Thames & Kosmos - "Spy Labs: Digital Snake Scope"
- Dave Bristol
- Nov 19, 2025
- 3 min read
Photo above is property of Thames & Kosmos
Company: Thames & Kosmos
Game: Spy Labs: Digital Snake Scope
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Language: English
Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬
Genre: Adventure, Treasure Hunt
Date Played: October 30, 2025
Difficulty (based on 2 players): N/A
Size of Team: 1 Player to set up, 1+ Player to find (Ages 8+)
Time: N/A
Price: $43.95
🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈:
The Digital Snake Scope isn’t a “story-driven” experience or game in itself, but rather a tool you can bring into your own adventures. Think of it as spy gear waiting for a mission: a gadget you can deploy when designing your own mystery, crafting a kid-friendly secret op, or even doing some grown-up snooping (the legal kind).
🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞:
For something designed for ages 8+, the Snake Scope feels surprisingly sturdy and satisfyingly gadget-y. The aptly spy-ish black-and-red plastic exterior has a toy vibe, but one that adults will still want to play with. The handheld display unit features a 2.3” color LCD screen, and attached to it is a 26” flexible arm that bends into just about any angle you want and largely stays put until you reposition it. On the end is a tiny waterproof camera paired with an LED light. There’s even a removable shade hood for cutting glare if you’re sleuthing outdoors.
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈:
Operating the Snake Scope is very intuitive: one trigger for powering the camera, a separate button for toggling the LED light. The flexible “snake” arm functions well: it’s quite easy to shape, fairly steady once positioned, and incredibly useful when peering around corners, behind furniture, or down ominously dark basement stairs (gotta be sure there’s no ghosts down there…).
The LED light is bright enough to illuminate darker spaces and dramatically improves visibility, especially since the camera leans toward a darker, grainier image without additional lighting. Colors and details become much clearer when the light is on, though in sunlit or bright environments you may not need it at all. And if you’re doing more subtle reconnaissance, keeping the light off can help you stay sneaky.
Everything functioned smoothly, though the power trigger is a little sensitive, so we turned it off by accident a few times. The one-page instructions are enough to get you started, and, at <1lb, the whole unit is light enough to carry around on your missions with ease. We didn’t test the waterproof claim, but the idea of using it to investigate underwater coins or mysterious puddle-dwelling secrets is undeniably fun and adds to the endless possibilities of how you can use it!
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂:
This isn’t a puzzle experience in the traditional sense, though it can absolutely enable puzzles, clue hunts, and espionage hijinks of your own making.
🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂:
Overall, the Digital Snake Scope is a delightful little gadget, both for imaginative spy-play, themed puzzle adventures, and even potentially some practical real-world tasks. The flexible arm is fantastic for checking high, low, or awkwardly tucked-away spaces, and the LED light significantly boosts the clarity so you can read that hidden code, identify the correct colors, or clearly see the design details. No, it’s not cinematic-quality footage, but for kids, puzzle events, or household reconnaissance (“which vent did the cat slither into this time?”) it gets the job done and then some. We can see this being a hit in spy-themed parties, DIY missions, escape room–style scavenger hunts, and off-the-cuff detective games. And honestly? We’re already plotting ways to use it in our own puzzle adventures, and maybe to see what actually lives under the fridge in our old farmhouse…
Note: This is part of Thames & Kosmos’ extensive Spy Lab series, which has lots of other fun little mission gadgets. Requires 3 AAA batteries, along with a small Phillips head screwdriver.
Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more about the development side of the 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 Thames & Kosmos for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
Comments