Learn & Play Stories Plus Weekend Puzzle #381

August 24th, 2024

⇓  JUMP TO WEEKEND PUZZLE  ⇓

Greetings, Nancy Drew community – Brighella here!

We recently had a post on our socials that asked for stories of how you’ve learned from Nancy Drew! (Congrats to Christianna who won the random comment giveaway of back-to-school merch by the way!) We got SO many great comments that are just very indicative about how the Nancy Drew game series has impacted people for decades and even changed their lives. For me that’s definitely been the case, and I know so many others like you can relate. We link these games with our nostalgia, childhood, formative years, and eventually they help shape who we want to be – smart, inquisitive, curious, unique individuals like Nancy Drew!

If you read these comments we’ve compiled below, you might relate to a lot of these stories. I know I can relate to so many of these, and I’ve learned SO much from Nancy Drew over the years. Who here got a jump start on Roman numerals because of Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake? I sure did. Learning languages in the Nancy Drew travel games helped me develop an affinity for languages, and because of that I did every year of Spanish in high school that I could and was my class’ top student for Spanish! Now I’m learning Japanese (…slowly. Haha). Scarlet Hand taught me the periodic table of elements before I took Chemistry (never forget HgS – mercuric sulfide – cinnabar) and I still use the phonetic alphabet from Danger on Deception Island to spell things over the phone. Labyrinth of Lies helped me learn the Greek alphabet. Playing Nancy Drew helped me become more interested in learning as a kid, and shaped me to do well in school, and go to college, things I never thought I could do.

The list goes on for me and I bet it does for you, too! Check out some of our favorite snippets of YOUR stories in the list below, and read full comments and stories on Facebook and our other socials!

Code B
I’ve learned so much from the games! Binary code, the periodic table, gemstones…I’m going to school to work in museums, and I always feel like I’m Nancy when I’m doing my internships or fellowships!

Olivia R
Repeatedly, people ask me where I learned that answer, and I always proudly say, “Nancy Drew!”

Michaela S
I was able to travel the world with Nancy, seeing what it is like in all corners of the globe while also increasing my knowledge in history, geography, critical thinking and creativity.

Hailey B
When studying abroad in Ireland, I took my Haunting of Castle Malloy experience with me! I knew about things such as fairies and Irish pub culture that helped me excel in my Irish Culture Immersion class.

Lizzie H
…Any time I say a fun fact, my husband assumes I learned it from Nancy. And he’s usually right.

Victoria F
l’ve used all the puzzle styles, codes, etc to ace escape rooms

Josie M
I’ve learned so much about alchemy, mathematics, history, various countries and locations, and problem solving and loved sharing what I adore about these games with my former fifth grade students!

Candace S
Nancy got me into my career as a paralegal… Her perseverance when times are tough is the best lesson I have learned from our girl!

Amanda H
My mom used to say, “How do you know that?” And the answer would always be, “Nancy Drew.” To this day, I am an excellent problem solver and I owe a lot of it to these games exposing me to many ways of tackling a problem. Thank you, Nancy Drew!

Grace T
Sometimes, I’ll be watching Jeopardy with my mom and get a question right and she will be like “How did you know that?!” and I reply “Nancy Drew!”

Chelsea S
Nancy Drew is my drive to be a private investigator. I’ve learned about geography, culture, foreign languages, the periodic table, binary code and morse code (to name a few of my favorites).

Annabelle B
I learned how to read and write shorthand/stenography from The Haunted Carousel. I still play Nonograms every day after learning how from Shadow at Waters Edge. Learning how to pick a lock (for all those times I leave my house and forget my keys) was much easier after knowing how the inside of a lock works from Phantom of Venice. (I also taught all of family how to play Scopa!) When I got to my first chemistry class, I was already familiar with the periodic table because of Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, where I also learned how to read music notes!

Cass M
Nancy Drew games contain a plethora of educational information that can be applied to real life.

Alexis C
I learned how to input GPS coordinates and read maps from Nancy Drew!

Rachel S
I used the fact that I play Nancy Drew pc games to look for and find things that are not quite right… I got the job as a legislative proofreader.

Johonna B
I work as a librarian now and always have an extensive knowledge of subjects to talk about thanks to Nancy Drew.

Alexis Rae
Thanks to Kapu Cave, I got really into entomology for a while as a kid. I truly don’t how else I ever would have been exposed to it, and I think that shows how special Nancy Drew is.

Bethany R
As a mom now I am looking forward to sharing these games (and the new worksheets!) with my kids.

Brianna W
I am excited to use some of the mini games in class this year with my students to help them with their critical thinking skills!

Kayla B
Nancy Drew taught me about photography (danger by design), and I ended up taking photography classes in high school and learned how to actually develop my own pictures!

Robyn N
In fifth grade I was in a school wide knowledge bee, and I won the spot for my class because I knew how to translate Roman numerals, which I learned from Ghost Dogs

Caitlin M
I’ve always liked the outdoors and had an interest in the natural world so it was fun to learn about GPS, maps, cairns, gemstones, petroglyphs, and plant identification. I now do field work and I make maps.

Dina B
My daughter graduated with a Master’s degree in accounting. I told her if she ever had a speech to make, she would have to give Nancy Drew a lot of credit

KEY Student Worksheets

Speaking of learning, we’ve been celebrating Learn & Play this month as back-to-school rolls around. So, check out Weekend Puzzle #381 made by the one and only Roo, featuring Radek’s marionettes from new game, Mystery of the Seven Keys. We also released the free downloadable KEY Student & Teacher Worksheets, made with input and contributions by real teachers from the Nancy Drew community! Whether you’re a student, teacher, parent, know a teacher that would love to use these, or just love fun worksheets, we hope you learn while you play Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys in historic Prague!

Weekend Puzzle #381

So, can you solve the value for each character from Radek’s show? What’s the final question mark? And, can you relate to any of the learning stories from the list above, or do you have your own story to share? Let us know in the comments below!

— Brighella