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Photo above is property of Trapped Puzzle Rooms Company: Trapped Puzzle Rooms Game: Ruff Bluff Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Tabletop Game 📬 Genre: Mystery, Detective Date Played: June 9, 2022 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 8.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Suggested play time 3-6 Hours) Price: Coming Soon on Kickstarter 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Furlock Holmes received another peculiar case and this time a ruby bone is missing! Ms. Barbara Fetcher said that the bone is priceless and she suspects that it might've been stolen during the poker game by one of her friends. Can you get to the bottom of this detective? 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ "Ruff Bluff" came in a cardboard box with a very cute illustration of dogs playing poker around the table. We were immediately intrigued by all the items that were inside the box. Inside you'll find seven dossiers, five poker chips, a postcard, eleven bank notes, a napkin, a brochure, a coaster, a set of jigsaw puzzles and more! Please note: we received a preproduction copy for our review. The final product might be different in terms of quality and looks. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The game is broken down into 4 parts. On each of the boxes or envelopes, a suggested playtime is declared so that you can decide if you want to continue on or take a break. We played straight through (of course) and we did feel that each chapter got a little harder in terms of difficulty but chapter 3 was definitely the hardest. When you open the box, there's a lot of components at first glance. You will want to concentrate on the intro letter as it'll give you the first clue on where to start. You don't need any internet surfing for the actual game, but you'll need to go to a website in order to submit solutions, check answers and use the hints. The hints were very clearly stated to avoid spoilers as it would informed us that if we go one step further, the answer will be revealed. One thing I loved about this game is that it gives you a lot of freedom on how you would like to solve the puzzles. There are many starting points and you can pick which you want to tackle first. If you get stuck on one, you can come back to it later. The website will save the answers that you've submitted so that you can pick up where you left off. This game is also great for working together as a team. There were times when we both worked on the jigsaw puzzle and times where one person read out the information and the other wrote down the decoded message. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 We were surprised at the amount of different types of puzzles this game was able to incorporate. From pure sleuthing on the smallest details to ciphers to word play to an actual jigsaw puzzle, there's something for everyone! The puzzles were built around the storyline and as you solved one, you'll discover secrets about that character. Some of the puzzles were harder than the others and took multiple steps to solve whereas others were hidden in plain sight. My favorite puzzles had to be ones that involved puns or word play. I laughed so many times during this game and that this in it self should be the reason why you need to back this Kickstarter. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This is not the first tabletop game we've played from "Trapped Puzzle Rooms", but every time they seem to be able to surprise us with their creativity and ingenuity. When I was playing this game, I truly felt like I've became one of the characters in this made up world. Am I a dog or am I human? The way that they've written the stories for each of the dog characters reminded me of the movie "The Secret Life of Pets". So if you're a pet lover, puzzle lover and pun lover then you'll need to play this game! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out other games on their website*** (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 Trapped Puzzle Rooms 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. #CiciCao #AtHomeGames #TabletopGames #PuzzlesByMail #Mystery #Detective #Kickstarter #TrappedPuzzleRooms #TrappedTakeout #USA

Photos provided by Trapped Puzzle Rooms Company: Trapped Puzzle Rooms Game: Spielburger Box Set Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure Date Played: 5/12/2021 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 8.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Suggested play time 3-`6 Hours) Price: $45.95 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Calling all "Bunters" (Burger Hunters)! Stephen Spielburger has announced that his greatest treasure will be revealed to anyone who can find the hidden burgers that he's put into 5 of his acclaimed films. You must enter the cinematic world of “Mandibles”, “Near Encounters of the Alien Kind”, “Illinois Bones”, “The Boonies”, and “Prehistoric Park” in order to seek them out! 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ "The Spielburger Box Set" came in a DVD sized cardboard box. Inside you'll find an instruction sheet, 2 paper notes, 1 red envelope and 5 DVDs (millennials, please Google if you don't know what these are) . The movie titles are: “Mandibles”, “Near Encounters of the Alien Kind”, “Illinois Bones”, “The Boonies”, and “Prehistoric Park”. I love the graphics on the movie covers. They even created a detailed back cover with funny synapsis on each of the movies. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 If you've played their other two "Takeout" games before then this one is pretty much the same in terms of game play. After reading the intro letter, you'll be directed to a website. Watch the intro video for the backstory and solve a fun little trivia type of puzzle about Spielburger in order to enter into his cinematic world. This part will also help you get familiarize with a very important tool that you'll be using throughout the game: Google. Even if you think you are a trivia master, you'll need to do a little research at some point during the game. Once you've enter his cinematic realm, you can choose which adventure you like to tackle first as they are all independent from each other. We started with the "Boonies". Every movie will have two puzzles that you'll need to solve before receiving the secret burger award. Once you've collected all 5 burgers, a final meta puzzle will be revealed. This is your last obstacle to Spielburger's treasure. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were all designed around the movie theme. For instance, we had to explore a temple in "Illinois Bones", repair some Dino DNA in "Prehistoric Park", read alien language in “Near Encounters of the Alien Kind” and more! There were a lot of puzzles that revolved around word play and puns. Those were my favorites. Those were also probably the toughest as there were so many options and they were all jumbled together. You'll probably need to look at the hints and solutions at some point for guidance. Although we did find the hints helpful, we wish they could be more detailed. Some of the solutions needed us to piece together many parts of various words and the hint would only reveal the final solution. It would be nice to know which ones we've missed so we can derive to the final solution. Like their other games, the designers were able to utilize only paper to create some really fun puzzle props that we could "maneuver" as game pieces. Sometimes we even had to fold, cut and tape things together. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 I've said this before and I'll say it again, one big reason why I love Trapped Puzzle Rooms' games is HUMOR. They've done it again here. From when we pressed "play" on the intro video, they've already put a big smile on our faces. I'm not going to lie, the smile did dissipate a little as we were faced with some of these challenging puzzles, but using the hints to move along definitely helped. The videos and the puns embedded in the puzzles always bought the smiles back. They served as awesome relief moments before we have to head out to battle other puzzles again. The great thing about this game is that you can stop at any time or solve one DVD per day and come back to take it on another day. It's really easy to set up and repack with the DVD boxes. I mean if Speilburger's treasure is that easy to be found then we'll all be rich right? Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out other games on their website*** (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 Trapped Puzzle Rooms 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #TrappedPuzzleRooms #SpielburgerBoxSet #PuzzlesByMail #StevenSpielberg #JurassicPark #Jaws #CloseEncounters #BackToTheFuture #FilmLovers #MovieGoers #PuzzleSolving #Adventure #Search #Find #Fun

