Can you unlock the secrets of the Valley of the Unknown? Descend into a living adventure video game and uncover the island’s history… if you can.
Welcome to the Valley of the Unknown. Here, time and the elements have buried what must have taken centuries to construct. The forgotten and mysterious tropical island – under perpetual starry skies – hides innumerable secrets: stone spirits, locked temples, buried ancients, and indecipherable languages. Adventure in the Valley of the Unknown may be the only attraction of its kind in the world: a fully immersive living puzzle that takes weeks or months of effort to fully solve.
Located at COSI – a revolutionary science center in Columbus, Ohio that we discussed in detail here – Adventure is presented as one of seven “learning worlds.” COSI is comprised of seven fully immersive themed environments, each representing a single piece of the larger concept of science. It’s innovative enough to consider “Adventure” as one inalienable element of scientific study (though it doubtlessly is: facing the unknown, taking chances, setting out to find knowledge…). It’s even more impressive that the Adventure exhibit takes such revolutionary form.
So what’s hidden under the dark, torch-lit skies of the Valley of the Unknown, and what makes this permanent exhibition at an Ohio science center rival even Disney’s best?
1. The Story of The Explorers Society
The stark white hallways of COSI suddenly give way to a massive rock outcropping in the wall. This cavern mouth leads into a dark tunnel, lit by wavering electric lamps. En route to a canvas and bamboo tent, visitors pass by a bronze plaque that labels the structure Outpost #41 – the newest headquarters of the international Explorers Society. This legendary group of adventurers (on par with Disney’s S.E.A. and the multiple attractions it ties into one intercontinental storyline) has established Outpost #41 to explore the long lost Valley of the Unknown.
Greeted by a member of the Explorers Society (always with a charming accent and life story), the scene is set: it’s 1939 – two years after the Explorers Society first set foot on the island. A black and white film reel informs the new recruits that in the last two years, the Explorers Society – led by the fearless and dearly departed Eva Snodgras (may she rest in pieces) – discovered the crumbling stone Maze of Reason, the lush Temple of Inspiration, and the Cavern of Perseverance filled with catacombs. As well, each of those three areas of the island contained a large stone statue built to embody the qualities of a good explorer: the Spirits of Reason, Inspiration and Perseverance.
Still, the most amazing discovery has to be the towering Observatory. Indeed, the massive two-story Observatory at the dead center of the island is said to contain the Treasure of Knowledge. The problem? It’s locked, and no one can find a way inside.
2. Outpost #41
But as new recruits, you have arrived just in time.
Recently, Eva and her crew began to dig into the volcanic sands around the Observatory and found something unusual: a fourth region of the island (The Well of Questions) and an accompanying fourth stone statue. Her crew has worked tirelessly to relocate P’lunk, the Spirit of Questions, from the well to the Outpost, where Eva’s last diary entry before her disappearance claims to have found a way to “wake up” P’lunk using three animal symbols she found carved into the stone walls of the Well, seemingly having appeared from no where as she paced and murmured to herself.
Bird. Beetle. Buffalo.
It would, of course, be preposterous to touch those three animals on the stone-and-brass keypad accompanying P’lunk, right?
“Who dares awaken me? Who disturbs the tranquility of the mighty P’lunk, Spirit of Questions?! …Oh, it’s you! And you want me to help you in your quest for knowledge?”
P’lunk’s offers:
“The Observatory gates will open wide if you know the code for getting inside!
It’s made up of pieces: a total of four. Look here at the first, now find three more.
If you wonder where to find the others, just look for my Spirit sister and brothers.
They are somewhere waiting for you in the Maze, the Temple, and the Cavern, too.
When you add their pieces to the one I’ve revealed, the Observatory will be unsealed!
You will enter through its doors, and the Treasure of Knowledge will, at last, be yours!”
Armed with the footage from the Dateline newsreel, a map of the Valley, and P’lunk’s riddle and symbol, the Explorers Society member swings wide the door of the Outpost and sends you out onto the Island to find your way home. “Should you become hopelessly lost,” they often offer, “send up a flare and we’ll have someone find you in two to three weeks.” The adventure begins…
3. The Maze of Reason
The ancient Maze of Reason just outside of the Outpost seems a reasonable enough place to start. Using miles markers and ancient arches inscribed with code, visitors are tasked to use reason to navigate the maze and find the three animal symbols that will awaken B’ra-Zoa, Spirit of Reason. The maze is dark, with the flickering incandescent bulbs of overhead excavation lamps constantly dimming as the generator attempts to keep up.
