What Sonny Says...

Today we posted a photo on Facebook for another Caption Contest! Head over to our page and comment on the photo of me and Sonny with your most creative caption. The prize? A Flying Cow mug from our merchandise store:

 Also, the other day we posted this Nancy Drew Moment:

Do you remember when you first stumbled upon Sonny's doodles, notes, and Koko Kringle bar wrappers?

We have a special invite for you, too, if you have a Twitter account:

~Little Jackalope~

New Message Boards!

We have updated our message boards! It has been years (like...7 or 8 years) since they have been really updated, and it needed it. Especially in the back end, which none of you see, and it is mostly for technical specifications. That being said, there are some changes that do affect you all in the front end.

We posted a thread in message boards here about the details of the changes. If we missed anything, we will add the info to that post, so check back later if you are confused about something. Also, you can always ask question in the Message Board Questions forum, where other members can help answer your questions.

On to the fun! We posted this Nancy Drew moment today. For those of you played Treasure in the Royal Tower, you may have encountered a dead end where Nancy says "Hello there dead-end! My name's Nancy Drew", which I found hilarious.

Twitter Quote contest is today! Head over for a chance to win a digital guide!

~Little Jackalope~

Memorizing the Games

For those of us players who like to replay the Nancy Drew mysteries over and over, we tend to memorize random parts. For example, certain quotes like "Fifty drumsticks, please! Chicken, that is. Cluck, cluck!" or even "You're asking the wrong amnesiac!" Other things we might remember would be where to find an Easter egg or where to locate a certain password, or remembering where to enter 3*72 to turn off an alarm.

Here's something that a few of us have memorized: the tapestry poem in Nancy's room in Message in a Haunted Mansion. "Listen my child..."

Have you been able to recite the poem by heart?

Head's up! Twitter Quote contest is today!

~Little Jackalope~

Blowing Up Chemicals -- It's a Nancy Drew Thing

We shared this Nancy Drew moment today:

How many of you have experienced the frustration and paranoid fear when you tried solving this puzzle? Each time I play The Haunting of Castle Malloy and reach this puzzle I get nervous. Using the claw to pick up the individual elements without touching anything else is a bit nerve-wracking for me. One little bump with the claw and BOOM!! Explosion. You need to manipulate the claw correctly and perfectly in order to solve this puzzle.

Yikes.

Hey! Twitter quote contest is today! And Round 2 of the Nancy Drew Madness voting on Facebook has begun! You can check out the current standings here.

~Little Jackalope~

Shadows in Your Face

In honor of Ghost of Thornton Hall now being available for the iPad, we shared this Nancy Drew Moment today:

Was anyone else startled when you opened the showroom door to exit to the hallway and saw a shadow move in front of you? I love those unexpected moments of surprise fear! The unexpected moments are what get me!

Twitter quote contest is today!
Also, there is a new game duel up on Facebook for you to vote on. Be sure to read the instructions in the post. Many Facebook members "like" or "comment" without reading any of it. :-(

~Little Jackalope~

Playing for Second Chances

One of the fun things about playing a Nancy Drew game are "second chances". While they are very appreciated at the times where you fail at something or do something wrong, these second chance sequences can also be entertaining.

Have you ever purposefully made a mistake or purposefully done something wrong in the game just to see what would happen? A few examples would be these:

1. Curse of Blackmoor Manor: Down in the conservatory where the plants are, if you click on the giant carnivorous plant more than once.
2. Message in a Haunted Mansion: in the front hall, up on the staircase, you choose to unravel the chandelier rope for no particular reason.
3. The Final Scene: up on the balcony, when you look over the ledge to try to get something that is slightly out of reach.
4. Danger on Deception Island: Making a bad sandwich and giving it to Katie when she says she is hungry.

I love this moment:

The reaction I receive when I did something awful... is priceless. What is your favorite second chance sequence?

Instead of a weekend puzzle this weekend, I have another "tease" for you to ponder over and discuss among yourselves. It has to do with our next game, and will also be going into the merchandise store once I am finished formatting it:

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

The Little Spooks

We shared this classic Nancy Drew moment today:

It's another one of my favorites. When you hear the whisper "I seeeeeeee yooooooooou" on the staircase and when you look at just the right moment at the girl portrait on the wall...she blinks. This is perhaps one of the scariest moments playing a Nancy Drew game for the first time! The scare factor has left since that first play-through, but I will always remember how on-edge I was playing it.

As for the weekend puzzle, it looks like you have solved it! You use [binary or ASCII] code. The magnifying glasses indicate a digit in the column. The first column from the right is the "1", then next to it is "2", then "4" and "8" and the last one (first on the left) is "16". Simply do the math to find each row's number value and then then identify the letter in the alphabet.

You should get this: [Behind the Cameras] which indicates two different things. That's all I will say!

We have a birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

"An' They're All Robin Hood!"