Photos provided by Trapped Puzzle Rooms Company: Trapped Puzzle Rooms Game: Retro Rad Pizza Adventure Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Detective Date Played: 2/23/2021 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: 6-`12 Hours (Approximately) Price: $54.95 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 A mysterious evil being has "kidnapped" your pizza! It seems your pizza toppings were not up to her standards. She wants to make all the pizza toppings disappear except for one: Pineapples! You simply can not allow this to happen.... 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ The game box was designed to look like an actual pizza box. Our doorman actually called us and said: Your food delivery is here! Inside you'll find a plastic pizza saver, a flyer, 6 pizza slice boxes and a #7 pizza envelope. Most of the materials were paper but you'll be amazed by some of the creativity that they've done with just plain paper. There were also a few metal fasteners and a rope. You'll need scotch tape for some of the puzzles. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Make sure you start with the flyer and go to the designated website. You'll receive an intro video on the backstory and what they're looking for as a starting point. Enter the answers on the website and if you're correct, you'll be allowed to proceed onto the next episode. We liked how we were able to enter all the answers at once but the system will tell you which ones are correct and which ones were wrong. The hint system and solution for each puzzle was also very easy to follow on the website. Besides the quick intro puzzles on the flyer, each pizza slice gave us around 45min to 1+ hour of play time. Some we were able to get right away and others we did have to look at some hints. It took us about 4.5 hours to play the entire game but we would definitely not recommend that. Each slice should be savored and you can easily finish one and come back to continue on to the next one on another day. Each slice also provided us with a funny animation video that bought back memories of 90s cartoons. We really enjoyed the voice-overs as well. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 When I opened the first slice of pizza and saw the contents, I did not believe that it was going to last us an hour of play time. Boy was I wrong. The game did start on an easier note but the puzzles gradually got harder. It's not meant for you to play through in one shot as your brain will be fried towards the end and it'll be pretty difficult to challenge the last puzzle in that state. One thing we kind of wished the creators would add on to the hint system would be the full solution to some of the puzzles. Some hints just gave the method of how to solve the puzzle and then the ending password but we're unsure how some of the solutions came about. Some puzzles were play on words or drawings which could be interpreted in various ways so a more detailed explanation on the solution would definitely help. We loved the variations in puzzle types and how they were able to incorporate them into the theme of each of the pizza slices. Sometimes we're in Japan so we had to complete an Origami project and other times we were deep down under sea at the legendary city of Atlantis, "fishing" for some answers. Each location had it's own "flavor" of pizza (puzzle) topping and we're FULLy satisfied by the time we finished the last slice. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This game incorporated not only innovative ideas on puzzles but also gave us entertainment value through animated stories. For the price, we definitely saw the value. Laughter seems to be the secret ingredient in all Trapped Puzzle Rooms games. This game was no exception. Be warned about the side effects though. You might end up ordering a super large pie of pizza! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: *** We regret to inform this game is no longer available for booking but check out other games on their website*** (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 Trapped Puzzle Rooms 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #TrappedPuzzleRooms #RetroRadPizzaAdventure #PuzzlesByMail #CarmenSandiego #TMNT #TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles #PowerRangers #PizzaLovers #PuzzleSolving #Detective #Search #Find #Espionage #Fun

Photos provided by Trapped Puzzle Rooms Company: Trapped Puzzle Rooms Game: Taco Twosday Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Detective Date Played: 2/8/2021 Difficulty (based on 4 players): 7/10 Size of Team: 2 Teams (FBI & CIA) Time: 2-3 Hours (Approximately) Price: $17.95 (Half), $35,90 (Whole) We played the CIA portion of the game and our friends at "Society of Curiosities" played the FBI side of the game. You can read reviews on both the CIA and FBI side below. 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 A criminal mastermind known as "The Guaca-Mole" is planning something sketchy within the food distribution network. We must stop them! We'll need the FBI (Flour Bureau of Investigation) and CIA (Corn Intelligence Agency) to join forces in order to catch this culprit! Are you ready for your mission? 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ Each team will receive a large Manila envelope in their mailbox. Inside you'll find an intro letter, a sealed folder, and a sealed envelope. All the operations are sealed at first and can only be opened when told to do so. Although not necessary, we did find tape was helpful for one of the puzzles. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 You can play this game together in the same household or remotely over Zoom. The only rule is that whoever you choose to play with can not see your game materials and vise versa. We decided to play this over Zoom with our friends "Society of Curiosities" all the way in Hawaii. We started by reading the intro letter together and then progressed from there. Communication is key here so make sure you read EVERYTHING in detail to the other party. Taking detail notes throughout the game was also very helpful. There were moments when we had to cheat a little as describing a shape or direction could get quite confusing. There's a web address that you should open at the start of the game. This will serve as a guide as it'll tell you what both teams will be looking for. Each team should open their own website and put in the same solutions to move forward. The nudging hint system is also on the website. The hints were quite helpful and if you really can't figure it out, you can always check the solution. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were a lot of fun. We love the puns that were embedded into the puzzles. There were 5 puzzles in total. The beginning ones were not as difficult but we definitely had to use a hint on the last puzzle. We would've never thought a piece of paper could create something like this so this puzzle definitely gave us that "wow" moment. At the same time, it was hard to visualize without a starting point so we used a hint for this one. There might be a puzzle that you have to search some information on the internet. Good thing we had some trivia geeks on the team so we did great in this category. This was one of our favorite puzzles as we loved how they utilized a tool that we've seen in normal puzzle games and transformed it into something of their own. The "mechanism" was able to act as a "transmitter" for the two teams. You can solve the puzzles in this game in two ways. One: inform each party on what you have and then take the information and solve your parts separately. Two: work on the whole case together and help each other with their puzzles as well. We found that some puzzles were easier to work on separately where others you have to do it as a team. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 What a cool concept! We've played digital games where two teams were able to see a different interface and have to communicate with each other to solve puzzles but this is the first time we saw this type of game design in a tabletop game. We love to see more of these types of games as it's quite difficult to have guests over during the pandemic and this is such a great way to enjoy a tabletop game with friends and family. Hopefully there'll be some karaoke and charade elements added to the next game design? FBI Side of the game Review Michelle R. Taco Twosday starts off with a laughter inducing briefing of our mission: To stop Guaca-mole from stealing all of the guacamole in the world! And then we were off - to fight crime as two teams via Zoom. THEME I loved the novel theme of the game. It is lighthearted with package names that center around taco ingredients. My favorite was the onion puzzle because it looked like an onion but the shredded cheese and lettuce came in a close second for theme. TEAMWORK Taco Twosday bills itself as a teamwork game and it delivers. Every puzzle depends on two teams collaborating to solve the mission. That being said, we played the game in one sitting and that much teamwork had our side tired by the end of the two hours. I’d highly recommend breaking this game into the three parts. You’ll get about three one hour-ish puzzle sessions. A lot of bang for your buck! Trapped has designed the game so it can be stopped and picked up again at the end of each puzzle - there are cute little business cards with a website of the specific puzzle start page to help. There were a variety of challenges for the team. All of them relied heavily on communication as you technically are not allowed to show your items to the other team (I cheated a few times...shhh…) I absolutely loved half of the puzzles but the other half were a little longer and more involved than my preference - but they have great hints - so if you’re like me and need a mental break from time to time, you are well supported. PUZZLES The teamwork aspect definitely upped the difficulty level of the puzzles. You aren’t just solving but talking back and forth to discern what you have and what you need to do. I actually think I would have enjoyed one of the puzzles more if I didn’t have to communicate and had all the info in front of me - but once again, there are wonderful hints should you need it. This same puzzle had a wonderful Aha! Moment after we realized an element that had eluded us. There were a few stand out puzzles that really impressed me with the puzzle mechanisms and a few that I felt were a little vaguer than I’d like - this might come from having a bit of information to sort through to figure out what to do first. One puzzle towards the end was my favorite design wise but I got so stuck because I wasn’t understanding how to use one of the physical items. A clue helped immensely but I’m not sure I would have gotten there without help - but I’m totally fine using hints freely - so this didn’t diminish the novelty of the puzzle at all. OVERALL IMPRESSIONS I loved how Taco Twosday carried their fun theme throughout. I could see their care and creativity throughout the game and enjoyed being surprised at their innovation in puzzles. Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these 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 Trapped Puzzle Rooms 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #TrappedPuzzleRooms #TacoTwosday #PuzzlesByMail #CooperativeGame #Communication #CIA #FBI #GuacaMole #PuzzleSolving #Detective #Search #Find #Espionage #Fun

Videos/Photos provided by Tokyo Nazotoki Escape Company: Tokyo Nazotoki Escape Game: World Detective Mystery - EP. Tokyo (The ENIGMA and the Secret Treasure) Country: Japan 🇯🇵 Language: English, Japanese Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Detective Date Played: 2/6/2021 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Approx. 90 minutes) Price: 1,650¥ (Approx. $16 USD) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Erika is a college student in Tokyo, Japan. Recently, her grandmother gave her a letter. She said that Erika's father had left this letter for her before he passed away and she's only supposed to give it to her when she turns 20. It seems like he had hid a treasure for her in the city and its up to you to help her find it with his clues... 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The game arrived in a regular letter sized envelope. Inside you'll find an intro letter from the company, back story from Erika, QR code postcard, and 6 double sided rectangular shaped puzzle sheets. The QR code will lead you to a website that will give you a video intro from Erika. It'll be in Japanese with English subtitles. Once her video is over, you'll begin your quest with puzzle #1. Once you figure out the puzzle, you'll enter the answer on that website. If your answer is correct, you'll be awarded with another video from Erika. This format will continue until the end of the game. Throughout the game, you'll be taken to various popular tourist attractions in Japan. We did like these video "breaks" during the puzzle hunt as they were entertaining and educational at the same time. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 We were quite excited to get this game as this is our first tabletop game that we've ever played designed by a Japanese creator. There were 9 puzzles in total and mostly used imagery. Although most of the time this format did avoid the language issue for puzzle solutions, we did find two places that had minor translation issues (we've reported this to the creator so hopefully it'll be corrected when you receive the game). The puzzles were short and sweet at the beginning and gradually got harder. Most of the puzzles took forms of multi-step deciphers. There were a few we really had to think outside the box. It was clever after we figured it out with the help of the hint system. The finally puzzle gave us some issues as we were confused by the visual clues on the paper and ended up not knowing how to constructed. Since the hint system only provided nudges and not final solutions, you'll have to reach out to the company to receive assistance. This could be frustrating for international players to have to wait for that final reveal. We've suggested to the creator to add solution as an option to the game. You'll find a full set of the explanation and solution after you complete the game (hopefully this could be moved to be included as a final step in the hint system but until then, if you have any questions feel free to reach out to us as well). 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We love Japan. We've been there numerous times but its never enough. This was such a nice adventure for us since we haven't been able to travel for almost a year now. It feels like a puzzle hunt that we would've done in person but instead Erika took us on a virtual tour. The narrative was quite touching and as we solved puzzles, we were also unveiling a deeper story about Erika and her dad. Get ready to be hungry because not only will you be seeing some cool sites, you'll also be seeing lots of yummy foods along the way! (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 Tokyo Nazotoki Escape 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #TokyoNazotokiEscape #WorldDetectiveMystery #EpisodeTokyo #TheENIGMAandtheSecretTreasure #PuzzlesByMail #Detective #Fun #Mystery #Tourism #Tokyo #Solve

Videos/Photos provided by Modern Treasure Hunt Company: Modern Treasure Hunt Game: Mysteries Of Alchemy Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Magic, Alchemy Date Played: 2/4/2021 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10 Size of Team: Unlimited (Suggested 2-4 Players) (Ages 14+) Time: Unlimited Price: €15 (digital copy), € 24.95 (Standard Edition), € 45.00 (Premium Edition), € 59.95 (Collector's Edition) 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Little John, an apprentice of the alchemist, has been noticing something strange lately. It seems like every time a student made a discover and told it to the alchemist, they would disappear. He followed the alchemist and discovered strange behaviors from him. John thought it's probably safer to not share his discoveries with the Alchemist. Centuries later, Bram van Amstel found a really old journal in a library. Could this be John's discovery? Check out our unboxing video below for a detailed look on the game. There's no puzzle spoilers in the video: 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ Mysteries of Alchemy came in a small envelope. Inside you'll find a small note with a website address and an unbound book. We receive the collector's edition as the review copy so every page of the book was aged and pressed by hand. There's a total of 14 pages. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Start the game by going to the website. An intro video will be provided to explain the backstory. An automated chatbot will serve as your answer submission portal. Once you think you know the answer to a puzzle, just type it to the chatbot to confirm. You can also get hints and solutions through the same portal. Every time you type in the correct answer, the bot will record that internally. If you got an answer through hints, you will still have to type it to the bot or else you won't get a completion at the end. Make sure you keep tabs on which puzzle you've solved and submitted to the bot as there were no check marks provided on the ones you've already submitted. The book was unbound for a reason. Since the puzzles were non linear and have no correlation with each other, you could take the book apart and work on individual puzzles separately. Each page had either beautiful illustrations or handwritings on them. Just like something an Alchemist apprentice would own to record their studies. The hand pressed aged paper also added a "rusty" feel to how ancient this book might be. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There were 14 puzzles in total. All of them were non-linear and could be solved in any order. You'll need a scissor at some point. Each puzzle felt like a stand alone mini puzzle. We actually really enjoy this type of play as we each could take on various puzzles at the same time and join together for ones we are unsure of. The difficulty felt like an apprentice level game. There were a good amount of "repeat" actions that we had take on solving a puzzle (I hope you like counting!). We did get stuck on one puzzle that we couldn't really make sense of even with the hint system. It did become clear to us after we received an explanation from the creator. I think the image created a bit of a red herring. There was a nice magical reveal moment as well. However we thought the answer was a bit too obvious. The hint system in the chatbot was really easy to get to. The "nudging" type of hint style gave us an opportunity solve the puzzle before the final solution was revealed. We liked how each hint was right under the puzzle that we were working on in the chatbot so we could easily access it. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Mysteries of Alchemist is a great game to start your adventure with Modern Treasure Hunt before you dive into their VOC Treasure game. It's a bit easier and you can easily take breathers with this one. We're always fascinated by old books that might contain a hidden message or even treasure. The production of the game took us back in time and gave us a conclusive ending. This game is great for large groups since all the puzzles could be taken out from the book and disperse to individual players. If you're looking for a night of fun with family and friends, then you might want to give this game a try! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these 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 Modern Treasure Hunt 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #ModernTreasureHunt #MysteriesOfAlchemy #PuzzlesByMail #Alchemy #Magic #ThePhilosophersStone #Adventure #Uncharted #TombRaider #Explorer #PuzzleSolving #Search #Find #Fun

Videos/ Photos provided by Modern Treasure Hunt Company: Modern Treasure Hunt Game: The VOC Treasure Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure Date Played: 2/4/2021 Difficulty (based on 2 players): /10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited Price: € 49.95 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 You've received a letter from your uncle's Butler, James. He has informed you that your uncle has recently passed away. Since he's a treasure hunter all his life, he's left you some puzzles and clues to a treasure buried deep in a sunken ship. He never got a chance to find that treasure so it's up to you now... Check out our unboxing video below for a detailed look on the game. There's no puzzle spoilers in the video: 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ The V.O.C. box came well protected in a cardboard box. It looked so mysterious. We actually got the box last year but due to our backlog we only recently opened it. It was definitely very hard to hold back the temptation. Prior to opening the box, you'll receive an intro letter from the butler, a letter from the creator and a check list. You can either read the letter or watch the intro video above or on their website. Inside the wooden box, you should have received 1 fabric map, 2 photos, 1 glass wine bottle, puzzle pieces, split pin, drawing of 4 islands, another map, folding puzzle, logic puzzle, ship's log, and 2 compass roses. We liked how the folding puzzle and logic puzzle came in a set of two so we can each try the puzzle on our own. If you decide to resale or gift the game, its also great to have another set that's not ruined. Check out our unboxing video below for more detail. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This is a non-linear game. Once you open the box, there are many directions to take as a player. There are also various ways to solve a puzzle. As a first time puzzler you might be a little overwhelmed and lose your sense of direction. I would suggest reading the final logic puzzle's answer sheet as a starting point and work backwards. There are essentially 5 parts to this game. First you must identify 4 in each of these categories: islands, skippers, treasures, and ships. Once you've figured out the correct solutions (you can check for hints and solutions on their online portal), the meta puzzle is to place these in the correct spots on the logic puzzle to figure out the final reveal. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 There's a good mixture of ciphers, logic, visual, and tactile type of puzzles. Pending on how good your eyesight is, you might find an "easy" way to reach a solution. It's the few games we've played that provided various routes to get to the same solution. After checking the solution, we had a few "duh" moments where we definitely took the longer route. The maps really made it feel like a treasure hunt experience. Piecing together the ship clues, using the compass to find the right direction, and of course looking for that "x" on the map were all something Indiana Jones might do. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 If you love the idea of treasure hunting or is an avid fan of geocaching, you might want to check out this game. Other than the high quality props used, we really liked the authenticity of the clues and puzzles to the storyline. The creator loves to treasure hunt himself. You can feel his passion for the hobby in this game. Channel your inner treasure hunter and see if you will be able to find your uncle's missed out opportunity! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these 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 Modern Treasure Hunt 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #AtHomeGames #EscapeRooms #ModernTreasureHunt #TheVOCTreasure #PuzzlesByMail #Adventure #Treasure #Uncharted #TombRaider #Explorer #PuzzleSolving #Search #Find #Fun

Photo above is property of Finders Seekers Company: Finders Seekers Game: Welcome To London! Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Time: Approximately 2 hours Size of Team: Unlimited Date Played: January 25, 2021 Price: $30/Month; $87/3month; $162/6month; $300/year 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The Royal Crown Jewels have been stolen in London! The National Crime Agency suspect that it's the doings of Lord Lockhart, He stated that the location where he hid the jewels has been etched on 8 diamonds and dispersed all over London. If we're able to recover all the diamonds and a necklace, then we should be able to find the whereabouts of The Royal Crown Jewels. Lets get to work! 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ "Finders Seekers" came in a well packaged cardboard box. All the relevant documents well protected inside a large envelope inside the box. Inside the envelope, we received 1 London souvenir calendar, 2-sided modern art print, Big Ben puzzle, Wedding invitation, Spyglass, Wimbledon Puzzle and Buckingham Palace Puzzle. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The game started with a quick post-it note instruction on the envelope. your first step was to read the intro letter. There was a clear item list on things that were included in the envelope. If you realized you have items missing, an email was provided so that they can quickly send you a digital copy. There's also a website given on the intro letter. The website is where you'll receive the backstory, input answers and enjoy the game with provided music selection. Sometimes integrations of websites and table-top games doesn't work well together but this game's collaboration of paper clues and website usage fit perfectly together. Essentially there were 8 mini puzzles with a meta puzzle at the end for a final reveal. It was also nice to not have to solve them in order since each answer was independent from each other. So we're able to work on ones that were quite easy to solve first, write down the answers to that puzzle and then return back to the ones that needed more attention. Since these puzzles were non-linear and we didn't have to share any paper materials with each other (maybe just the calendar was fought over a few times), it was easy to divide and conquer the tasks. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 Most of the puzzles were quite easy except two that took us a bit of time to complete. There was one puzzle that might of had an error as we were unable to make out the image from the clues given to the final solution. The rest of the puzzles all made perfect sense and it was quite enjoyable to solve them all. We really liked the variations in puzzles types (logic, deduction, find and seek, visualization, etc...) My favorite puzzle was the one that made us go "duh really? And we didn't see that? How?" Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 "Welcome to London!" used a game format and took us on a tour of city. We really enjoyed visiting the 9 popular historical sites and learning about them. We even added some that we haven't been to yet to our "must visit" list. This was a very clever way for us to be engaged into the storyline. The game designer did a great job with creating a game that could be easily played as a solo player or as a team. The audio backstories were easy to follow on the website and we had no issues with the password input portal and the hint system. Hopefully we'll get to bring you on more of our journeys with Finders Seekers in the future! (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 Finders Seekers for providing us with samples of their game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #CiciCao #AtHomeGames #TableTopGames #PuzzlesByMail #FindersSeekers #Mystery #Detective #USA

Photo above is property of Finders Seekers Company: Finders Seekers Game: Chicago Mystery Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Date Played: July 9, 2022 Difficulty (based on 1 player): 3/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Between 30 Mins-2 Hrs Price: $30/ Month; $87/ 3 Months; $162/ 6 Months; $300/ Year 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The Chicago police have once again sought out the expertise of the Society of Seekers regarding a cold case that still haunts them to this day. Two priceless works of art by Georges Suerat were stolen from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1935 by a group of thieves. These thieves, confident in their abilities, taunted the police with two strange and intriguing canvases that, along with evidence gathered from sites marked by the thieves with a distinct crest, provide the necessary clues to cracking this case. The police have a large list of suspects and need your help to narrow it down to the 9 criminals. Let the seeking begin! 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ "Finders Seekers" came in a slender, but sturdy cardboard box covered with an interesting cipher graphic. Inside the box is a case folder with a starting letter, suspect lineup, evidence submission form that explore all the sites around Chicago and their corresponding notes (receipts, crime scene photos, foam finger, ticket, postcards, window sketch, business card, music sheet, newspaper). Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 The game’s introduction letter explains the focus of the box and there is a convenient “start here” hand sign to make sure you know what to read first across the file of ephemera that comes pouring out of the box. Essentially, you will be solving nine puzzles that will give you a name or a number associated with a suspect in the line up. The puzzles all correspond to different sites the Chicago police identity in their investigation and each piece of evidence is marked with a case number corresponding to the site, or the item is mentioned specifically in the evidence submission form. There is no outside knowledge needed for this game - just use case evidence and the form. There are hints on the back of each submission form that is written backwards. Once you have identified a suspect you can scratch off the box underneath their name to check your answer or you can use the online link. After you have identified all nine suspects you will log onto the website for a final puzzle. The set up of the game is smooth and easy to follow with a clear focus and conclusion - not only do you get the puzzle along but you also learn some history about amazing landmarks across the city of Chicago. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles for this particular game require observation, logic, and ciphering for the most part. I enjoyed how the puzzles added a subtly shift the to evidence that jumps out in surprising ways while you’re investigating - I was literally just fiddling around with one piece of evidence and the answer hit me right on the nose in such a fun and engaging way.That said the puzzle are easy for a more experience puzzler. I solved this game in about 30 minutes so I recommend this to new players or someone looking for a relaxing evening. There was one puzzle that had an error but if you’re mindful you’ll be able to circumvent the error to still get the answer. Overall, I find the simplicity of the puzzles to be beautiful and refreshing for a light puzzling experience. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 "Chicago Mystery" is an inviting and smooth adventure across the city of Chicago. The structure of the game made for easy engagement and clarity that meant jumping in was a breeze. You can easily play alone or with a group and find plenty to discuss and share across your puzzles. If you love games that take you on a journey of real locations with a little challenge along the way then Finder Seekers will be up your alley! Check out our other review of an earlier game here! (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 Finders Seekers for providing us with samples of their game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever. #JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #TabletopGames #PuzzlesByMail #FindersSeekers #USA #Detective #Mystery #SubscriptionGames

Company: Enigma Fellowship Country: Germany 🇩🇪 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Date Played: 12/17/2020 Size of Team: Unlimited Price: $22.00 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ The games came in a large envelope. There were minor wear and tear from shipping (the owners have informed us that the packaging has since been changed). A stronger paper stock is recommended. There were several small envelopes that were within the large one. Every envelope's contents will have a clear check list on their website. This is where you'll follow the game's storyline and instructions. Most of the items were paper clues except "The Scattered Cards" game which contained playing cards. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Read the intro letter along with the "Mystery Solving 101" note carefully. Scan the QR code in the back of the "101 paper" and begin your game. you can chose to either play it in a "timed play" fashion (a virtual game host will prompt you with clues with a timer so you can finish the game within the time frame you want) or a "free play" fashion which doesn't set a limit on the play time. The envelopes are all sealed and you should open them only when instructed. The envelopes will have a QR code on it and whenever you solve a puzzle, you will have to enter the answer online. If you got the right answer, you'll be led to the next "scene" and in turn you may be allowed to open the next envelope. It took us awhile to get use to this play mode as there's a lot of envelopes and all of them contained a good amount of information. Some information we felt like there were items we didn't get to use or only used it for a quick second and it realized they were there for storytelling purpose only. We felt that added a lot of red herrings to the puzzles. The concept was great as we love opening new envelopes to discover new realms. We recommend having a large table for these games. You'll need it. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 You'll encounter different ciphers, some Math problems, a few deduction type of puzzles, etc... It's not too difficult for experienced players. Most of the cluing were quite straightforward and lead us to the solution right away. If you have difficulties with these puzzles, there is a "step by step" hint system on their website. We got an older version of the game so we discovered a few mistakes in the prints but the owners have ensured us that these have been corrected by now. Most of the puzzles were reasonable but we did find a few that had us do a "trial and error" in order to get to the right solution. It felt like that escape room that wanted to raise the difficulty level but not in an puzzle level way but more of a cumbersome way. Game: The Lost Knowledge Genre: Adventure Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5.5/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Approximately 120 mins 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 We've been contacted by Prof. McEwan's research group. They think that the professor could be in some kind of danger as he's gone missing for quite some time now. Let's see if we'll be able to find him with the breadcrumbs that he's been leaving behind... 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We like the audio storytelling option Enigma Fellowship build into all of their games. They even added sound effects which really bought out the immersion. There were a few puzzles that were a bit of a stretch for us but over all we enjoy the storyline and the message behind the game. It felt like we were taken through a history lesson. Did we save the professor at the end and what was he hiding? I guess you'll have to play the game to find out... Game: The Scattered Cards Genre: Detective Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Approximately 150 mins 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Citizens of Soonburg have been mysterious disappearingly lately. Even a police officer has gone missing! The only connection seems to be random playing cards received by each victim before they vanished. We were bought in to solve this mystery...who's behind these evil doings? 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 The storyline was quite intriguing to follow in this game. We had fun piecing together the evidence just to realize that the plot is not what it seems. There's more narratives in this game than the previous game and more puzzles and clues you'll have to sift through. We were confused at a few spots regarding the cluing to the solution. Overall, we enjoyed this game over the "Lost Knowledge". Perhaps because I'm such a big CSI fan! (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 Enigma Fellowship 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #EnigmaFellowship #TheLostKnowledge #TheScatteredCards #puzzlesathome #PuzzlesByMail #adventure #detective #archaeology #solve

Photos provided by Enigma Fellowship Company: Enigma Fellowship Game: Monsters In The Wild Country: Germany 🇩🇪 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Date Played: 6/18/2021 Difficulty (based on 2 adult players): 7/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Suggested 2hrs) Price: $22.00 or save by subscription 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 A case that's normally handed by agents from S.O.U.P. (an organization that investigates unknown phenomenon) landed in our laps. Animals are disappearing in the Serengeti region and they suspect it's because of a cryptid called the Kongamato. We are going to be accompanied by a local guide named Solomon who will take us to investigate some of the abduction sites. Hopefully we can still enjoy this vacation while solving this mystery. 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ "Monsters In The Wild" came in a plastic covering that protected the game from any type of damage. Inside you'll find an intro letter, instruction 101, 3 small envelopes, 2 large envelopes, 3 pamphlets, and a 2 page newsletter. We love that the creators are environmentally conscious and every time when a game ships, they donate to plant a tree (Plant For The Planet and Tree-nation). We also love the new concept of "Puzzle Around the World" that they've created. Once you've completed the game, you can gift it or sell it to another person. Each person will then fill in their information in the back of the game and once a 5th person completes the list, all the people on the list will get a discount towards their next game! 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Before starting the game, make sure to read instruction 101. You'll need to go to a website by either scanning the QR code with your phone or typing the website in your computer. We found that it was easier to operate the audio and submit answers through our computer rather than on the phone. There'll be hints and solutions provided along the way in case you get stuck. One of our favorite part about this game is the audio narration. Enigma Fellowship did a fabulous job capturing the various sounds that you would hear in an actual African safari. During the game, you'll also get to encounter the spectacular voices of the narrator, Solomon, chief and others. This really enhanced our experience with the game as we really felt like we're talking with the locals, exploring the wild on a safari jeep and encountering various animals along the way! The graphics on the 3 location pamphlets and the newsletter were beautiful. They were really detailed in terms of the descriptions, regions, and animal sightings. We actually searched the web to see if those places really existed because we would love to visit there one day (and two of them actually was modeled to real locations!). The game is divided into two parts. You can take a break during the middle if you choose to. We binged through the entire game and actually felt like we made the right decision. There's a twist that was totally not anticipated and if we decided to come back a day later, I think I would have forgotten some important details from the previous chapter. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles ranged in difficulty. Some were quite easy to spot in plain sight whereas others took us a few steps to solve. We love that they varied in style but were closely associated with the theme of the game. You can tell a lot of research went into the puzzle design as there were a lot of historical references made about the tribal people, animal habitants and even what locals do for entertainment! Rather than just decoding messages or seeing a lot of the generic puzzles that we've seen in some games, this game really embedded the puzzles into the narrative. As you found a solution, you'll really need to think back on the correlation to the characters and the story. It really added a detective vibe to the game. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 We were suppose to go to Africa last year in January and of course that trip got cancelled due to the pandemic. This game basically filled up that little void that was inside of us. After the game, don't be quick on closing the windows. Have a look at the behind the scenes section and find out about the inspiration behind making this game. They were lucky enough to have traveled to Africa and have based some of the information in the game from their trip. This game made me want to go to Africa even more. I love the important lesson they've manage to embed into the conclusion. It was quite emotional. Thank you for taking us on an incredible journey through fun puzzles, beautiful artwork, engaging audio and most importantly an unforgettable story! 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 Enigma Fellowship 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #EnigmaFellowship #MonstersInTheWild #puzzlesathome #PuzzlesByMail #adventure #detective #archaeology #solve