Even once you find his animal symbols, B’ra-Zoa is hidden somewhere in the heart of the maze, standing silently after many centuries and awaiting those who can awaken him. When awakened, B’ra-Zoa reminds you to use your head; don’t be fooled by your heart. For proving your mastery of reason, another piece of the code to unlock the Observatory is yours.
4. The Temple of Inspiration
The ancient temple of Inspiration is built to honor L’lala, the Spirit of Inspiration. Her three trials are tough, and will challenge all but the youngest explorers. That’s because L’lala’s job is to ensure that only those who can think outside the box can enter the Observatory.
“Think like a child,” Explorers Society members will often offer when visitors are stumped on how to find L’lala’s three animal symbols. Still, once she’s awake, L’lala reminds you to use your imagination, because inspiration is everywhere. You’ll need to be inspired if you’ll awaken the fourth Great Spirit, hidden deep within the island’s torch-lit caverns…
5. The Cavern of Perseverance
The Cavern of Perseverance is carved into ancient lava tubes beneath the island’s Mount Wakarango. Perseverance is the quality of steady persistence in spite of difficulties and obstacles. Only those who persevere are worthy of the Treasure of Knowledge, so T’em-poa, the Spirit of Perseverance, holds the final piece of the code. And if you want it, you’ll have to work for it.
The three Trials of Perseverance are tough. An ancient stone statue of the island’s disgraced ruler Cymon holds five glowing gems. If you want his animal symbol, you’ll need to repeat the pattern he displays as it gets increasingly tougher. (Get it? Cymon? Like the handheld game, Simon?)
Then, you must challenge the Gates of Doom, where gold skulls control a hallway of sliding stone doors. If you follow Doom’s instructions and successfully navigate the sliding doors without becoming trapped (or crushed), you’ll eventually stand before the carving of his face and receive his animal symbol.
Then, tucked away in a dark catacomb is the most difficult trial: the Eyes of Skorn. This ram-horned, tentacled, would-be goddess has the most famous challenge on the island, as her “fiery beams” (read: lasers) criss-cross her rocky chamber. You must move through the laser maze (and quickly!) to stand before her carving if you want her animal symbol.
Each of the three trials of Perseverance are brilliantly designed as you might (or more likely, will) fail at each at least once. Only those who persevere and try again will have the three animal symbols they need. T’em-poa (whose voice is comparable to Yoda, but whose intelligence is not) is located in a steaming volcanic vent in the Cavern. Once brought to life, he reminds you that you need not be the smartest kid on the block. One thing is very clear: if you want knowledge, you’ve got to keep trying, and trying, and trying, and trying.
6. The Observatory
Question, Reason, Inspiration, and Perseverance. If you can demonstrate them all, you’ll have awakened P’lunk, B’ra-zoa, L’lala, and T’em-poa. The symbols they’ve provided will come in handy, as you return to the center of the island and cross the suspension bridge up to the Observatory’s sealed doors. Type the four symbols into the brass keypad and the Observatory gates will shutter, unlock, and creak open. Step inside… and then…
Well, it wouldn’t be much fun if we gave it away. But what you learn inside of the Observatory will be very helpful. P’lunk reminds you: “The code we spirits gave you is clever as can be, for it has other meanings you are yet to see.”
With that, the symbols provided by the Spirits are translated to English. After you’ve unlocked the Observatory (which takes maybe an hour), the quest has just begun. Most people who visit the exhibit often leave the island after they’ve unlocked the Observatory. Only those who take P’lunk’s words to heart will recognize that the Observatory is just the beginning.
7. Level 2
The Observatory code provides you with all you need to begin Adventure – Level 2. Armed with the beginnings of an ancient language, you’re tasked to translate the many, many paragraphs of ancient writings carved into the walls and supports of the Observatory and Temple. They begin to reveal the history of the island, its disgraced leader, and what happened to the people who once lived here…
As you read more and learn the history of the island, you also find a new challenge: somewhere on the island, an ancient vault is cursed. Only the chosen one can break the curse and unlock the vault, and you’ll need the four Great Spirits to do it. New, hidden trials that take hours of decoding and doing yield new animal symbols to re-awaken each of the Spirits and receive new clues that lead to new places on the island.
