My Puzzling Year

  One of these seven quid supermarket-at-Christmas affairs, the box itself is fairly big which hides not a lot of content -- four "rooms" to work through with just one puzzle each.  Each puzzle leads to a single digit number to put into the decoder which gives the final door to open to see if you escape. First puzzle is a logic one, cross off or keep various symbols and spell a number: Second puzzle is the best of the bunch, a pseudo-jigsaw of balloons which ultimately gives a number as seen here: Third one I've seen before in this sort of thing, turn the cogs and what number ends up where. Last one is a common letter substitution one which they must've dreamed up in their sleep, it's so old hat. Very easy, very quick, not really much cop to be honest.

  Picked this one up from Stratford-upon-Avon eighteen months ago and finally gave it a shot -- nice art style throughout... Although this decoder strip looks very familiar.... Setup is a bunch of leaflets with puzzles in to work through one at a time, except instead of three puzzles per leaflet giving a three digit code, there's one puzzle per leaflet giving the code.  Meaning it's a very very fast solve -- and these puzzles are dead easy too. Not a total loss though, as the story takes centre stage and there's a lot of it -- and one puzzle in particular is quite fun, this one here -- 

    Clearly I am a sucker for these seven quid Professor Puzzle christmas offerings, so with low expectations we crack this open and they do seem to be playing with the form a little more than usual.   It's not just puzzle cards, we have a decoder wheel, we have individual leaflets and a pack of cards...simply put, you do each leaflet at a time, take out some of the cards, and solve three puzzles per room to get a code to move on.  All of these were easy solves, although I had a fundamental problem with one which instructed to go left to right and the order as printed was incorrect so caused issues with the solve. Hint system was nice, hidden behind scratch off panels and with pictures to check solution against, which seems to perhaps be a first. A nothing story, just a thing to string some puzzles together, and I did enjoy that there was a good amount of physicality here -- stuff to be popped out or written on or whatever.  Yes, it makes it disposable, but...

  Great fun! A few websites, some puzzling which is light if you're thorough in your reading, a nice narrative with three possible endings - no spoilers on how to get each! Quite fast to run through if you're so inclined, but I'd recommend in hindsight to take it one envelope at a time, and not be tempted to scurry through. Incredible value for the price (well in the UK at least as postage uber-low, check for international) and the only thing I'd consider changing is for the experience to actually be fed out via really posted letters, separated by days or even weeks (to match the ongoing narrative). That would increase the cost of course and admin, but the extra immersion would be immense. Really enjoyed picking through the envelopes and websites, scouring them for key information, and overall - thoroughly recommended. Oh, and you get a little keepsake artifact at the end of it, which is sweet or creepy, depending on how you view events in the story.

  Exit: Advent Calendar - Day Six Really been enjoying this so far - very very easy Day One led into some slightly harder other days but a torch and inspiration to decipher the occasionally obscure puzzle cards has led us through so far. What I'm particularly impressed with at this point is the variety of puzzles and things to do - the story is no great shakes and the puzzles are not really immersive (if you are trapped in a cave how would you get outside to check out some rocks I'm looking at you Day Five) but so far I've cut stuff, folded stuff, stuck pegs in, stuck a pin and spun and searched with my torch in a small box. It's only Day Six! Gosh. Do they keep this pace up? I might return on Day Twelve to update.... Exit: Advent Calendar - Day Twelve On Day Six I posted that I’d been enjoying this and I would be back today…very pleased to announce it hasn’t fumbled any day since then. Embrace the destruction, think outside - and even Inside!!!! - the box and...

  Just had a blinding time playing this Hunt A Killer one shot this evening, lots of bits and pieces to read through and do, not too brain busting and a really nice ah ha moment as the case drew to a close (and neatly answered a question I’d asked myself early on). Includes a locked case with more clues and stuff inside -- I really like that as a concept in these games, it's just not you have all the evidence off you go, it's things to solve to get you more information to solve the bigger case.

Very small box small, 70 cards, a choose-your-own-adventure but with options, memory (some items you pick up affect your options and your story outcome), a well written narrative. Very pleasant way to spend an hour or so (lots of replayability to try other branches).

  First mentioned a couple of years ago, but still for sale at a bargain price of £18 including shipping to anywhere in the UK. Created by Arts Council Funded group, Third Angel, who are wrapping up their works in the summer, although the website and videos on it will remain until the end of 2023. They have just a few boxes left and once gone, will not be producing any more - the 13 videos on their website are an integral part of the experience and the box on its own loses too much context to be anything other than a curio. Minor spoilers ahead - the experience (and it's far more of a narrative experience than a puzzle-packed game, there are it seems four key puzzles to obtain four numbers to unlock the bag you see in their photos) is intended to be played over five days, with a couple of things to do each day. You get some very smart sealed envelopes to be opened as directed by the videos, and the first one at least is intended to be written on. Given the limited time this w...

Alright, played it through in one session - some light puzzling, a nice ah-ha moment, a few good - logical - and resolved - red herrings. Sort of multiple endings. Some light internet work with QR codes and a particularly nice BBC-style piece. They manage the neat trick of having time passing "in game" and the story and clues developing over time, whilst simultaneously giving you everything at once. You're not told explicitly what to do or when to move on, but it's very obvious and appreciated the fact it didn't lead me by the nose. Made a ton of notes and enjoyed it, and well priced at fifteen quid -- I baulk at spending 25 on a similar level of content, I think this is pitched exactly right. Interestingly enough it's been a year since I played this and they have released three more products since then -- I haven't been moved enough to buy them or even look at them, priced at 19, 19, 15 quid....need to rethink on how I perceived the value, because my comm...

  So this arrived today - the kickstarter from the fine folk behind CosyKiller — fast 30-45 minute solve, nice and gentle, probably good to do with kids (and can work through a card or three at a time rather than have to do the whole piece at once) In this handy format it reminds very much of the Professor Puzzle mini games -- bunch of cards, individual solves to come up with a key phrase or codeword at the end, one letter at a time. Typical of this sort of thing, but enjoyable nonetheless.

  I wasn't actually looking forward to as I vaguely thought they might be a bit cookie cutter and jumping on the bandwagon, but this was great. Really good variety of things to trawl through, some nice pieces that felt hand written or at least not just the usual bunch of laser printed sheets, a few things to work out -- who is texting whom here, what did "that" comment actually mean, with the reveal hidden in plain sight really nicely. Again one shrug moment (I didn't buy the murder weapon piece, let's just say that) but solid -- twenty quid again, I would snap the rest of the series up at a fiver less. And, in fact, I pretty much have done via ebay and amazon sales and codes....so more of these in the pipeline to play!