The Reading Public Museum has announced a new exhibition for the fall: American Adventure, which will be on view from October 8, 2022 through January 14, 2023. The interactive exhibition puts visitors into the shoes of the original colonists. This realistic role-play adventure presents one great challenge: To survive for one year.
Of the original 104 settlers who arrived in the spring of 1607, fewer than 40 survived the first twelve months. Visitors wind their way through interactive galleries in this challenging 2500 square foot maze, while struggling to overcome demands on their knowledge and decision-making skills.
A telltale Life Chart hanging around each visitor’s neck reveals their health is starting to suffer. Earning or losing points at each turn of the maze, the goal is to make it past more than two dozen tests spread out over 4 seasons.
Created by Seattle-based Minotaur Mazes and the Virginia Living Museum, American Adventure blends history, science, nature and fortune in a challenging interactive experience.
“Our goal is to immerse you in the subject- to make you an individual colonist with different strengths and weaknesses – and to reflect the complexity of early American life in a way that no other exhibit can” Said Exhibit creator Kelly Fernandi says. “You can live or die as you go through this maze – you’ll learn a lot even if it kills you, and chances are it will.”
American Adventure provides an illuminating window into the tough, bewildering natural landscape that bedeviled so many of America’s first English settlers. With a little luck, and most likely a few attempts, visitors may avoid slipping into the danger zone where their next decision could be life or death.
