From January 29 through May 1, the Connecticut Science Center will give visitors’ brains a thorough workout with the latest traveling exhibit to be featured at the downtown Hartford venue. Mindbender Mansion is a fully-interactive and unconventional exhibit filled with the ultimate collection of mind games and puzzles guaranteed to engage and entertain players of all ages.
"The Connecticut Science Center is constantly looking for new and different ways to engage people in science," said Matt Fleury, President and CEO of the Science Center. "Games are a wonderful invitation into the scientific world. Observing and solving puzzles lay at the foundation of science, engineering, math, and technology. Every day the scientist, the engineer, the mathematician, and the technologist look at a problem and search for its answer."
Exercising problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, the exhibit is designed to be as educational as it is fun. Math, science, and technology content are woven into the puzzles and videos found inside Mindbender Mansion. In order to solve the brain-twisters, visitors must plan, identify patterns, use logical reasoning, and explore problems from different angles. In addition, the group activities require communication, collaboration, leadership, and teamwork skills, all of which are necessary to solving the challenges facing today’s businesses and communities.
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About Mindbender Mansion
Visitors to Mindbender Mansion are greeted by its eccentric video host, Mr. E, who explains the rules and gives visitors clues as they set off on their journey. Forty (40) individual brain teasers and five (5) group challenges are located within the seven-room Mindbender Mansion. As they proceed through the rooms, guests gather up hidden clues and secret passwords scattered among the puzzles until they reach the Wall of Fame. Those who have collected all the clues needed to solve the final puzzle are then inducted into the Mindbender Society.
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Visitors of all ages are encouraged to open up their minds and collaborate to solve the puzzles. Individual, tabletop brain teasers can be solved alone, while group activities require assistance from other guests.
Exercising body as well as brain, the group challenges include:
- Feeding Frenzy - Reminiscent of "I Love Lucy’s misadventure in the candy factory, mayhem is guaranteed in a race to beat the clock by filling T.V. dinner trays on a fast moving conveyer belt.
- Flying Machine - Solid teamwork is a must in order to maneuver a mechanical "flying machine" around a large game board hitting six targets in sequence before the time is up.
- Spelling Fever - Hopscotch meets Scrabble® in this race to spell correct words within a limited amount of time by hopping on letter squares that light up.
- Move and Match - Dinner time was never this much fun! Slide your dining room chairs on wheels into a correct pattern before the clock runs out.
- Amazing Maze - In this version of the classic steel ball labyrinth game visitors must work together to tilt a table in different directions, guiding a ball into six holes as quickly as possible.
Puzzle sweepstakes Offers Trip to Mayan Ruins for Winner: To celebrate the opening of Mindbender Mansion at the Connecticut Science Center, an online puzzle contest is being launched, earning the Grand Prize winner a trip to Belize to see the Mayan Ruins.
The first of a series of five puzzles, created by Connecticut puzzle maker Eric Berlin, will appear January 27 on the Science Center’s website at www.CTScienceCenter.org/puzzle. Berlin’s crosswords have been published in the New York Times and he is the author of the children’s book, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen.
A new puzzle will appear online every two weeks. Each puzzle contains a six-letter word embedded in it, which is the answer to the puzzle. The answers to the first four puzzles are needed to solve the final puzzle. All those who answer the fifth puzzle correctly will be entered to win the Grand Prize trip.
Mindbender Mansion
About the Connecticut Science Center: The LEED-Gold certified Connecticut Science Center, located in downtown Hartford, sparks creative imagination and an appreciation for science by immersing visitors in fun and educational hands-on, minds-on interactive experiences while maintaining an environmentally conscious presence. Visitors experience over 150 exhibits in ten galleries and a range of topics, including space and earth sciences, physical sciences, biology, the Connecticut River watershed, alternative energy sources, Connecticut inventors and innovations, a children’s gallery, and much more. Other features include four educational labs, a 200-seat 3D digital theater, function room, gift store and café, and ongoing events and lectures for all ages. The Science Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing science education throughout the state of Connecticut and New England, providing learning opportunities for students and adults of all ages, and engaging the community in scientific exploration. More information: 860.SCIENCE or online at www.CTScienceCenter.org.
will be on view in the Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center Traveling Exhibit Gallery located on the fourth floor of the Science Center. The exhibit’s run in Hartford is presented by United Technologies Corporation with additional support from the LEGO Children’s Fund and Aetna, Inc. Mindbender Mansion was produced and is toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR.
