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Nicole Simeone
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When you want to go out and try an escape room, but you don't actually want to leave the house...
Escape rooms are all the rage right now. I’ve been to one and had a blast. The fact it was themed like a 90s video store had nothing to do with it. I swear. Ok. Maybe a little to do with it. It was a bit expensive, though. Not crazy expensive. But enough to make it an every once and a while thing rather than a regular event.
Which is a bummer, except there’s another way to enjoy the thrill of an escape room. And you don’t even need to leave your house. Space Cowboys, the folks who provide us with Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detectives, puts out a series of games, which are essentially escape rooms in a tiny box. Along with a free app, the games provide problem solvers with an accessible alternative to the real thing.
In each game, you only have so much time to work together to unlock the mystery. An hour, to be precise. How easy or challenging the play is varies adventure to adventure and can be found on the game box.
The games can be played solo if desired, or you can assemble up to five other people to play with you. Even if the game’s compact box intimidates you, don’t worry. Every game has a 10 card, stand-alone starter adventure to teach everyone the flow of gameplay. Just don’t get lulled into a false sense of confidence. The starter difficulty doesn’t appear to match the complexity of the full adventure.
An hour sounds like a long time to get things right. But, when the clock’s ticking, it’s hard to keep your mind off the ticking clock. There are penalties for missteps, and for this game, it means time is added to your total. What would an escape room be without suspense and urgency for timeliness? The app will also throw in surprises and conditions as time advances on as well to advance the story and give more opportunities for clues.
Adam and I played the Tombstone Express adventure. I won’t go into too much detail, or else I risk spoiling the series of events. The game begins, as you might guess from the cover art, by boarding a train. You aren’t going to get to kick your feet up for long. A lot is riding on your trip to Tombstone. Some people want to step in the way of your success.
You and your compatriots will have cards dealt for you, each with a number on it. These drive the investigation and play of the game. Diversions, puzzles, and seemingly random people and items. Everything has a purpose and often can lead to exciting combinations to spring the adventure forward.
I would love to say that we were master investigators and solved the mystery in less than an hour. But we didn’t. Not by a long shot. Maybe we should have started with an easier adventure, but we had a fun night losing. The one downside to this game is the same one I have for the Sherlock Holmes games. You can only play these once. I bought this as a Hail Mary stocking stuffer. Something tells me a few more similarly sized boxes will find their way into our stockings this year.
Till next time, Nerd Girls!