Photo above is property of Asmodee
Company: Asmodee
Game: 404 On Board: Escape Box Dinosaurs
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Tabletop Games 🧩
Genre: Kids, Dinosaurs
Date Played: January 2, 2023
Difficulty (based on 1 kid): 4/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommended 2-5 kids)
Time: Unlimited (Approximately 45 Mins.)
Price: $10.00
🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈
You and your friends are researchers working with the famous professor Flynn. When he goes missing, your group use his cryptic notes and a map to try and find him. Following his trail, you stumble upon a cave with a jungle inside and what looks like dinosaurs. As you enter and begin your search, you hear a volcano making some ominous noises. It looks like you only have 45 minutes to find Professor Flynn and get out of here before the volcano erupts.
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Opening up the package, you find the rule book that doubles as the gamemaster guidebook as well as a deck of cards and a poster.
Photo above is the property of Asmodee
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The setup requires an adult (or someone older) to set the game up and be the gamemaster (GM). In the box, key components include a guidebook for the GM and 3 different types of cards, puzzle cards, story cards and encounter cards. How the game works is that the GM hides the puzzle cards around the room and provides the first story card to the kids. The kids go around and try to find them. Each puzzle will require 4 puzzle cards from the same set to solve. Once the kids find the cards they need to solve the first puzzle, they can do so and provide the answer to the GM. The GM confirms if it is correct, continues the story from the guidebook and gives the next story card to the kids.
One tip is that since the puzzles are linear, try to hide the cards for the first couple of puzzles in easier spots and the later ones in harder spots. I made the mistake of randomly hiding them and my son found all the later cards first before he was able to get the ones he needed for the puzzles.
One fun addition that the game adds is encounter cards. Encounter cards are random and are played at the GM’s discretion (at certain times, if the kids are trying to brute force an answer, etc.). When played, they represent a dinosaur that the group encounters and can mean anything from the group is safe to the group losing some puzzle cards for a specified time.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
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The puzzles ranged from some quick ones that required putting the cards in the correct order to a cipher to deducing the correct answer. The puzzles fit into the theme of the game well and they integrated with the story. My youngest who is 7 was able to complete most of these on his own. There were a few times he had to use the hints provided but I found with one hint, he was well on his way to solving them.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
My youngest got this for Christmas and was excited to play it. He had a ton of fun playing through it. For myself, it was easy to set up and the guidebook was very thorough in giving me guidance as a GM. Though it is on the easier side, I would recommend this for younger kids who are avid puzzlers or older ones who have not played. The game used the dinosaur theme well and made it educational using real dinosaur names and providing facts about them in the rulebook for afterwards. We will definitely have to check out the other games in the series.
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