Photo above is property of Enigma Fellowship Company: Enigma Fellowship Game: The Submerged Sentinel Country: Germany 🇩🇪 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure, Mystery Date Played: August 2, 2021 Difficulty (based on 2 adult players): 7/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Suggested 2hrs) Price: $22.00 or save by subscription 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 The ISS Sentinel has lost contact with the base for quite awhile now. You've received a new order to find them and to figure out what has happened to the crew and the submarine. Are you ready for your next mission? 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ The Submerged Sentinel came with a mystery solving 101 sheet, a letter from Michael Gurges, a map from HydraCON, a Black light keychain, and two sealed envelopes with additional content. Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 Since this is our fourth game with Enigma Fellowship, we are quite familiar with the format of their game play. If this is your first game with them, definitely check out the mystery solving 101 sheet first. You can either choose to play the game on a laptop or just use your phone and scan in the QR code. Either way works great for this game. The audio narration has always been one of our favorite features from Enigma Fellowship. In this game, we were introduced to various crew members but also cool sound effects that really made us feel like we were submerged underwater, interacting with wildlife and cruising on the vast Arctic Ocean. Of course the written script is always there for you if you prefer reading the story on your own. In this game, you'll be using the clues you've received in the mail and a main website. The website served as an information hub but also as a place for you to input answers. If you get stuck, the hints and solutions were provided right under that specific puzzle which was quite convenient. Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 This game was pretty much divided into two parts: searching for the ship and aboard the ship. The first part of game's puzzles definitely felt more challenging than the latter part. All the puzzles seemed more technical involving GPS coordinates, transmission decoding and directions. My sense of direction is the worst so maybe that's why I felt a little lost. Once you get the hang of what procedure to take in order to reach the solution, it felt easier as some some steps were repeated. One puzzle was especially pretty to look at. Even if you can't solve it (it was quite challenging), it's worth just staring at it for awhile. The second part of the game is when the story started to take a turn. The puzzles used a lot imagery and even some word play. It also felt more like search and find the culprit using deduction type of route. Personally I prefer the second part as it also had some escape room vibe to it as we were able to unlock codes and travel to various parts of the ship. Photos above are properties of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This is yet another game from Enigma Fellowship that made us feel so close to a storyline that it felt almost REAL. This is because most of the information they've used in the game is real and well researched. After this game, you'll probably be an expert at tracking down a submarine and decoding various messages by using flag codes, Morse codes, and phonetic alphabets. I love how they could have chosen a different ending but decided to go with one that retained the twist and turns but still gave the audience some hope in humanity. One thing that we've always appraised the creators on is their awareness for the environment and this game is no exception. Shipments are 100% carbon neutral. If you want to contribute to this movement, make sure to use their "Puzzle Around the World" idea and pass the game on to another person. Each person will then fill in their information in the back of the game and once a 5th person completes the list, all the people on the list will get a discount towards their next game! Let's get this Sentinel to travel around the world! 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 game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!) Disclosure: We thank Enigma Fellowship 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. #CiciCao #AtHomeGames #SubscriptionGames #PuzzlesByMail #EnigmaFellowship #Germany #Mystery #Adventure #Submarine #BehindTheMasterMinds

Photos above are property of Enigma Fellowship Company: Enigma Fellowship Game: Dinner Party Country: Germany 🇩🇪 Language: English Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Mystery Date Played: September 18, 2021 Difficulty (based on 2 adult players): 7/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Suggested 2hrs) Price: $22.00 or save by subscription 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 Set around the same time as The Scattered Cards kidnappings (one of their previous games), Enrico Fabricci also gone missing and has been missing for months. During this time, the Fabricci estate including the Castello Di Dolcci, has been embroiled in a legal dispute. Now, four invitations to a mysterious dinner party has been received by some of those involved. What could this mean and are the events related? It is up to you to find out. 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ Taking out the contents, you are greeted with a letter from Michael Gurges giving you details about the mission at hand, 4 invitations to a mysterious dinner party and other sealed envelopes that will be opened along the way. There is also a Mystery Solving 101 sheet that you can read through if this is your first time playing a game from Enigma Fellowship. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 To play this game, you will need an internet connection to have access to their website. The website will have you input answers and tell you when to open the certain envelopes along the way. The narrative will also be on the website, leading you through the story of the game. When going through the narrative, you have the option to either read it yourself or play an audio recording. Always choose the audio recording! The audio is amazing quality with music and side effects, which will completely immerse you into the story. Playing the recordings made this game feel like an old radio show that we were able to be a part of. There is so much story packed in here. A few times we thought we were close to the end but as we continued to open envelopes, we kept encountering “Inception-style” envelope within an envelope to keep the story going. To be able to offer so much in just an 9x12 envelope, a lot of the content was regular paper but wherever Enigma Fellowship upgraded the contents, they made it count. When the story called for magazine articles or weathered paper, interacting with those upgraded pieces really made us feel like it was just ripped from a magazine or that we unearthed something historic. Photos above are property of Enigma Fellowship 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 We found that the puzzles seemed to ramp up as you go along which we enjoyed. The first third of the game we were able to make it through quite quickly but getting to the end was more of a challenging journey. The puzzles were also very creative, especially with the limited environment that they have. Enigma Fellowship made sure that nothing was wasted in terms of content because we had to use everything. As a tip, make sure to play in a large enough space to be able to spread everything out. There were times, we obtained information earlier on and then it ended up getting buried in all the content since then. Also, always double check you have pulled out everything from the envelope. If you are not sure, the website will have a checklist of everything that should be in the envelope when you are told to open it. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 Enigma Fellowship promotes themselves as an environmentally friendly company which shows in this game. Nothing gets destroyed and the website provides you with a reset guide so you can put it back together and pass it on. They also have their “Puzzle Around the World”, which encourages you to pass the game on for others to experience and when 5 people receive it, you all will get a discount. We were very impressed with what Enigma Fellowship could fit into this envelope for content, puzzles, and fun. The entire story was so detailed and well written to make us believe we were actually part of the investigation. The content seemed minimal at first but because of the care that Enigma Fellowship put into this game, we were absorbed into the whole experience and were on the edge of our seats up until the very end. 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 Enigma Fellowship 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 #SubscriptionGames #PuzzlesByMail #EnigmaFellowship #Germany #Mystery #BehindTheMasterMinds

