Escape Room

Welcome to the HPU Libraries Online Escape Room!

What is this box?

It's a guide that will help you navigate through this adventure! Use the arrows at the bottom to navigate and perform tasks using the webpage to the right.

When you're ready to begin, click the arrow below.

If you need a clue at any point, you can click "chat with a librarian" on the HPU Libraries homepage, and you'll be connected with a librarian. Please tell them you are working on the HPU Libraries online escape room, so they know how to help!

Good luck!

The Adventure Begins

At high noon on a bright, sunny day, you are walking at ATM towards the Learning Commons; you have your backpack and the full intention of getting some serious studying time when you suddenly feel a pressure change in the air. Your ears pop, and the ground begins to blur and then disappear. You feel soft drops of rain pattering down; the sky begins to darken, unnaturally so, until everything fades to black.

The Adventure Begins

It is night. The rain is pelting down. You look frantically around and see only darkness. You become aware that you are holding something. You look down and see a tiny ornate box, emblazoned with a #1, in your hands. You unravel the scroll tied to it. It says:

Hello, Navigator. You are lost. You must find your way to where you are meant to be. Only Kāmohoaliʻi, the Hawaiian shark god, can lead you there. But for him to help you, you need to help him. It would be best to offer him ʻawa, a Hawaiian medicinal drink. Open four locked boxes to retrieve the four ʻawa offerings and present them to Kāmohoaliʻi. If he accepts them, then he will guide you home.

Just then, you realize that your world is gently rocking. Choppy water laps at the edges of the small canoe you are in. A sharp fin juts out of the water mere feet from you. You would normally be scared, but instead, you feel a sense of ease. You know this is Kāmohoaliʻi, who can guide you home. You continue unraveling the scroll. It directs you to use a laptop to solve its puzzles. You furiously reach your hands around to check that your backpack is still there. “Phew, it is!” You pull out your laptop and keep unrolling the scroll to read more:

Box # 1

To unlock this box, solve the first puzzle using HPU Discovery, where you can search for resources by title, author, ISBN, and more. Do a keyword search by copying and pasting - Sharks in Hawaii - in the search box.

Then, on the results page, look for the “Refine This Search” feature on the page's left side. You can use this to limit to certain search criteria.

Box # 1

Now, look at the third book in the results list. You’ll see that this is both an ebook (fully accessible online) and it is also a print book available at Waterfront Library in the Closed Hawaii Pacific Collection. You can find print books in the library with their “call number,” which is like a book’s address on the shelf. The call number you see online matches the call number on the book's spine (like in the picture below). The call number usually starts with two letters and then some numbers.

Which number in the third book's call number occurs most frequently?

Box # 1

You take the ʻawa and hold it out to Kāmohoaliʻi, who accepts it. Suddenly, the pelting rain stops, and you’re sitting in the warm, humid air of a starry night.

Now that the rain has stopped, you can see all the way to the bow, where a large box labeled #2 is nestled.

“One down, three to go,” you think to yourself. You take the box's scroll and read on.

Box # 2

The scroll says:

Back at the HPU Libraries homepage (hpu.edu/libraries), click “View a list of databases” underneath the HPU Discovery search bar. Then click the “All Subjects” dropdown menu and select “Marine Science & Oceanography.”

Unscramble the code to find the perfect database in the list for researching the impact of humans on shark habitats.

Box # 2

What is the name of the database?

Box # 2

Kāmohoaliʻi, waves a fin, and you feel everything shifting around you. Just above the horizon, you see a beacon of light brighter than all the stars and think to yourself, “a lighthouse.” You know to paddle towards it. Kāmohoaliʻi swims just ahead.

Box #3

When you finally arrive at a dock, you find a briefcase labeled #3. You hop from the boat and see you must decipher a 3 letter code to open it. You read the scroll attached to the handle.

The scroll says:

There will be times that the right book or article is not held at HPU, however, you can get a hold of them from other libraries that are far away across the vast Pacific Ocean. To do so, you need to use this service available at HPU Libraries.

For clues of the service, explore the orientation guide (https://hpu.libguides.com/libraryorientation) and look for symbols similar to the ones on the previous code then see which quick link matches the 3 letter code.

Box #3

Your letter combo opens the briefcase, and under loads of sand, you find some binoculars. 

Box #3

You try to find Kāmohoaliʻi, in the sea and see him diving under the water momentarily before jumping forth and flipping in the air. The fixed stars become streaks of light as if the spinning Earth had sped up.

The deepest night hastens into dawn. You look back towards the beacon that guided you here and can just now make out that it wasn’t a lighthouse but rather a tower with a brightly lit clockface.

When you look through the binoculars, you can see that the number 4 in the clock is different from the rest of the numbers. You know this is a sign from Kāmohoaliʻi so you rush towards the tower. 

Box #4

You climb the ten flights of stairs to the top of the towering clock, and at the end, there is a blue door with a lock and the usual scroll attached. 

Box #4

You unravel the scroll and read:

Did you know that students can reserve study rooms at each of the three library locations? To do so, start at the HPU Libraries homepage (https://www.hpu.edu/libraries). Then look under “Services” for the “Study Rooms” button. Click that. Scroll through the page to make sure you don’t miss any interesting info. To complete your booking, you would hypothetically choose what location you want to book the study room at and click it. The green slots are available in the calendars, and the red slots are already booked. You can click on an available day, and the time you want to reserve. Read the policies, fill in your info, and you’re done! You can show up to your study room at the appointed time. Ready to open the box?

Box #4

Inside the room, you find the last ʻawa and toss it to Kāmohoaliʻi in the water below you. With this fourth and final offering, he joyfully whips his tail in the water and the vestiges of the night and fog clear away. As quickly as you first fell into this lost place, you find that you emerge into a perfect sunny day. From the top of the tower, you catch a view of a trademark teal roof, and it clicks--it's your university.

You’re at Aloha Tower at HPU, exactly where you are meant to be. You shout out thanks to Kāmohoaliʻi and, with his bounty of ʻawa, he swims out to sea.

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.