What a Mystery Is Art

Those who create mysteries are those that are best suited to solving them . . .

Pick one or more genres, one or more characters, and one or more props, then use them to create a mystery. Props and characters can be constructed or portrayed in any way the creative team chooses. Points will be awarded for each genre, character, or prop that the judges identify. Genres may span media (e.g. comic strips are generally drawn, while mime is performed live, and photo novellas are, well, photographed). Feel free to mix genres, so long as each one is identifiable. Characters and props should be of some relevance to the mystery (i.e., you can’t just have a half-empty can of Red Bull sitting on a table, it needs to have something to do with the story).

Points Genre Characters Props
1

Slapstick comedy

Comic strip

Runyon-esque short story

Soap opera

Limerick

Bob Woodward

Angry soccer mom

Sleepwalking kleptomaniac

Dr. House

Irate DMV clerk

Lindsay Lohan

Simon Cowell

Dizzy blond painter with amnesia

Chain saw

Long black veil

Set of dice

Ill-fitting glove

Poisoned dart

Cop whistle

Vintage British sports car

Stolen credit card

Box cutter

Blank envelope

2

Choose Your Own Adventure

Mime

Photo novella

Film noir

Children’s theater

Home Shopping Network host

Gladys Kravitz (from Bewitched)

Pickpocket with Tourette’s Syndrome

Drunk environmental lobbyist

Ron Paul

Drill sergeant with a speech impediment

Recently unemployed department store Santa

Noam Chomsky

Possessed tricycle

Pair of heart-shaped sunglasses

Copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style

Bust of Elvis

Ocarina

Silly Putty

A half-empty can of Red Bull

Pair of castanets

Any squeaky toy

The Clapper

4

Episode of 60 Minutes

Kabuki

Sonnet(s)

Animated flip book

Grand opera

Mediocre lounge singer

Cathy Guisewite

Libertarian busboy

Caligula

Nicholas Negroponte

An extra from the film Birth of a Nation

Charles de Gaulle

1974 issue of National Geographic

Children’s tea set

Reproduction of Michelangelo’s David

A web site at least two years out of date

A Segway

A girdle

Receipt for 26 8'x4' sheets of dry wall from Home Depot

A can of Pam

Converse high tops

Photograph of a baby seal

To complete this task you must receive at least the following number of points:

Team Size Minimum Points
<10
5
10-15
8
16-20
10
21-30
15
31-40
20
41-50
25
51-75
35
76-100
45
>100
55