Today we posted this Nancy Drew moment from Curse of Blackmoor Manor:

It's one of my favorite Nancy Drew moments of all time; being able to fully quote Tommy at the Boar's Head Pub with a cockney accent. All those funny food names! I love it.

In real life, though, I believe I have tried all the foods he mentioned, which aren't as crazy as their names.

Have you played Curse of Blackmoor Manor? If not, it's a classic! I'd recommend it!

Birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

The Thrill of a Scary Game

We posted this Nancy Drew moment today from Ghost of Thornton Hall:

Often do we get scared when something spooky happens or something creepy appears in a game, but then there is that thrill feeling that we experience in wanting to be scared, and wanting to see something so fascinating! I can't speak for everyone, but some people (myself included) enjoy seeing "ghosts" and crazy things happen before our eyes.

Lately, it's been a little quiet here at Her Interactive. The artists, however have a big date coming up soon where they need to finish a lot of pieces for the next game. I just might sneak into the files to see what they are up to. I believe I saw a picture of some sea life on one artist's computer as I was walking by...

~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~

Collecting EVERYTHING in Sight

We posted this Nancy Drew moment from The Silent Spy today:

To poke fun at Nancy, she is always collecting things. Things that are immediately available and things that belong to other people. Pretty much everything in sight! We could call her a kleptomaniac, but really! Don't we, ourselves, enjoy collecting things in the games?

To be fair, there are a lot of broken things or things that are missing some parts. Wouldn't it be our duty to put them back where they all go properly? This is a proud job for us! Outsiders of the Nancy Drew universe may say something like "Hey, why did you just steal those cards?" and we can respond with a rational answer like "They are an incomplete set! I need to take them to where the remaining card(s) are so that they are complete. It's Nancy Drew logic." And we crazy Nancy Drew nerds would understand.

However, it is a little different when there are extra elements available for grabs in the games, like lots of food to try, or bonus charms or souvenirs to purchase. While some simply want to collect things and see what cool toys and gadgets are available, others like to see if they get an award for collecting everything...

Twitter quote contest today!
~Little Jackalope~

Scary Love

So... we got a little sassy and posted this today:

Ah yeah! If you have played Nancy's 23rd mystery, Shadow at the Water's Edge, you will totally understand the "humor" of this image. I won't spoil what happens at this part of the game, but if you haven't played this, may highly recommend it! This is the best season of the year to play this game for the first time! Here's our trailer for SAW:

Play it in the dark! And if you are on a laptop, be sure it is safely on a table, desk, or someplace where you cannot flip it, kick it, or throw it. Why? Because startling moments are bound to happen!

I'm currently playing this game...and I'm trying hard not to complete all of Rentaro's puzzles. They take up a lot of time, and I'm really not progressing as fast as I'd like.

Will you be playing a scary Nancy Drew game this next week? There is also time to carve a Nancy Drew Pumpkin for our contest!

Birthday!

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy's House in SPY

(Hey all! I was out yesterday, therefore no post was made).
As for today, we posted this fun Nancy Drew moment:

This scene was shown in the SPY Trailer a few times, meaning it will be shown, of course, in the game. What did you think of Nancy's home? You got to explore it a bit in Alibi in Ashes, but only the living room and Nancy's bedroom.

Did you notice this about the living room scenes in the trailer? They borders are blurred a bit...

We have another Twitter Quote Contest going on this week! Head over and participate for a chance to win a digital guide! (Contest only lasts all of Wednesday).

Birthday! (Belated, which is my bad.)

~Little Jackalope~

"I'd like a bowl of gumbo, please!"

The day has finally come when a food truck came by our office building that serves gumbo! Hooray! Bess in Legend of the Crystal Skull has the opportunity to visit a nearby food truck, called "Granny's Cajun Cooking". I got to experience this Nancy Drew--er--Bess Marvin Moment in real life today:

Our artist, John, was the one who worked on that very environment for the game. He, too, tried gumbo for the first time today!

It's not the prettiest picture, but gumbo is sure good! (And a bit on the spicy side). This gumbo had white rice, chicken and spicy sausage, as well as various spices. It was amazing! I'd recommend trying it someday when you get the chance.

We've had a lot of great fan art come in lately, and I haven't had much of a chance to show it off with all the news about The Silent Spy lately. Check these out:

 

Sometime next week I'll share all the fan art for The Silent Spy.
~Little Jackalope~

Hidden Spies and Nancy Facts

Looks like some of you took to your research, and great detective work, by the way, too! The few facts we know about Nancy's mom for certain in the books are these:

• Nancy's heritage is Scottish on her mom's side (Read The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes)
• Nancy's mom's maiden name was Austin
• She died when Nancy was 10 (in the original blue books)
• She died when Nancy was 3 (in revised books)
• She died of an illness
• She died in a car crash

Since there are contradicting facts simply because of book revisions, I suppose you could say any of these above notes are true. This gave us freedom to choose one age, and one cause of death, as well as fill in all of the blank about her. I can't wait for you to see what we did in The Silent Spy! It's so cool!

