January 18, 2025 - May 4, 2025
Enter the wonderfully puzzling world of Mindbender Mansion, an eclectic place full of brainteasers and interactive challenges guaranteed to test the brain power and problem solving skills of even the most experienced puzzlers!
Visitors to this fun and quirky mansion are invited to join the Mindbender Society by gathering hidden clues and secret passwords scattered throughout the various thematic rooms of the house.
The clues and passwords are revealed by solving select brainteasers and group challenges. Think outside the box and collaborate with your fellow mansion guests to meet individual and group challenges, which include manipulating a tilt table, keeping up with a conveyer belt, and disco hopscotch spelling.
Math, science, and technology educational content are woven into the puzzles, videos, and group challenges found inside Mindbender Mansion. At the heart of the exhibit is the essential scientific task of problem solving and critical thinking. The puzzles are an excellent tool for explaining mathematical and physical science concepts. In order to solve these puzzles, you must identify patterns, think ahead, use logical reasoning, and look at the problems from different perspectives, setting aside preconceived ideas.
The videos in each of the four Clue Vaults explain neuroscience-based principles, and tell the story of several inventors who have used problem solving skills to come up with new solutions to old problems.
Additionally, the popular group challenges require communication, collaboration, leadership, and teamwork skills – skills that are critical in solving the challenges facing today’s businesses and communities.
Adults, families, children and school groups alike will enjoy exercising their minds as they try to master each of the 11 individual brainteasers and the three large-scale group activities in this fun and unconventional exhibit!
- So incredibly engaging and hands-on for everyone that it’s fun for families of all ages and generations. Grandparents, parents and children of all ages learn from each other as they work together to solve the various brainteasers and group challenges.
- A perfect exhibit for school groups, providing teachers with opportunities to engage their students in inventive, out-of-the classroom problem solving that requires mathematics, builds on prior knowledge, inspires teamwork and demands creativity. Mindbender Mansion is especially popular with middle and high school-aged groups.
The exhibit is included with museum admission or Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Foundation Membership.
Mindbender Mansion was produced and is toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon. The exhibit is sponsored locally by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Foundation, Feild Co-Operative Association, The Walker Foundation, and other generous sponsors.
