The House of Riddles | Exit: The Game - A Kosmos Game from Thames & Kosmos | Family-Friendly, Card-Based At-Home Escape Room Experience for 1 To 4 Players, Ages 10+, Multi-colored

S. Quinn United States

Build memories! Darn-near as much fun as the real thing, for much less!

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW TL;DR Version... PROS: - great price for the experience - excellent at-home approximation of the real thing, down to having help/hint cards, like you might ask a real-life game master for help - no experience necessary - during COVID: an escape room... in your house... with only those you already hang with daily! - free mobile app for skip-reading-the-rulebook instructions with graphics AND a timer with appropriate atmospheric audio, which adds a lot to the experience (they should promote this feature more) - a "scoring system" that favors quicker exits without using help cards and compares your accomplishments across different Exit games (or to other people, if you want that) - some of these puzzles are just ingenious and I don't know how they can make so many across multiple games and maintain excellent quality CONS: - really struggling to come up with any here... - reaching/picky: there's one puzzle you can only really solve (beyond a powerful imagination) with a very common kitchen item that's not mentioned in the "other things you'll need" section (but is depicted when you get to that puzzle) ... but I can also see an argument that naming it would give too much away - there's also one puzzle where the scissor-work required just takes a long time, only one person can do it while the others watch (long, boring for them), and the longer it takes with the ticking time-pressure, the more socially agonizing it is to be "Edward Scissorhands" ... so this one game could be improved if there was a way to shorten that one puzzle. - unlike a real escape room, you can't break off into sub-teams to solve any puzzles simultaneously ... this is 100% linear ... a very minor thing, though. FULL REVIEW: My first escape room experience was when my 2nd-level-up boss had us do one as a team building thing around the holidays a few years back. So ~8 of us made it out of a hostage-like situation with ~10 seconds left. The thrill of that is akin to the first time one makes an amazingly unexpected shot while golfing (regular or mini-golf). And it makes you want it again. But my first "hit" was free. I not only wanted that experience again, but also wanted to share it with my family. This past summer of 2021, the kids were old enough to get into it, so for my birthday we tried out a real room together. We failed... with several puzzles remaining. We figured if we played smarter and ask for more help earlier, we could win one. So we did it again the last week of summer. And failed again. But this time we were so close, the game master generously gave us 5-10 extra minutes to experience finishing it. Nice, but still a bummer to "lose" again. And they cost about two hundred fifty dollars combined. Worth it, but deterred from another go for a while. Plus, it was a summer of COVID before kids could be vaxed, so we were masked up and scheduling the first session of the day to avoid people, which is much harder during the school year. When along comes my discovery of these Exit games. Gave one each to the kids for Christmas. Now, I'm a board-gamer, so it takes some mental toughness for me to consider buying a game (out of Germany, no less) where I will be damaging game parts on purpose and only playing it once. BUT for the chance of giving my family the escape room experience for this price compared to the real thing ... this is practically a steal! New Year's Eve 2021 was an ideal time to try this, and House of Riddles was the first we've tried so far. It just went fabulously! Everyone contributed, even the 8-year-old spotted some things that saved us. In the end, as a team, the family figured everything out without a single Help card, and we finished in less than the 90min max, but more than the 60min "ideal" which docked us 1 "star" (equal to under 60min + 1 Help card). This was a family-bonding, new-years accomplishment we could all be proud of. And to round out the experience... in real escape rooms, if you win/finish, they get a pic of your group while holding a board with your time on it. Otherwise, you can get a pic, but no time. So before this, we had 2 family photos with no one holding a time. But to close out 2021, I screenshotted & printed the final time (and score) from the mobile app, setup the tripod, and we got a family photo (dog included) where we finally got to hold up our successful escape room exit time! Bottom Line: While it is "just a game," it also holds the potential for building memories with family & friends that you will never forget. Thank you, game makers!

Grammie United States

Three Generations of Ladies Had a Blast!

This was the 3rd Exit game that I have played. The first one, The Cabin, I played with my 16 year old granddaughter. (I am her 67 year old grandmother) We really enjoyed it, but had to learn as we went in order to get a feel for just what the creators expected of us. We used some of the clues just to see if we were on track to solving the riddles which we usually were. We did manage to complete each riddle and it left us wanting to do another Exit game! Then I played The Rollercoaster with my 13 year old grandson and found myself trying to solve the puzzles on my own. He didn't really engage in the experience. Not the fault of the game. But then I played the House of Riddles with my granddaughter and her 47 year old mom. We had a blast! The adults sipped wine as we played and all three of us contributed in the solving of the different puzzles. We found that three heads were better than two. We only needed a clue on two of the puzzles and the several ah ha moments, which we celebrated with high fives and cheers made it a great fun night for three generations of ladies! My granddaughter then played the Pharohs Tomb with her 47 your old dad who had never played before and they had a blast! Her prior experience playing the game helped them navigate through the different puzzles. So my take on the exit games is that it matters who you play with, how many are playing and the experience of the brains that are playing with you! This could explain why there are varying reviews on these games. Thinking outside (and inside) the box is often required. We will be ordering more in the Exit the Games series!

Chris In Jersey United States

Good for beginners or those that want a less stressful Exit game

Played with 3 people and we all felt this was one of the better Exit the Games for the puzzles and the story. Giving no spoilers here. This game is rated as 2 out of 5 on the difficulty scale on the box and I believe that to be accurate. I never time games as that adds stress to something that is meant to be fun, but you can time with the free app if you want (app not needed to play). The story is fairly mellow and makes sense. The best part of the game is that the puzzles are in order. In some of the more advanced games the puzzles are not in order and can be confusing for even advanced players - that is not the case with House of Riddles. Fairly straight-forward. the GREAT thing about the Exit games is there is a hint card system so even if you feel lost take a hint and keep having fun. IF YOU ARE NEW to the Exit games make sure to read the instruction booklet. It is a fun read and often there is info there that is important for the game you are playing. For those wanting to play an Exit game with others over a video call... you can do this if each remote player has the game. Trying to play it with only one game isn’t exactly going to be fun for the remote player. I played this game with one of the group being remote with their own game in front of them - so 2 copies of the game (one at my house, and one at their house). It worked out perfectly. We all had fun and laughed. Worth it.

Annie United States

Great game for beginners to this genre

I've played games from the Exit series before & decided to get this as a gift for my dad for my family to play together. We had 3 people (all adults). I felt that most of the puzzles were fairly quick to solve, but the solutions were always fun so we never got bored. Most of the riddles in this one had mini hints in them, which made it much easier than some of the other games in the series. The puzzles get harder as you move along, so I feel that it builds very well for people just learning to play this kind of game. You do have to destroy the game pieces to solve puzzles & it is one time use, so that hurts a little. But, I still feel like the price is good for a one-time fun experience for a small group of people. If you've played room escape board games before, I would recommend you find a different game in this series. The Exit series is good & has several games on different difficulty levels.