The Conundrum Box - "The Orient Express"
top of page

The Conundrum Box - "The Orient Express"

Updated: Apr 18



Photo above is property of The Conundrum Box


Company: The Conundrum Box

Game: The Orient Express

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Detective

Date Played: September 23, 2020

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: Unlimited

Price: $39.99 or subscribe - $29.99/ Month, $86.99/ 3 months, $161.99/ 6 months, $299.99/ 12 months


🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

We were hired by our client to impress J. D. Pritchard, a wealthy adventurer. He recently obtained the original copy of the 1001 Arabian Nights. He has invited a group of potential bidders to join him on the Orient Express and we were hoping that he'll pick us as buyers. But something unexpected happened and we are back to what we do best: solve a murder mystery and catch the killer!


🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞

This is our second box game from "The Conundrum Box" and like we said in the previous review "Sleight of Hand", they are great with the graphics. The contents were organized in the same style as the previous game we played. This time the box contained an instruction letter, six sealed envelopes, a gameboard paper, a timetable paper, rolling stock paper, a Morse code sheet, two miniature trains,  and a bag of tokens.


🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

The game came with a recommended Spotify playlist and theme inspired food and drink recipes (There's a Turkish Delight dessert and drink!). There was a website portal where solutions were being entered. The website also contained an easy to use tiered leveled hint system. The rules for this game was a bit different than the last one we've played. This one felt like a hybrid of a board game and puzzle box. Based on the amount of puzzles we solved (later on it became the amount of suspects we were able to eliminate), we were awarded with tokens. We were only allowed to open the sealed envelopes when we had enough tokens. There was also a train chart where we could score the game based on the time we took to get to certain locations. It was quite confusing for us so we didn't use it and played the game in leisure mode. If you feel competitive, feel free to use the scoring system where you can determine if you are a casual, intermediate or expert puzzler. As we traveled to different locations on the train to investigate the murder, a story line complimented each scene from the website. Initially it was kind of confusing as there was a common password and also solution passwords that we had to enter on the same portal but once you understood how it works, you should have no issues completing the game.


🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

Since this was a murder mystery theme, there was bound to be a good amount of deduction puzzles. We enjoyed the style of the game where various puzzles were tied in with different characters and only by solving the puzzle were we able to eliminate them. It would've been great to see some connection of the story line with why those guests were eliminated as suspects and not by just the solution answer. The difficulty level felt much easier than the previous game we played and most puzzles were solvable through one-step.


🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

The highlight for us with this game was the story line. We really enjoyed the back story behind each of the characters. If we had to pick a favorite out of the two, this would definitely be our pick. The puzzles had a nice flow and we especially loved the twist at the end. The Conundrum Box also did a great job with the cliffhanger on this game. We will need to find out where we're headed next as it's definitely going to be magical!


Photos above are property of The Conundrum Box

 

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


Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

 

(If you do decide to try this experience, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)


Disclosure: We thank The Conundrum Box 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.


bottom of page