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Unlock the Puzzle and Put Your Brainpower to the Test in Mindbender Mansion and Amazing Mazes Unlock the Puzzle and Put Your Brainpower to the Test in Mindbender Mansion and Amazing Mazes

Thursday, 26 January 2017

COLUMBUS, OH – COSI is excited to present Mindbender Mansion and Amazing Mazes, a limited-engagement exhibition featuring over 100 hands-on activities, opening on January 28, 2017.

Produced by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Mindbender Mansion is a wide-ranging place full of puzzles, brainteasers, and interactive challenges guaranteed to test the brain power and problem-solving skills of even the most experienced puzzlers. Adults and children alike will enjoy exercising their minds as they try to master each of the 40 individual brain teasers and the five group activities in this fun and unconventional exhibit.

Visitors to Mindbender Mansion will be greeted by the wacky Mr. E., master brainteaser and puzzler extraordinaire, and current curator of the Mindbender Society. He will explain the mysteries of Mindbender Mansion and how to become a member of the eccentric Mindbender Society by gathering hidden clues and secret passwords. The clues can only be discovered by solving key puzzles found in select themed areas.

Throughout the exhibit visitors will find a combination of tabletop brainteasers they can solve on their own and larger group challenges that require assistance from their fellow mansion guests.

The group challenges include:

  • Feeding Frenzy-Kitchen mayhem is guaranteed in a race to beat the clock by filling T.V. dinner trays (with five kinds of food) 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.
Upon completing each of the select brainteasers and group challenges, visitors will have gathered the necessary clues and secret passwords to become a member of the Mindbender Society and add their portrait to the “Wall of Fame.”

COSI has added a special experience to Mindbender Mansion called Amazing Mazes. Amazing Mazes challenges visitors with maze experiences that propel people of all ages down paths of mystifying illusions and mind-boggling puzzles. Each maze is a rhapsody of dynamic environments where you’ll discover a surprise around every corner and new methods of problem-solving through improvisation, trial and error, observation and testing, and logic and reasoning. COSI is pleased to present this refreshing line-up of mind-bending adventures, 3-D puzzles and full-body games. Test your perceptions in a feast of visual trickery inside the giant Maze of Illusions. Grab an instrument and lay down a fresh beat in the Music Maze. Get entangled and untangled in the Web Maze, Wrap your head around the Puzzle Maze, put your finger on the pulse of the Finger Maze and get lost in a network of color in the Color Maze. Created by Minotaur Mazes, Amazing Mazes sends visitors of all ages on an unforgettable adventure that’s sure to challenge, entertain and amaze. Families will jump and stump their way through this collection of alternative, rip-roaring, head-banging, challenges.

COSI hosted Mindbender Mansion and Amazing Mazes in 2013, and it was very popular with Members and guests. The science center is excited to bring it back to Columbus for a second time.

Hours Mindbender Mansion and Amazing Mazes is free with COSI admission. COSI and the exhibition will be open Wednesday through Sunday, 10am – 5pm. COSI will be open seven days a week starting March 20, 2017, and closed on April 16, 2017. Admission to COSI is $20 for adults, $15 for youth, and free for Members.

Mindbender Mansion and Amazing Mazes will run through April 30, 2017. For more information on our featured exhibition and special events and programs, please call 614.228.2674 or visit cosi.org. Mindbender Mansion is produced and toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon © 2017.