As you revisit the Temple, Maze, and Cavern, you find that each one has its own language. And yes, you need to translate each of them to move ahead. Ancient grids, paintings, and puzzles reveal more and more of the Valley’s history and its destruction during a great Cataclysm.
The second level of Adventure takes about twenty hours of work to complete… A totally immersive and absolutely secret puzzle game that’s incredibly challenging. And truthfully, we can’t think of another thing like it in the world. Where else are you dropped into a video game and sent on an Indiana Jones-style quest that literally takes weeks and weeks of work to finish?
8. A Model of 21st Century Attractions
More and more, theme park visitors are looking to become part of the story. Through interactivity, premium experiences, and personalization, guests want more than to observe. They want to participate. COSI’s Adventure is a sincerely outstanding model for the future of theme parks. Imagine Adventure expanded to become an entire themed area at a premium park like Discovery Cove or Disney’s long-rumored Night Kingdom.
Just imagine what Disney or Universal could do to create a stand-alone, living, immersive adventure puzzle game.
It’s totally flexible – a few hours worth of entertainment for casual tourists, but with limitless scope and months worth of puzzles for annual passholders.
It’s for everyone. It’s family friendly and keeps parents and grandparents totally involved as they look for clues, but even twenty-somethings can become totally engaged in level two without ever feeling that it’s just for kids.
It has its own original mythology, from the four Great Spirits to the Observatory; from the Explorers Society to the incredibly detailed history of the Valley revealed in level two. It’s the kind of thing that Disney fans absolutely drool over. Imagine the enthusiasm with which fans would accept those original characters, just as they did with Mystic Manor or Tokyo’s Tower of Terror… Not to mention the merchandising options!
It’s educational. Adventure may seem an odd-man-out in a science center devoted to learning, but that’s just what they want you to think. Buried beneath the tiki torches, stone guardians, and locked temples is something that harkens back to EPCOT: you’re not just having fun. You’re also learning. Like we said, COSI conceptually divided “Science” into seven main topics, of which “Adventure” is one. Most brilliantly, in order to awaken the four Spirits of the Valley, you must ask Questions, be Reasonable, think outside the box and be Inspired, then Persevere. While you probably didn’t notice it, you just lived out the Scientific Process. What’s more, Adventure encourages critical thinking, active exploration, hands-on experiments, trial-and-error, and forging ahead into the unknown – truly, a piece of science we rarely encapsulate so succinctly.
And best of all, it’s personalized, interactive, and immersive. Take an hour. Take two. Take a few weeks and work on level 2. You’ve got the map. You can explore the island in any way you want, awaken the statues in any order you want. Heck, you don’t have to awaken them at all! Just walk around and take in the incredible environment, dig in the sand in the Well of Questions to uncover skeletons, play in the disorienting, tilted King Throne Room of optical illusions, and slide down the playground slide buried into the Cavern… The Valley of the Unknown is yours to explore.
Premium experiences are all the rage. People will even pay more for premium parks like Discovery Cove, where they can get hands on and really be immersed into something different and one-of-a-kind. While it’s only an exhibit area at a science center in the Midwest, Adventure may just be the most likely model for premium park experiences we can find today.
Adventure is one of seven learning worlds at COSI in Columbus, Ohio. The others – Ocean, Progress, Space, Gadgets, Energy, and Life – are similarly immersive and outstanding experiences that follow EPCOT’s early model in a decidedly 21st century style. You can read about COSI, its EPCOT connection, and the six other learning worlds in Theme Park Tourist’s feature here. COSI is located in Columbus, Ohio, just a short drive from both Kings Island and Cedar Point. If you can spare a day, at it to your schedule. You won’t be disappointed.
Would you like to experience Adventure in the Valley of the Unknown? Would you tackle the many ancient languages and new trials of Level 2? Does Adventure set a precedent for interactive theme park attractions of the future? Tell us in the comments!
Disclaimer: The author of this article is a Team Member at COSI. COSI did not review or endorse or sponsor this feature. The views and opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of COSI, its team, or its leadership!
