Transcripts

Getting Game: Capitol Hill's Labyrinth Games & Puzzles

MS. REBECCA SHEIR

13:43:04
Welcome back to "Metro Connection." I'm Rebecca Sheir. And on today's show, we've been exploring mysteries, puzzles and enigmas of the D.C. region, from secret tunnels to metro tunnels to Sasquatch and insect zombies. But what's a show about mysteries and puzzles...

MS. KATHLEEN DONAHUE

13:43:19
Okay. So this room is more old-timey mechanical puzzles, all wooden.

SHEIR

13:43:23
...without, well...

DONAHUE

13:43:24
These are iron tavern puzzles, traditionally done by blacksmithing apprentices.

SHEIR

13:43:29
...actual physical puzzles.

DONAHUE

13:43:31
And we have some really neat adult jigsaw puzzles, kids jigsaw puzzles and we have 3-D jigsaw puzzles of the capital and the White House and all the monuments.

SHEIR

13:43:39
We're at Labyrinth Games and Puzzles, a new shop on Capitol Hill owned by this woman, Kathleen Donahue.

DONAHUE

13:43:45
My father owned a wine store and so I worked with my dad through high school and college in the liquor store. And whenever I would go back to what I wanted to do, it was always some type of retail.

SHEIR

13:43:56
But life took Donahue in a decidedly un-retail like direction. She found herself working in law.

DONAHUE

13:44:01
I was the director of marketing for an international law firm.

SHEIR

13:44:05
And consulting...

DONAHUE

13:44:05
For operational efficiency in HR and technology.

SHEIR

13:44:09
And until one day a brainstorm changed everything. She'd been driving around Northern Virginian trying to find a Mancala board for her son's friend's birthday. Mancala, by the way, is a strategy game from Africa.

DONAHUE

13:44:19
And then, I got stuck on the 14th Street Bridge and I called my husband and I was like, I can't believe I'm sitting in two hours of traffic because I can't find a present for a seven year-old. And my husband's like, that's it. You should open a toy on Capitol Hill. And I said, but I don't like toys, I like games. And he's like, well, duh.

SHEIR

13:44:37
And wa-la. On Black Friday, 2010, Labyrinth Games and Puzzles was born.

DONAHUE

13:44:42
I mean, Washington D.C. is one of the highest educated populations in the country and so I thought going back to kind of old-timey brainiac activities might work.

SHEIR

13:44:52
Which, in a way, might seem like a bold move given Donahue's anything but old-timey competition.

SHEIR

13:44:58
That is something I wanted to ask you, of course. In this day and age where your games are now a glowing rectangle of some sort, some sort of screen, how do you feel like you can compete?

DONAHUE

13:45:08
I mean, I love video games, don't get me wrong. I have nothing against electronic games at all. But I also think focusing in real life interaction is so important and helps teach kids social skills and things through games.

SHEIR

13:45:20
That's why she holds special game nights and game weekends at Labyrinth. She even has tables and chairs in the back of the store for real people in real time to come together and connect.

MR. ROBERT POHL

13:45:31
And let's see, nope, that's not it.

SHEIR

13:45:36
Of course, not all of Labyrinth's wares are about person-to-person interaction.

POHL

13:45:40
Now I'm getting somewhere.

SHEIR

13:45:41
Some of them are more of a solitary venture.

SHEIR

13:45:45
Bravo.

SHEIR

13:45:47
Like those wooden mechanical puzzles, in this case, the Log Jam, a favorite of regular customer, Robert Pohl.

POHL

13:45:53
I think, since I solved it once, I actually remember the trick here. I'm not going to describe it.

SHEIR

13:45:58
We're lucky this is radio.

POHL

13:45:59
Exactly.

SHEIR

13:46:00
Can't give away your secret.

POHL

13:46:01
Right.

SHEIR

13:46:02
Pohl has solved many of Labyrinth's 50 or so wooden puzzles. He says he finds them comforting because he knows there's a solution.

POHL

13:46:09
I'm a writer. I write about history. When I have a problem there and I'm looking for a piece of data, I don't know if that piece of data is out there so it can get very frustrating. Here, I know that there is a limited space in which you're operating and you know the solution is somewhere in there. I think that's what makes it so uplifting.

SHEIR

13:46:28
And he's not alone. He says puzzles actually have the same effect on his six-year-old son.

POHL

13:46:32
When he's flustered and at loose ends, I'm like, go do a puzzle. And then he'll go do a puzzle and then he's a lot calmer afterwards.

SHEIR

13:46:39
Of course, it can go the opposite way, too. Rather than soothe you, a puzzle can downright stump you. For instance, you know those iron tavern puzzles Kathleen Donahue sells. Years ago, then President George H. Bush received one of them, Dirty Dog, as a gift. And for the life of him, he could not figure out how to solve it. So what did he do, he wrote to the puzzle company.

DONAHUE

13:47:00
And they actually sent me a copy of the letter. It says, okay. I admit defeat on the Dirty Dog so there. Please hasten the answer. Enough damage to pride and morale has already been done. Sincerely, expectantly, H. W. Bush.

SHEIR

13:47:13
Wow.

SHEIR

13:47:15
But that drive to find the answer, the solution, Donahue says, is a natural one.

DONAHUE

13:47:20
The actual solving a puzzle attacks the places in your head that bring pleasure. So once you solve it, you kind of get an endorphin rush of, I was able to achieve something.

SHEIR

13:47:32
Which can be fairly addictive.

DONAHUE

13:47:34
Not like I'm dealing puzzle drugs or anything, but we have a lot of people that come in and say, what's your hardest puzzle? Can you get me harder puzzles?

SHEIR

13:47:42
And Donahue is, of course, more than happy to oblige. In fact, she's always look to expand her merchandise, especially when it comes to stuff made by local designers.

DONAHUE

13:47:51
I've heard that there's some in the area, but I haven't been able to connect with a lot of them.

SHEIR

13:47:54
Right now, Labyrinth sells logic puzzles by Think Fun, a company based in Alexandria, and that just adds to the overall neighborhood feel of the place, something Kathleen Donahue has been striving to achieve from the very beginning.

DONAHUE

13:48:06
I started thinking and doing research and in everything that I had read that talked about brick and mortar, small mom and pop stores that could still survive, they always talk about how you need to make it a destination.

SHEIR

13:48:18
In other words, a place where people want to spend time, hang out and it appears to be working.

DONAHUE

13:48:24
I just had a 14 year-old spend six hours in here last weekend, playing with all the wooden puzzles. He's, like, really? I can just sit here and play? And I'm, like, yes, that's the idea. Come in and play with the puzzles. It's okay.

SHEIR

13:48:35
In fact, it might be more than okay. It might be downright therapeutic. We have more information about Labyrinth Games and Puzzles on our website, metroconnection.org, including photos of those old-timey mechanical puzzles like the Log Jam, the Splitting Headache, the Devil's Chessboard and the iron puzzle that defeated President George H. W. Bush, the Dirty Dog.
Transcripts of WAMU programs are available for personal use. Transcripts are provided "As Is" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. WAMU does not warrant that the transcript is error-free. For all WAMU programs, the broadcast audio should be considered the authoritative version. Transcripts are owned by WAMU 88.5 FM American University Radio and are protected by laws in both the United States and international law. You may not sell or modify transcripts or reproduce, display, distribute, or otherwise use the transcript, in whole or in part, in any way for any public or commercial purpose without the express written permission of WAMU. All requests for uses beyond personal and noncommercial use should be referred to (202) 885-1200.