time for Christmas. ;)

Cookie Contest! Learn more about it and how to enter here. Are you going to make cookies this weekend? I'm for sure going to decorate cookies. In fact I'm going to a cookie decorating party, so I hope to remember to take some pictures for you. ;)

As for this cookie contest, I just finished working on a few of these prizes. The designs shown here on the holiday ornaments were recently added to our merchandise store. So if you wanted to go ahead and order one to start an ornament-a-year collecting tradition, you can!

New news! Our CEO, Stuart wrote a letter to you! Check it out here and get a clue to next year's adventures!

And here's your weekend puzzle!

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy Drew 2013 Cookie Contest!

Check it out! We are having our first annual Nancy Drew cookie making & decorating contest this month! Learn more about this contest here.

So! Any idea on a great cookie design? I think I might make gingerbread cookies...but not sure how to decorate them yet.

Let's see, in how many games have we been able to eat or bake cookies? Well, of course there are the jam cookies in The Silent Spy that you get to decorate (and eat). There is also the mint chocolate chip cookies you must bake in Danger by Design, and you heat up chocolate chip cookies in Warnings at Waverly Academy. Hmmm... were there any other games? I can think of cake and parfaits, but no more cookies.

We have a few birthdays!

~Little Jackalope~

A Cold Day for Recording

Today it got really cold outside at the office. While it hasn't snowed yet, it was frosty, yet sunny and bright out.

It was also an excellent day for a field trip to the recording studio! I got to sit in on Jennifer's session for Bess Marvin. (So excited!) Although I forgot to take photos inside the studio, here are a few pictures of the hallways just outside of the room. They are all decked out for Christmas.

As for the Christmas sale, just a head's up: it's while supplies last. Some games are no longer available in physical format, only digital. :( This happens when we sell out of these copies. When the game was originally released, we only made so many. Please keep this in mind as you continue to add to your collection. Be sure to order your copies soon in time for Christmas!

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Christmas Sale!

For those of you who like to collect the boxes to add to your shelf, the Nancy Drew games (all physical) are now on sale! Check it out below and shop here!

Also, we received an order from our merchandise store today. I got really excited and was thrilled to show off the Cathedral Logo mouse pad (in real life) to the very artist who made this for Ewan in The Silent Spy (in game):

Are there any items in the merchandise store that you would put on your wish list?

~Little Jackalope~

Cookies and Sales

How was everyone's Thanksgiving weekend? I know I had a super great holiday break!
'Tis the season for crazy shopping! I hope those of you who ventured out after Thanksgiving to do some big sale shopping didn't get hurt, and I hope you got enough rest, too. I went out only once to get one gift, but when it comes to shopping, the best deals (I think) are on Cyber Monday (today).

These digital/online sales are where you can peruse the specific gifts to add to your wish list or get for a friend or family member, whilst in your pajamas and avoiding crazy-eyed stampeding shoppers.

Today is the last day to get 50% off your digital download games from our store! (If you want to, you can always copy the files to a disk or hard drive or flash drive to save it). You can shop here.

On a side note, I've been working with cookies. That is, I'm making digital cookies from The Silen Spy. This image below is what I'm working on for our merchandise store. I haven't decided yet if I prefer the trio of the same star cookies, or a trio of different cookies...

~Little Jackalope~