Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel

The Haunted Carousel was the eighth game in the Adventure game series by HeR Interactive and was the first of two games to release in 2003.

Available on: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10
ESRB: E for Everyone
PC Release Date: August 19, 2003
Release MSRP: $24.95 USD, on sale for $19.99 USD
Current MSRP: $9.99 USD
Number of Discs: 1
Game Abbreviation: CAR
Game Color Code: E11931
Inspired by/Based on: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Digest Paperback #72: The Haunted Carousel

Game Description: Take a Spin with Danger to Unravel the Mystery of a Ghostly Merry-go-Round!
You, as Nancy Drew, are invited to the Jersey shore to investigate a series of mishaps at the Captain’s Cove Amusement Park. First, the lead horse was stolen from the carousel. Then the roller coaster suddenly lost power, resulting in a serious accident. Now the merry-go-round is mysteriously starting up in the middle of the night. Will you be able to unravel the mysterious happenings surrounding this beautiful antique carousel in Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel?
PC System Requirements: 200 MHz or greater Pentium or equivalent class CPU. 16 MB of RAM. 160MB or more of hard drive space. 16-bit DirectX 7.0 compatible graphics video card. 16-bit DirectX 7.0 compatible sound card. 8x CD-ROM drive. Mouse and Speakers.

Fun Facts:

This game introduced the mini game “Barnacle Blast,” a game which many fans struggle with and dislike.
Rolfe Kessler, the man who created the carousel horses in Captain’s Cove, gets referenced eight games later in The White Wolf of Icicle Creek.
This game’s retail cardboard box featured two different layout designs on the front, sides, and top of the box. The original design featured a different text layout of the game’s logo. The sides of the game box also had the game number on the bottom rather than the middle. When they redesigned the box art, they moved the text around in the game’s logo and moved the game number to the middle of the box side instead of leaving it on the bottom like with the previous two games.
Some of the in-game art prints and a carousel horse make an appearance in Secret of the Old Clock.
If you miss the puffer fish scene, Ingrid's pliers appear in your inventory later on when she gives you the spook arm.
There's an audio file of the culprit sneaking up on Nancy (from behind the sign). The game only plays the first half of it.
A bonus copy of this game was included with the Curse of Blackmoor Manor DVD game. It was a teaser signifying that this was going to be the next game ported to DVD. Unfortunately, it never happened.
Elliot Chen references Poppy Dada, the famous artist featured in Secret of the Scarlet Hand.
This was the first game to give Nancy a mobile cell phone. All the previous games had landlines you had to go to instead of always having one in your pocket.
HeR Interactive got a new logo when this game released. Although it wasn't shown on the startup image for the game, it was shown on the box art.
Joy's notepad in her office has an image of one of the ghost dogs on it from the previous game.
Nicholas Falcone is referenced in the instruction manual for Barnacle Blast in the back of the arcade box.

Image Gallery
Characters
Walkthrough
Soundtrack
Extra

Image Gallery

Characters

Elliot Chen

Responsible for all of the visual art components at the park, Elliot is a bit of a procrastinator. His latest projects seem to be impacting the park, so maybe he created a little diversion so the park managers would fixate on the current crisis instead of his work ethics?

Harlan Bishop

The newly hired security guard, Harlan, has done quite a bit of job hopping in the past. He’s eager to prove to his bosses that they should keep him permanently. Setting up a few ‘accidents’ and then solving the mystery would make him look like a hero…

Ingrid Corey

Smart and beautiful Ingrid maintains all of the rides in the park, even the ones that have malfunctioned. She believes the park operators have disturbed a cursed spirit. Is this just a good excuse or does she have other motives for revenge?

Joy Trent

Joy’s father used to own the park with Paula Santos, but Santos bought him out. She’s bitter that she’s just the bookkeeper of the park instead of its rightful owner. Could Joy have summoned spirits and caused accidents to help her claim her stake?

Walkthrough

You can watch the full video walkthrough for Nancy Drew: The Haunted Carousel on YouTube!

Episode 1 - Flags and Harlan Bishop

Episode 2 - Joy-less Joy and the Midway

Episode 3 - The Carousel and Ingrid Corey

Episode 4 - Elliot Chen and Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine

Episode 5 - Tons of Stuff Happens

Episode 6 - Barnacle Blast and the Riddles

Episode 7 - 'Tink'ering around, Stenography

Episode 8 - Riddles and Sheet Music

Episode 9 - Dowels and the Harmonica

Episode 10 - Riddles and Snooping

Episode 11 - Poor Harlan

Episode 12 - The End

Soundtrack

Awards

Museum of Science, Boston – 2003 Top Choice Software Award
Parents’ Choice 2003 Gold Award, Best Software, ages 10-18
iParenting Media, 2003 Best Software Award