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Writer's pictureMatthew Lui

ENIGMAS - "Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards"

Updated: Apr 30


Photos above are property of ENIGMAS

Company: ENIGMAS by David Kwong Magic

Game: Puzzle Hunt Playing Cards

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Adventure

Date Played: September 22, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 10/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: 30+ Hours

Price: $18.00


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Welcome to the Menagerie, a facility that houses many different exotic animals. Unfortunately, they are doing upgrades today but while you are here, you should check out the other exhibits. Maybe once you are done exploring, the Menagerie will be open and who knows what new things you can discover here.


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Opening up the box, we found some premium quality playing cards with a beautiful, enigmatic card back. The deck consisted of your standard 54 cards plus 2 bonus cards. The bonus cards have a puzzle on each side. Taking a closer look at the Joker card, you will find instructions on how to begin.

Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers


🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

This puzzle hunt is set up into different levels. Once you complete the 4 puzzles on the playing cards, it will lead you to the actual puzzle hunt. If you are familiar with Puzzled Pint, you will recognize how it is set up. There is a theme of George Fabyan’s Riverbank estate that over arches the 9 standalone puzzles. Each puzzle will have cryptic instructions on what you should do. Afterwards everything will tie into a meta puzzle.


Their hint system is top notch which we absolutely appreciated. The hints will slowly nudge you over multiple hints so you can make it as easy or difficult as you want but do not be discouraged if you need a hint. The website even says this is a difficult hunt without them. You will also need the answer checker on the website. Not only will it tell you if you are correct or not, but it will provide you with what you need for the meta-puzzle.

Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers


🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

This is definitely a tough puzzle hunt and should not be underestimated. The puzzles mostly consisted of word puzzles, crossword style puzzles and logic puzzles and usually a combination of all three. Having vast vocabulary will be helpful but if not, Google and a dictionary will be your friend. Do not shy away from any tools you may have in your puzzling arsenal.


That being said, we did have fun solving the puzzles. We did not get all the answers on our own but the “aha” moments and the satisfaction of getting some answers after pouring so much effort into them was very fulfilling. We would recommend printing it out and taking your time with this. The puzzles are non-linear and set up so you can easily put it down and pick it back up, especially if you need to step away for a little bit and get a fresh look at the puzzles.


🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

If you are a fan of the Saturday New York Times Crossword or expert level logic puzzles, then this game is for you. This game is absolutely not for the faint at heart. Though we were able to make it to the end, it was quite challenging. We did have to outsource some solving to multiple friends who were fairly knowledgeable at word and logic puzzles. One aspect that was nice about this game was that we were able to leave this on the kitchen table or on the nightstand and pick it up and put it down with ease. As intermediate puzzles solvers, we did take our hints liberally and would recommend others to do the same. I mean, puzzles are supposed to give you enjoyment so take as many hints as you need to have fun!

 

Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:

 

(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 ENIGMAS by David Kwong Magic 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.


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