Arctic Escape Room

Introduction, Setup, Hints, and Decorations

We Need your Help!!!

Professor Dr. Sneed is attempting to steal the research of his rival colleague,
Dr. Lee. He is also trying to kill both Dr. Lee and Dr. Lee’s assistant, field
expert Ally Simons, to cover it up. Dr. Sneed is jealous of how Dr. Lee has beaten
him in a race to discover the correct DNA sequence that can clone the ancient
wooly mammoth back to life in modern day.

Background:

Dr. Lee is near the end of his long and successful career. Originally From the
midwest, Dr. Lee grew up in a rural town and spent much time with his friends and
family. With graying hair, a kind smile, intelligent thinking, and a gentle
manner of speaking, Dr. Lee has endeared himself to the scientific community as
almost a grandfather of sorts to many up and coming scientists. Well-liked by
his peers, Dr. Lee spends much of his time helping others with their research
before spending time on his life-long passion. He has dreamed of recreating a
modern-day wooly mammoth. Recently Dr. Lee found the needed DNA samples of
an extinct wooly mammoth trapped in ice in the arctic tundra of Greenland.
Using the samples he has successfully reconstructed the genetic coding needed
so that a modern day wooly mammoth could be cloned. Within the next couple of
weeks Dr. Lee’s findings will be published in a prestigious scientific journal
titled, Amazing Scientific Accomplishments (ASA).

Since Dr. Lee is getting on in age he does not move as quickly as he used to, often
relying on a cane at times. When at the research Center and not out collecting
DNA samples, Dr. Lee answers many emails and phone calls in his office. Others
will come and meet with him in his cozy little space. In the near future, Dr. Lee
will retire and plans to leave much of his legacy to be continued by his
faithful assistant, field expert Ally Simmons.

Dr. Sneed is an odd scientist in his mid-fifties. He has thinning hair, a significant
waist, thick glasses, and bushy eyebrows. As a rather high-strung man, Dr.
Sneed often keeps to himself in the arctic research station. He spends his spare
time amusing himself with origami, crossword puzzles, taking selfies, and
personal grooming. Most people think he never met a mirror that he didn’t like,
and it appears that Dr. Sneed believes others are just as in love with him as he
is himself. He reads fairly often and quite widely which is ironic given his
reputation for bad spelling. Dr. Sneed likes to speak to people within their
personal space bubble, and loves to help others think about how wonderful
 Arctic Escape Room
Introduction, Setup, Hints, and Decorations

and intelligent he is.

He earned his Doctorate a long-time ago but missed an opportunity early on for
a prestigious position working on extinct dinosaur bones. Gossip has it that he
was passed over for the job because he didn’t spell his name right on the
application! Set on making a name for himself, Dr. Sneed took a job studying the
next best thing to dinosaurs- other animals living at the same time as
dinosaurs. Dr. Sneed has been willing to go anywhere and do anything to make
sure he gets his name published and remembered in scientific journals.

Setting:

In a remote arctic research center in Greenland, Dr. Lee and Ally Simons are
out in the field collecting samples of a recently found wooly mammoth encased
in ice. Before they left, Dr. Snead rigged the GPS system in the snowmobile used
by Dr. Lee and Ally Simons so that they cannot locate themselves back to base
in the white out conditions. Dr. Snead has also changed the exterior door code
to the research center to try and keep Dr. Lee and Ally from re-entering
thereby causing them to die outside of hypothermia. Dr. Snead has also broken
into his colleague’s computer. He has stolen the information, changed the
password on Dr. Lee’s computer, and loaded a virus onto Dr. Lee’s computer that
will rewrite the genetic code of the wooly mammoth discovered by Dr. Lee. This
rewriting of the genetic code will be unchangeable within one hour when the
virus finishes copying itself over the entire hard drive. Professor Lee and Ally
Simmons have one hour to do four things:

1) Figure out the correct GPS coordinates to make it back to the research
center
2) Crack the new door code on the research center door to get in out of the
cold
3) Decipher the password needed to get back into Dr. Lee’s computer
4) Reconfigure the correct genetic code of the wooly mammoth before the
virus completely rewrites the hard drive.

You will have one hour to accomplish the four tasks above. Before you begin
make sure that you have all of the needed items for each of the four parts.

Good Luck!!
 Arctic Escape Room
Introduction, Setup, Hints, and Decorations

Setup

To play the Arctic Escape Room you will need to do the following prior to
beginning:

1. Printing: Most of the items for this Arctic Escape room can remain digital
if you choose. The only items that require printing are the following

a. two files titled, “Part 1 Latitude square side 1” and “Part 1,

Latitude square side,2.” These two pieces of paper need to be
printed, cut out, and then glued back to back so that the #1 with an
arrow near the corner on “Part 1, Latitude side 2” is closest to the
word “Yield” on “Part 1, Latitude Side 1.” Note: you will need to cut
the squares from the paper that you print them on since the
squares are not the entire size of an 8.5” x 11” regular piece of
paper.

b. The file titled, “Part 3, crossword puzzle”

c. The file titled, “Part 4, Codon Strips”

2. Make sure that you have all the materials

3. Have a computer nearby with internet access, or a smart phone, For the
links or QR code provided to check your answers and to use the hints
provided (if hints are needed). For more information on the hints, see the
page titled, “hints” below.
 Arctic Escape Room
Introduction, Setup, Hints, and Decorations

Hints

Hints have been created to help you move along within the game in case you get
stuck. You do not have to use these hints.

In case you do want to use them, click on the link below (or use the QR code) to
access all of the hints for the game. You will see instructions on this link that
describe how the links work. Each hint is meant to be used at a certain time. For
example, you may not use the first hint until 5 minutes of the game have
elapsed. Each hint is then marked in 5-minute intervals (55:00, 50:00, 45:00, 40:00,
etc.). The last two clues are for 5:00 minutes left of the game and then 2:00
minutes left in the game.

If you do not need a hint and move along in the game but then need one later on
in the game, you can get to the hints for later in the game by clicking on 'true'
for each of the hints until you get to the hint at the amount of time that you
have left in the game.

Link: https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=d3p5e93dc65242d3
 Arctic Escape Room
Introduction, Setup, Hints, and Decorations

Decorating, Costumes, and Food

The setting for the Arctic Escape room is in the frozen tundra of Greenland. We
recommend the following decorations, costumes, and/or food to help make the
experience more enjoyable.

Decorations

1. White sheets to cover the walls and any furniture in the room. Pillows or
soft padding or cushions will help make a snow tundra look. Paint or cover
cardboard boxes to look like snow

2. Frosted glass spray (in a spray can) for any windows

3. Stuffed animals from the arctic such as penguins or polar bears

4. Set the Air conditioning (if available) as cold as it will go

5. Hang snowflakes cut from paper from the ceiling

6. make a large wooly mammoth mural with butcher paper and markers or
crayons

7. For home staging: use two rooms- one for the arctic scene, and the 2nd room in
a home office

Costumes

1. Think cold with arctic snow gear!

2. Warm jackets, ski pants, goggles, beanies, gloves or mittens

3. Snow boots or even snowshoes

Food

1. Hot chocolate or coffee

2. Snow cones or ice cream

3. Frozen dinner or snacks- uncooked.