Teacher note
Enter the teacher password to see the answers and testing tools.
How it runs
- Teams of 3 or 4 share one Chromebook. The game tells them to pass the mouse after every puzzle so everyone gets a turn to drive.
- Plan on 60 to 75 minutes (it can be split over two class periods with progress codes). Students explore 10 places at Willowbrook Zoo, help 9 zoo crew members, and collect 9 clues for the Control Room (Keeper Vega gives a 10th at the start). The finale is a logic puzzle: teams put 9 animals into 9 enclosures so that every clue is true.
- The zoo opens up as they go: Marcus's Golf Cart Key opens the Safari Loop, Sami's Flashlight opens the Night Trail, and Kenji turns on the backup power for the Control Room.
- Skills: reading a dial scale and measuring in kilograms, subtraction, division and addition (vet), the vertebrate groups by traits (mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, including the platypus), herbivores, carnivores and omnivores and a food chain, reading analog clocks and elapsed time, perimeter and area (including an L shape), adaptations, measuring with a centimeter tape, multiplication and division, a scaled bar graph that counts by 2, the frog life cycle, and fractions of a set and equal fractions (2/6 and 1/3).
- The finale: the board shows 9 numbered enclosures, each with a pond, tall trees, rocks, grass or ice. Teams click an animal, then click its enclosure. A built in Logic Grid lets them mark each animal and enclosure with an X or a dot first (it is also on the side as Zoo Notes). Only one board fits every clue. A wrong board tells the team which clue it breaks, then waits 20, 40, then 60 seconds, so checking beats guessing.
- Wrong answers on the other puzzles lock that puzzle for a short wait (15 seconds, then 30, 45, 60). Hints: 3 per puzzle (the Control Room has 3 too), one every 45 seconds.
- Bonus: 11 golden paw prints are hidden in the rooms. The count prints on the award.
- Progress codes: after every puzzle the team gets a 10 letter code (like
KDHTM-7XQMP), also shown on the side. Have one student write the newest code on paper. If a browser resets or the team switches Chromebooks, they type it on the start screen and get back their team name, every solved puzzle (in any order), open areas, items, hints and time. Made up codes do not work, and codes from the other escape rooms do not work here. - The "Left this page" counter on the side goes up every time someone switches to another tab or window. It does not stop the game. A high number can mean someone went looking for answers, for example by taking a screenshot to an AI helper, so it is worth a quick check in.
- Everything in this room (the zoo, the crew and the story) is made up, so it is safe to share. The animal facts on the clickable spots are real. No animal or person is ever hurt in the story.
Timer
Minutes until the zoo opens: (teams can keep playing in overtime; the award says "Solved in overtime")
Answers
- Vet Clinic, Dr. Lin: the scales read penguin 14, monkey 9, flamingo 3, joey 6. Answers: 14, 6, 7 drops, 32 kilograms.
- Reptile House, Marcus: Mammal: bat, platypus. Bird: penguin, ostrich. Reptile: tortoise, crocodile. Amphibian: bullfrog, salamander. The platypus is a mammal because it feeds its babies milk. Gives the Golf Cart Key.
- Zoo Kitchen, Bea: lion carnivore, giraffe herbivore, monkey omnivore, penguin carnivore, zebra herbivore, flamingo omnivore. Food chain: 1st grass, 2nd grasshopper, 3rd frog, 4th snake.
- Keeper Hut, Theo: clock A is 7:15, the penguin feeding ends at 7:40, the lion feeding (8:05 to 8:50) is 45 minutes, and four 20 minute feedings from 7:15 end at 8:35.
- Fence Yard, Nia: Yard A (6 by 4) perimeter 20, area 24. Yard B (a 5 by 4 rectangle missing a 2 by 2 corner) area 16, perimeter 18. 3 rolls (2 rolls is only 16 meters).
- Habitat Lab, Sami: 1 penguin, 2 giraffe, 3 kangaroo, 4 flamingo, 5 tortoise, 6 hippo. The camel's wide feet do not sink in soft sand. Gives the Flashlight.
- Muddy Trail, Rafa: trail A steps are 40 cm, trail C steps are 80 cm, 80 is 4 times trail B's 20 cm, the zebra made trail C, and 10 zebra steps is 800 cm.
- Bird Aviary, June: the graph shows flamingos 14, parrots 9, owls 4, ducks 11. Answers: 9, 10, 38, and parrots (9 + 6 = 15 beats 14).
- Nursery, Kenji: 1st eggs, 2nd tadpole, 3rd froglet, 4th grown frog. 3/4 of 12 is 9 liters, 2/6 and 1/3 are the same, and flamingos turn pink from the food they eat. Turns on the Control Room.
- Control Room: 1 flamingo (pond, corner), 2 giraffe (tall trees, top row), 3 lion (rocks, not next to the monkey), 4 kangaroo (shares a side with the hippo), 5 hippo (pond), 6 penguin (ice), 7 tortoise (bottom row), 8 monkey (tall trees), 9 zebra (grass). This is the only board that fits every clue.