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Tag Archives: Puzzles
Review of Escape Room The Game – Welcome to Funland | Escape Room The Game – Murder Mystery (NO SPOILERS)
Escape Room The Game [OG Review] is a cooperative “escape the room” game from Spin Master Ltd. that was released in 2016. The base game contains four different Adventures for teams to explore and experience. Plays must work together to solve several puzzles before time runs out. Verifying that each puzzle has been solved correctly requires the use of an electronic Chrono Decoder and associated Keys. The Chrono Decoder is unique to this game system and is used in several ways, including: it’s the game timer, it contains various ciphers needed to solve puzzles, and it verifies the code – entered by inserting Keys into the device – for each part of the Adventure. Shortly after the release of Escape Room The Game, two separate expansion packs were also released for the game: Welcome to Funland (Difficulty 3.5/5) and
Murder Mystery (Difficulty 3/5). Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Escape, escape room, expansion, Expansions, Family games, funland, murder mystery, Puzzles, review, reviews
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Review of Codinca
Rival treasure hunters (i.e., players) have discovered the Temple of Codinca while exploring the Yucatan rain forests. To open the Temple and find the great treasures contained within, players must use various mechanisms to manipulate a grid of sixteen carved Symbol Tiles to match specific Key Patterns. The first player to match their own Symbol Tiles to their four Key Patterns will unlock the secrets of Codinca.
Codinca is an abstract strategy game that combines skill and chance. Players take turns using various actions (e.g., flipping, swapping, and shifting) to manipulate a common grid of tiles to create patterns that match their individual Key Cards. The game is meant to be fast-paced and tactical.
Codinca was first available as a pre-production release at the Essen Game Fair (Spiel) in 2012. Only 150 copies were available and it sold out. A Kickstarter campaign was launched in September 2013 to fund a full production release, but it failed to reach the necessary goal. The game largely disappeared until it re-debuted at the 2016 UK Game Expo in new pocket edition. According to the announcement from the publisher, “the mechanics have been streamlined, the tiles made substantially chunkier, the rules include six languages (English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish & Polish), and it all comes in a very pretty pocket sized magnetic closing box.” This review is for the new 2016 release of Codinca. Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Cards, codinca, Family games, Kickstarter, Puzzles, review, reviews, tiles
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Review of Escape Room The Game (NO SPOILERS)
“Escape room game [in a box]” has apparently become the hot new board game genre of 2016. From virtual versions dating as far back as 1988 to real world escape rooms being created around 2006, it seems inevitable that a hybrid version of the concept would find its way into the growing board game hobby. Cooperative puzzle games have always been of great interest to many people and capturing the escape room feeling in a box that can be played anywhere is an exciting evolution.
There are already a handful of “escape room in a box” games available and Escape Room The Game is latest having been released in late 2016 in the USA by Spin Master Games. However, there are a couple key differences that set it apart from the previous games. First of all, Escape Room The Game contains not just a single escape room game, but four different Adventures that have varying difficulties and all look, feel, and play slightly different. Secondly, the game utilizes a unique electronic “Chrono Decoder” around which the game unfolds. It also helps pull the players further into the game so that they are anchored more to the game and the make believe “room” being created rather than arbitrary location where the game is being played. Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged aztec, Cooperative, cooperative game, Cooperative Games, cooperative nature, Escape, escape room, Family games, nuclear, prison, Puzzles, Reivews, review, virus
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Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experiment (SPOILER FREE)
How to play Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experiment is quite easy; just open the box, read the rules, choose a leader, start a countdown timer, solve the puzzles, open the locks and then win (hopefully). It’s that easy! In all seriousness, setting up the game and learning how to play is very quick and easy since there are only six rules along with a few “Tips for Success.”
Actually playing the game is not quite as easy, but it’s a whole lot of fun! Once the “Rule” panel is removed, the game has started and the clock is ticking… Continue reading
Posted in First Impressions, Kickstarter, Preview, Puzzles, Reviews
Tagged Blend Off, board games, Cooperative, cooperative game, Cooperative Games, cooperative nature, Escape, escape room, Family games, Kickstarter, Preview, Puzzles, reviews, werewolf
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