The Boxcar Children

#78 The Mystery in the Computer Game by Gertrude Chandler Warner, 2000.

The Alden children love the computer game that they’ve been playing with their cousin, Soo Lee.  The game is called Ring Master, and they have to help the characters in the game to solve puzzles in order to find the magical ring.  Solving puzzles is a specialty of the Aldens.

Then, they get the chance to be play testers for the sequel to Ring Master.  Their grandfather knows the owner of the company that makes the games.  The owner of the company invites the children to come to the company for a tour and even gives them a computer to use to play the test version of the new computer game.

Strangely, some of the people at the company seem upset at the Aldens getting the computer.  Andy, the one of one of the founding members of the company, insists on coming over to the Aldens’ house and working on the computer, giving it some updates.  However, after he leaves, the Aldens realize that some things about the game have suddenly changed.  A new character called Naje suddenly pops up, and she seems to be hanging around places in the game that remind them of places that remind them of real places around town.

The Aldens feel like they’re being given a message through the game, especially when they visit some of the places represented in the game and notice Jane, a member of the computer game company, hanging around these places.  What is Jane up to, and what is the game trying to tell them?

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

This story deals with corporate spies and the theft of intellectual property, but what makes it really interesting is the sort of treasure hunt-style way the puzzles in the computer game lead them to the culprit. The identity of the mysterious person who is feeding the clues to them is part of the mystery. The fact that the person who is feeding them clues feels like they can’t speak up about their suspicious openly is also a clue to their identity.