Speaking of spies, we shared this Nancy Drew moment today. Getting a creepy phone call from a spy? Yeah. Totally normal!

We have a few small things to announce tomorrow, so come back and see what little news bits we have to share!

~Little Jackalope~

Going Through the Trash

Can any of you identify with this Nancy Drew Moment?

How excited we get when playing a Nancy Drew game when the opportunity arises to rifle through a character's trash! There is often something of interest in there, and it is an excellent skill to be observant in every area of an environment. Thankfully most of the trash Nancy goes through is paper, and nothing gross, like leftover frog legs from Danger by Design or something.

Still working on the cover art. The date we release the art will be a surprise date, so stay tuned to our web site or social media sites (web links are to the right of this blog) for when we roll out the red carpet (so to speak) for it's grand view!

Behind the scenes notes: I'm listening to static, literally, for the best sound effect to use.
The Silent Spy quote is going into the merchandise store today...

Oh! And if you want to enter a contest for a chance to win a black mug of The Silent Spy, head over to our Facebook page to post your most creative caption to our Caption Contest! You have until Monday to participate. Come up with something creative!

~Little Jackalope~

Nancy Lives For.....Forever!

Let me jump right into the weekend puzzle solution. To horribly trip you up in solving it was to leave out a missing letter (sorry!). While there are several word combinations that can come from these letters...

O E R T L A P S N I E

The correct anagram bust is this: [Alien Poster]. Which is coming soon!

I was thinking earlier today about how awesome it is that Nancy Drew gets "second chances" when she makes a mistake. Really, if you accidentally made an error, or are simply having fun watching Nancy get eaten by a plant, or maybe blowing up the glass bottles from mixing chemicals, you as the player have an infinite number of "second chances".

This is why this graphic below conveys the true beauty of Nancy's 9 lives infinite lives. She only lives again, and again, and forever! No matter how many times she "dies".

Also, dear Essie has broken her collarbone, and we hope and pray she gets better! Hang in there, Essie! You are strong and brave!

~Little Jackalope~

Hot Weather = Great for Ice Cream!

Flat Sonny and I return to Washington from our trip to San Diego! (I'll post some pictures later). Although temperature only stayed around 85 degrees Fahrenheit, Washington surprised me with even hotter weather. It's in the 90s here and we are certainly not used to this heat! Tomorrow the ice cream truck comes by, so that will be rather nice.

Since Ice Cream is on my mind, we posted this Nancy Drew moment today:

 
Here's the solution to the weekend puzzle: It's a [semaphore flag code] which says [clock and trivet]. What do you suppose this means? Come back at the end of next week to learn more!

~Little Jackalope~

Collecting Nancy Drew Moments

Perhaps you own all of the books, maybe you have played all of the games, or suppose you have also seen the TV series from the 70s. Are you a big fan and collector of everything Nancy Drew? Or is your collection just getting started?

Somewhere in your home is a shelf with a few Nancy Drew items, and like any good detective, you keep your eyes sharp and observant for that missing book or that one missing item to add to your collection. Have certain locations in the games intrigued you enough to want to visit the area in real life? Maybe there is a foreign language or a real-life skill that you have become interested in because of the games.

I for one, am a big collector. Not as some die-hard fans already are, but I'm working on my own collection at home. I plan on getting some merchandise from our store that reflects contents found in the games; such as the Jr. Park Ranger key chain from Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake, or the Whale key chain found in Danger on Deception Island.

Another way to simply collect Nancy Drew memories is to create your own scrapbook, the way Nancy has on her own desk. Since I've visited the castle that inspired Wickford's in Treasure in the Royal Tower, maybe I will decorate a page with those photos I took in the theme of that game: purple, add Marie Antoinette, perhaps  a brochure of the castle's restaurant menu...

Check out Vlad's scrapbook pages he created about Warnings at Waverly Academy! (Click on the images to see a larger view).

 

 

 

 

Birthday today!

~Little Jackalope~

Startling Moments!

Today is a good day to start talking about the game play of Ghost of Thornton Hall. One of the true things about the older games (when I didn't know what was going to happen) that made me nervous was every time that I was about to turn a corner, or enter a new environment. Who knew that a shadowy figure would walk across the halls in Message in a Haunted Mansion? Or that a crow would nearly fly into your face in The Haunting of Castle Malloy?

Here in the office, one of the scare styles we like to incorporate to scary games, or thriller games, is the element of surprise. When you least expect it (or totally anticipate it) something will happen suddenly to startle you! Have you had this Nancy Drew moment before?

Did we startle you in Ghost of Thornton Hall? How about in Shadow at the Water's Edge? Does Message in a Haunted Mansion still get to you and make you nervous? If so, we recommend this Nancy Drew-type advice:

If you have played Ghost of Thornton Hall already, are there any other games you are missing from your mystery collection? With school letting out soon and summer being just around the corner, this may be a good time to catch up on some unsolved cases!

Head's up! Tomorrow we announce the 100 mask winners on our site!
~Little Jackalope~