Mystery at the Stargazer's Manor

It was fine, much like the other Thinkfun escape games, but way too easy. Our team of 3 (including 2 kids) finished it in 38 minutes out of the 120-minute time limit, and a big chunk of that was spent reading the story cards. A decent game overall, but wish we could've gotten more bang for our buck.

In terms of play-at-home escape games, this is pretty good. I liked the tactile materials, which felt of a solid quality. The puzzles aren’t very difficult, and our team of 2 easily steamrolled through most of the puzzles. The final puzzles are a little trickier, which I appreciated. The decoder wheel is a little hard to understand, but it makes sense what you’re looking for in each puzzle once you get it. Unlike EXIT games, you’re not solving puzzles to find the next card. Instead, you’re solving puzzles to gain “permission” to open an envelope. It’s not as exciting, but it works. There are multiple endings depending on how long you want to keep playing. I say it’s worth it to see it through to the end.

Well done, definitely above average. Nothing insanely special about this one but I recommend it.

If you’ve done this kind of thing before, this will be challenging but not obtuse. No hints required, and a 2-person team finished in 75 minutes (the game didn’t even suggest 2 players as an option and said it would take 3-5 players 2 hours!. Everything made logical sense, so the puzzles really clicked well. The story was also surprisingly touching. Very well done.