Love Potion No. 9.9 hunt

The latest Madpea Legend of the Month hunt is out: Love Potion No. 9.9! Each month a new Madpea hunt legend is discovered and the stories take you on interactive grid-wide adventures. After the dark and suspense story of the Room 326 hunt a story about Love comes as a welcome change. The February edition hunt is less dark and dreary. 

I got lost at the start of the treasure hunt - but it's such a beautiful sim!

As I wrote in December I believe that Madpea hunts stand out of the crowd. You will not only be searching for hidden items but also for clues that move the story forward. So I decided that I should really play this treasure hunt myself. Madpea also writes about point-and-click game elements on their blog and I wanted to check them out. Moreover two Dwarfins avatars are amongst the hunt goodies. And the Dwarfins are probably the most innovative breadable game concept in Second Life at the moment.

After having spent a long evening with the hunt,  I am very happy with the time investment: it's simply the best SL hunt that I have played so far. The sim hosting the start and the ending of the story is incredibly beautiful and the story elements create a suspense atmosphere. The included riddles help you to advance in the game. 


The only thing that I could criticize is the difficulty level of the first two hidden items. Especially the second one was almost impossible to find as the place was huge. I believe that the first items in a hunt need should be found easily. They need to be motivating for begginers so that they can get a grip of the concept. And it's an old game mechanics rule that the most difficult parts should be kept for the endgame.  

If you should get stuck - and you probably will, there is a great community of players that can give you hints and help in the Madpea group. You should definitively join it at the start of the game. Without them, I would have honestly quit at the second item.

I also started IM-chat sessions with other players during the hunt and soon I was playing together with two other hunters. In a team it was even more exciting to discuss possible clues and to search the places. I recommend to team-up for these hunts.

Picture taken from the MadPea blog

Here is the story of the Love Potion No. 9.9 hunt: 

It starts in a forest right out of a story from childhood. The hero of the story, Phinneas Phicklephogg, is an alchemist. There doesn't seem to be much need for his magical abilities until he receives a letter in the mail. A letter requesting his assistance in decoding a recipe for Love Potion No. 9.9.

If Phinneas can decipher the recipe and create the potion, he will be richly rewarded for his efforts. The recipe states that 15 ingredients must be collected and combined for the potion to work but all that is given in the way of ingredients is a list of books followed by the instruction "Harvest the Essence of Their Love".

By joining the quest you can enjoy the best Love inspired hunt that I have found on the grid so far. The HUD will cost you 50L and it is very much worth every Linden. Before you can begin with the hunt, you must find a recipe for the ingredients that you need to look for. Check out the library for an important letter and start your introduction to the game. Oh, and look out for the road signs to find the right path at the start...