Longmeadow resident Caroline Hart’s three sons begin “The Staff of Ministry” at Bliss Park.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow resident Caroline Hart has used her love for puzzles and mystery to create a free outdoor game built directly around the town’s history.
“The Staff of Ministry” is a fictional and magical escape game designed to be family-friendly. It is completely free and takes about three hours across 3.5 miles of town.
Beginning at Bliss Park, players use phones or tablets while following clues across town to retrieve an ancient artifact known as the Staff of Ministry — a magical artifact buried in the ground to prevent Longmeadow from reverting back to wilderness.
Each chapter is rooted in town history, such as the 1716 Ministry Land Grant with locations like the John Chapman House, Storrs Library, First Church and the Town Green.
Hart said she’d done similar paid games throughout Boston, Toronto and France, but really wanted to do something for Longmeadow residents.
“I’ve been making games forever,” Hart said. “We have elaborate birthday parties for our kids, where we all dress up murder mystery style with plots to uncover a physical puzzle. I’m not new to this field, just new to the idea of sharing it with the community.”
She said Bliss Park’s recent renovations inspired the game’s beginning, tying the renovation into how an ancient artifact had been discovered.
“What I wanted to do is, I wanted people to go and find clues to different puzzles in Longmeadow but I wanted it to be based on actual history,” Hart said. “You would just have fun pretending you’re looking for the staff because of a crime that’s been committed. The staff has been put into the hand of Mr. Potato Head at Bliss park, and one day you come in and it’s gone. There’s a note there that pretty much says you have until sundown to recover the staff or Longmeadow reverts back to wilderness.”
The game is intended as an “afternoon of adventure,” according to Hart, but progress saves as players advance further so it can be returned to across multiple days.
Hart said her game differs from ones she has played in the past because those don’t teach players about the history behind the locations.
“For instance, you’re in Boston and there’s a big sculpture there called The Embrace,” Hart said. “You’re looking for a clue on the sculpture, but along the way, you’re not learning anything about the sculpture. I wanted people here to learn about Longmeadow.”
She said creating the game culminated over 100 hours of combing through Longmeadow archives and conversations with the Longmeadow Historical Society.
“I think there’s a lot of history here in Longmeadow,” Hart said. “I come from Europe, where history is just pretty much at every corner of the street. It’s easy to assume there’s not much history here, but once you look around our little town, there’s just so much.”
Hart said her vision for the game is people learning as much as they can and having fun while doing it. She said she has put a lot of passion and time into the game and wanted to share it with the community as a mom of three boys.
“The Staff of Ministry” can be found at phillipmhart.github.io/the-staff-of-ministry/.
