I’ve always enjoyed puzzles and brain teasers. I think it’s something that stems back to my days when I was still teaching. Quite often at the end of a lesson, I’d put up a brainteaser on the board and challenge the students to solve it before the bell went. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40747582/eccc8d887ffa2b9e87239533a89bea47b7c7d946.png[/img] Sometimes though, I’d take things a bit further… Back in the days when I was teaching grade six in a country school, it fell to each class to fundraise so that they’d have money for excursions. When it came to our turn, we decided (with a bit of prompting from me) to run a pirate day for the school. Students were encouraged to dress and run around speaking like pirates for the day, which, being an Aussie country school, wasn’t too far removed from pirate speak anyway! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40747582/c70a4b3d979d2e804ecfc0cdb60641fc2fd028c7.jpg[/img] As a special activity just for my class, I brought in a locked treasure chest and sat it at the front of the classroom, telling my students they could have whatever treasure was locked inside if they found the key. What followed was a series of tasks that the kids had to do to gather four pieces of a treasure map. These ranged from getting enough points in a pirate-styled math game I’d prepared to beating the other grade six class at pirate dodgeball and stealing their piece of the map. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40747582/dd578bb8e1bf5f3d35c32856f5762fe6a1ffd484.png[/img] By the end of the day, the students had the map (which was a drawing of our school) and were able to use the hints written on the back to find the location of the key. With five minutes left in the day, they found the key and came sprinting back to class, popping with excitement as they fumbled with the lock. Even to this day, I can recall one girl cheering, “This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me!” as the class cracked open the chest to reveal their prize… …a bag of carrots! Bracing myself for an expected wave of vitriol, I was surprised instead when one of the bigger boys held the prize up and shouted victoriously, tearing the bag apart and handing out the booty to the waiting crew. As they wandered off to the bus, munching away like rabbits, I was struck by how fun a day that was. On reflection, it really served as the seed for the Bilkins’ Folly style of puzzle solving. Having said that, players who complete Bilkins will be rewarded with more than just a bag of carrots. I promise. ;) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40747582/7d75fb6d7a646a1e307c3cfcdce2de266ce575b2.gif[/img] [h3][b]Now get outta here and wishlist my game, ya damn scurvy rabbit![/b][/h3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1526370/Bilkins_Folly/