Photo above is property of Enigmailed
Company: Enigmailed
Game: Pouroboros
Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Language: English
Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬
Genre: Casual, Adventure
Date Played: November 15, 2021
Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10
Size of Team: Unlimited (Age 12+)
Time: Unlimited (Approx. 2-3 Hrs.)
Price: £12.00
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Standing in the heart of London, you are feeling parched and have a thirst for culture. With some coasters in hand, they will be your guide in solving both of your problems.
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Full disclosure: We got a sample of this game which contained only 3 coasters. The full game will have 9 of them.
These look like your standard pub coasters (depending on what set you have, they may be from a fancier pub with laminations). Each of them has 3 puzzles to solve to help you on your journey.
Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers
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This game utilizes the free app, what3words for its gameplay. If you do not know what this is,
what3words is a brilliant app that has broken the world up into 3 meter squares and has randomly assigned each of them a unique 3 word identifier.
On each coaster, there are 3 puzzles that when solved, will each give you a word. Once you have the 3 words, there is an additional puzzle that will tell you the correct order of words. Once you think you have the answer, input them into the app and if you are correct, you will be taken to a square beside a pub somewhere in London. Once you complete the 9 coasters and find the 9 locations, you will be rewarded with a 1 hour walking tour of London with different pub stops along the way.
You do not need to be in London to be able to solve the puzzles, but you will obviously need to be there if you want to visit the pubs on each coaster. Each coaster is marked with what location it would be on the walking tour but can be solved in any order which is nice. If you are with a group, everyone could be looking at a different coaster or you could all be solving the same one.
Photos above are properties of Enigmailed
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Most of the puzzles were words puzzles that will stretch your brain. Some of them had direct instructions and we were able to get right away but others had us scratching our heads, waiting for the “Aha” moment. There were even a few that had us using Google or outsourcing the clue to some word expert friends (to be fair, our vocabulary is subpar at best though). Overall, all these clever puzzles had us “pouring” over them for a fair amount of time and had us on the edge of our seats as we input the 3 words into the app, waiting to see if we would be taken to a relevant location in London or not.
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂
These "Pouroboros" coasters were fun and a delight to play. Full disclosure we received a sample There was a lot of puzzle play packed on each of them. The design of the coasters gave us the reminiscent feeling of sitting in the back of a dimly lit pub on some bar stools. This feels like such a simple concept, but the idea has been executed marvelously and on top of that, they easily fit into your pocket to bring with you. Whether you are in London or not, these coasters can easily be completed in your living room or at your own local pub with friends and a cold pint sitting on a coaster next to you (obviously a different coaster than these).
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game :
Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(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"!)
Disclosure: We thank Enigmailed for providing us with a sample of their game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
#MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #Puzzlebymail #OneOffs #Enigmailed #Adventure #UnitedKingdom #BehindTheMasterMinds