Photo above is property of Enigma Fellowship Company: Enigma Fellowship Game: The Magical Tale Country: Germany 🇩🇪 Language: English Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬 Genre: Fantasy Date Played: March 17, 2022 Difficulty (based on 3 players - 1 adult & 2 kids): 4/10 Size of Team: Unlimited Time: Unlimited (Suggested 2 Hrs) Price: $65.00 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 In the magical land of Nirgendheim, lives Baron Theodore Puffington III. One day, while visiting the mud spa, his tail decides to run away and cause some hijinks. Theo now needs you, the chosen champion worthy of this quest, to help him find his tail, solve some enigmatic puzzles, and meet some new friends along the way. Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ Following Enigma Fellowship on Instagram and seeing their efforts put forth into this project, this book is absolutely gorgeous with the wooden varnished covers, laced spine and ribbon. The pages are high quality and thick print as well with lovely illustrations along the way. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 This fairy tale book reads as a regular story with 8 chapters. At the end of each chapter is a puzzle. You will be helping out a new friend along the way as you solve each puzzle. At the end of each chapter is an envelope containing what you need to solve the puzzle as well as paper flaps which will contain a leveled hint system and the solution if needed. The puzzle’s solution will always be a spell and once you discover it, you can check your answer at the front in the “Index of Magical Spells”. We liked how the book was entirely self-contained. If you want, they have some bonus features online such as a tiered hint system, or if you wanted the audio book version. We are always amazed at the high-quality audio that Enigma Fellowship always produces with their games. The book was well written, fun and easy enough for the kids to follow along and enjoy. Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were themed for each chapter which was a nice blend into the story. None of them were overly difficult, but fun to do with the kids as they would work together and try to solve them. There was a good mix of logical puzzles as well as ones where we had to read into the text to figure out what we needed for us to do. We appreciated how some of the items inside the envelopes were tangible for us to physically solve the puzzle. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 The story and illustrations in "The Magical Tale" take you on a fun and enchanting adventure around the world of Nirgendheim. The beautifully crafted book brings the adventure level up another notch with its homemade feel. Reading this fairy tale with my 2 kids, we were able to read a chapter a night and have them solve a puzzle before bed. They liked interacting with the puzzles and being able to help their new friends. It was also refreshing to not have to use technology to have to play this game with everything offline and in the book. The ending was also amusing as there was a small activity to do once you finish. For adults, this might be on the easier end but still a great time to be had. Overall, this was a great family story with a lot of fun activities to play along with. 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 Enigma Fellowship 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 #TabletopGames #SubscriptionGames #PuzzlesByMail #EnigmaFellowship #Germany #Magic #Fantasy #BehindTheMasterMinds

Videos/ Photos provided by Green Door Labs Company: Green Door Labs Game: Club Drosselmeyer 1943 Country: USA 🇺🇸 Language: English Type of Game: Digital Game/Puzzles By Mail 📬 Genre: Adventure Date Played: 12/3/2020 Difficulty (based on 2 players): 5.5/10 Size of Team: 2-7 Players (Age 11+) Time: 70 Minutes Price: $55 (Digital) We actually played the digital version of the game when it first came out and received the physical game box later on. Even though you may see some photos and physical items from the game box below, our review will be based on the digital version that we've played. This would be helpful to you as well since the physical game box is no longer available for sale but you can still purchase the digital version of the game on their website. 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 It's the year 1943 and Club Drosselmeyer Radio Broadcast is putting on an interactive Nutcracker in Swingtime show! During the broadcast, you'll meet various characters like Herr Drosselmeyer, Dr. Clara Stahlbaum, Rhett "the Rat" King, Sugar Faye, and more! Choose your own adventure by following different story paths and try all 7 endings! There are plenty of puzzles along the way too! Check out our unboxing video below of the "Drosselbox" to see what exciting items you'll receive in the game! No Puzzle Spoilers! 🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞ We received the actual game box which was valued at $65 during the holiday season. It's beautifully made with 4 coasters, 6 pins, 1 pencil, 1 wooden ruler, 1 notepad, 4 recipe sheets, 5 challenge cards, 8 character cards, 8 envelopes, 1 pamphlet, 1 handbook, 1 wax sealed intro letter, 1 map and 5 civilian defense unit role papers. Currently the Drosselbox is no longer available but you can still play the digital version of the game. The price for the digital game will give you access to the online radio show, a phone number to the Drosselmeyer Switchboard, DPF files of all the game clues. You'll need to print everything yourself and some items will require cutting. 🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈 We were given a number to dial in at the beginning of the game. The game started with a tutorial on how to use their phone system. Since all the input of the passwords are done through the phone, definitely take your time to understand this procedure. The start of the game is when you start the radio show. The show is presented to you on an online portal. You'll listen to the first character talk about a storyline and you can decide if you'll like to help that person or not. If you choose to help her/him, you'll then be taken on that story path and will need to dial a phone number to listen in to that person's request. You'll know which envelope to open or clues to look at base on that character's storyline. Once you figure out that puzzle, call back the number to give that character the solution and if you're correct, you'll be given another trail to follow. During this time, the show doesn't stop so you'll be either listening to a live band playing smooth jazzy tunes or another character talking. It took awhile for us to get use to this type of play as usually we need complete silence to concentrate on solving a puzzle. There's a pause button you can use but the show will resume after a minute or so as the design of the game is to have you keep moving so you'll eventually get to the end of the show on schedule. We did find that it was hard to listen to the phone clues while music was playing or if another character was talking on the back end so we muted the show when we dialed in to submit the solutions. It's impossible to finish all the puzzles during one show as you won't be able to follow all the characters so don't be alarmed if you have puzzles left unfinished. If you want to try the other puzzles, you'll just have to listen to tune in to the radio show again and choose a different character to follow this time to reach a different ending. 🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂 The puzzles were really enjoyable. They were designed to complement the narratives. At times you'll be in Sugar Faye's kitchen, cooking up some fun dishes and looking for a secret ingredient while other times you might be mingling with Rhett "the Rat" King and trying to see what sketchy business he's up to. There's even a chance to learn a magic trick! We really felt like we were war time spies trying to decode secret messages being passed through the radio. There were many types of ciphers so you'll definitely feel satisficed at the end. If you get stuck, you'll just have to call the character back and he/she will give you nudging hints. And on the third request, you'll receive the solution. It would be great if Green Door Labs can also provide a written explanation to the solution as well for puzzlers who still doesn't get the answer at the end. The game also caters towards people who might not want to puzzle too hard and just want to enjoy the radio show. There's a "non puzzler" route that you can choose as well. 🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂 This is a very creative game that we haven't seen before on the market. People rarely use phones to call anyone these days. It was quite interesting to use our phones so much during that few hours of play time. When Green Door Labs had the live show during the holidays, there's even a live actor on the other side of the line that you can interact with! This game received our "Best Innovator" Bullseye award and it's well deserved. It seamlessly merged immersive theater and tabletop game together as one. We look forward to attending the real Dosselmeyer Club in person one day! Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game: *** This game is no longer available but follow their website for their in-person events *** (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 Green Door Labs 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. #ESCAPETHEROOMers #GreenDoorLabs #ClubDrosselmeyer1943 #DigitalGame #puzzlesathome #PuzzlesByMail #swingdance #ragtime #interactiveradioadventure #aspmc #puzzles #solve