You are happily sitting at the breakfast table, drinking your coffee and reading the daily paper. Suddenly an advertisement catches your eye. It is for an old manor house that is being sold for a knock-down price. You call the telephone number listed and make an appointment for that very evening.

When you arrive at the location you meet the seller, a gaunt old man. Together you gaze at the impressive building. When asked why the purchase price is so favourable, the seller replies that there is a condition attached to buying the house. “If you can get through the viewing in one piece, the house is yours! But let me warn you – there have been many before you who have failed.”

“What happened to the others?” you ask the seller. But instead of giving you an answer, the man turns away in silence.

Despite the seller’s relatively strange reaction, you agree to the conditions of the viewing partly because you find the house fascinating but also because you are eager for a new adventure. The seller hands you the key to the front door and heads off muttering. The only thing you understood was something about “those damned sisters”. With a slightly queasy feeling, you climb the stairs that lead to the stately front door and enter.

The door slams shut behind you. When you turn around, you can hardly believe your eyes: the front door has disappeared! You run your fingers over the wall but can’t find any trace of a door. Is that what the seller meant? Thoroughly bewildered, you peer into the large entrance hall and are immediately spellbound by what you see. Despite the incident of the missing door, you explore the house and wander from one room to the next. From the kitchen to the living room, past the conservatory, up to the dusty attic, down to the wine cellar and, finally, into the garage. Each room is more amazing than the last and you completely lose track of time. Suddenly something startles you! What was that sound? Ah right, the church clock is striking on the hour.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12.
Silence.
But then you hear another sound.
Voices.
The voices are getting closer.

Full of trepidation, you tiptoe to the staircase and peer down into the entry hall. Your blood runs cold at the shock. You simply can’t believe it and you feel as though you might go mad with fear and anxiety: down below there are two ghostly figures facing each other and talking. No, actually they are arguing with each other! Two ghosts, both with long blonde hair and dressed in festive gowns.
What a sight! You try to run away and hide in one of the many rooms, but one of the ghost-ladies notices you.

She floats up the stairs and approaches you. You are riveted to the spot, paralysed with shock. But instead of the attack you expected, the ghost addresses you in a very friendly and polite tone:

“Good evening, please excuse the disturbance. My sister and I were having another argument. Oh, she’s always so mean. But where are my manners? I have forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Hildegard von Rauensberg and the name of this lady here is Gertrude-Luise with the same surname. We are twins. We have been living here in this house for 99 years and this person has been trying to stop me from being happy right from the start.” You pluck up all your courage and respond in a tiny voice: “And, uh, and, um, what would make you happy?”

Friendly but determined, ghost Hildegard replies: “My happiness would be to make Herr Alois von Welfenstein fall in love with me and then marry him, but Gertrude-Luise has always known how to prevent that.”

“And what can be done about it?” you ask.
“With the help of a magic potion, I hope to conquer the heart of my beloved and win him over. But my jealous sister is so wicked that she has hidden all six ingredients for this love potion throughout the house and I simply can’t find them. I searched for them for many years and gave up hope ages ago.”

“Might I perhaps be able to help you find the ingredients?” you ask hesitantly.

“Indeed you could. And that’s not all. If you succeed in finding all six ingredients of the potion, then I promise you that Gertrude-Luise and I will vanish from here and you will also be able to leave this house unharmed.” Her expression turns serious as she adds: “And only then!” Thereupon, the two ghosts disappear.

In a frenzy, you begin to search. You go from room to room without finding anything of use. You realise that you will not succeed by simply searching. You don’t even know what you are looking for – or what these ingredients look like. Is there some sort of system or even a riddle that could give you a clue?
“Will I be able to leave the house unharmed once I have found the six ingredients? Will the front door reappear? And what will happen if I don’t succeed? Will I be trapped in here forever?”

As all these questions are going through your mind, you suddenly notice something…!
Aren’t those some sort of strange symbols? Letters? Words? Things that could possibly be combined? And indeed they are – in each room you discover four riddles! You hope that solving each of the riddles will make an ingredient appear. You immediately make a start and immerse yourself in the world of puzzles…

• The image on the package is different from the actual puzzle image – four riddles are hidden in each puzzle
• The solutions to the individual riddles are concealed in the margin on the coordinate system
• The correct solution symbols from the margin cross (form an intersection) and allow you to discover the solution piece with the mysterious ingredient in each room
• The solution piece from each of the puzzles make up 1/6 of the overall solution
• The overall solution can be combined from the six solution pieces in the individual rooms