The Conundrum Box – Sleepy Hollow Part 3: The Headless Horseman

January 22, 2020February 5, 2020 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Kara’s Note: This review comes to you from me!

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-4

Price: $30 per box

Theme:

From The Conundrum Box website:

SAVE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN

This three part series takes place during American Revolution and afterwards. General Washington’s life is in danger! He has tasked you to help stop the most recent assassination plot. Your leads have led you to the small village of Sleepy Hollow where you meet the townsfolk, and soon discover their dark secrets. The second and third adventures in this season get weirder and darker.

First Impressions:

As the last box in the Sleepy Hollow series, I was excited to see how the story would end. Given the interesting twist and cliff-hanger of Part 2, there’s no telling where this one would lead!

Yay Points:

The story drops you in the middle of a predicament, and it’s not long before you’re able to escape and get some clarity on the situation. You are soon tasked with multiple sub-goals to help you toward your larger goal, and fortunately, you’re provided with a document to keep track of each one you’ve achieved. This is immensely helpful since this box is jam-packed (in a good way!) with puzzles of varying difficulty levels and a lot of satisfying solves.

The clues interacted with each other in many interesting ways. In particular, there was one set of deceivingly simple clues that played a helpful role in a couple of the puzzles, and we really enjoyed deciphering them. We had some good lightbulb moments when making connections, and also some ‘ohhhh’ moments when catching ourselves overthinking. On a potentially unrelated note, if you’re like us, please remember to look on the front and back of everything. 😀

It was pretty clear what we needed from Parts 1 and 2 to help us solve some of the puzzles, with a lot of good callbacks to them. (Side note: Though it’s taken me 3 boxes to finally learn, I will also be a little better at notetaking when I make a solve or notice something in a box series that doesn’t seem to be used in the current box.) I also really liked how one set of clues built upon a prop from a previous box to make for a new interaction, and more tactile players will benefit by having another figure to help you visualize this puzzle.

In the previous box, I noted how one of the color puzzles was tricky as I had a hard time telling some of the colors apart. I’m happy to report that it wasn’t an issue in this box!

As with all The Conundrum boxes, we really appreciate the incremental hint system that the website provides. It’s really helpful in making sure you’re on the right track, and also helps you figure out how solve it so you can learn and understand the process.

Pondering Points:

While my husband and I both agreed that this box started and ended great, the middle can be a little rough for players who don’t enjoy longer process puzzles. (Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Kara for having much more patience than I for process puzzles. My disdain for them has been well documented.) One of the puzzles involved a challenge that I found satisfying to solve, but can definitely be an exhausting experience for many players to repeat the process so many times (especially since even if you know what to do, it’s not always an easy find).

There was also one puzzle that I really relied on the hint system to help fill in the blanks on what I need to do with it to make the solve. I may have missed it, but perhaps a little more direction in the puzzle would be helpful.

We liked how one puzzle gave us an easy/hard option to choose from. However, we were a little disappointed when we found out that none of our possible solutions to the hard puzzle worked because one of the clues seemed to contradict the accepted answer (though, giving a shout-out to the hint system for instant-gratification to help us figure this out). This should hopefully be an easy fix, though.

Verdict:

This box had a lot of great puzzles that were fun to solve, though there were a couple longer ones that may be a hit or miss with players. It certainly was an interesting end to the series, and provided a surprising foreshadowing of a future box. Subscribe to The Conundrum Box here! You can get $5 off your first box with our Promo Code ERA5OFF!

7/10 (Good)

Full Disclosure: The Conundrum Box provided a complementary review copy.

The Conundrum Box – Sleepy Hollow Box 2: The Awakening (Review)

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ 1 Comment

Kara’s Note: This review comes to you from me! 😀

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-4

Price: $30 per box

Theme:

From The Conundrum Box website:

SAVE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN

First Impressions:

For everyone who did Part 1, the title of this one seemed pretty apropos to its interesting ending. I was excited to put my thinking cat on and see where the story would take us!

Yay Points:

And take us through an interesting story it did! I feel like this shouldn’t be too much of a spoiler, but this box involves the story of Ichabod Crane. However, The Conundrum Box has put their own interesting spin on this classic story that makes you see these characters in a new light.

As with previous boxes, this one is packed with envelopes that contain some great and varied puzzles, with a number of unique ones that I haven’t seen before. The puzzles provided great opportunities for teamwork as well as dividing and conquering. With so many types, having a team with different approaches to solving these conundrums is really helpful. It certainly made for some satisfying moments on my end!

For the most part, this box had great, intuitive clues and interactions, and I enjoyed how the story was able to couch them. Multiple puzzles were really neat and there were many obviously hidden clues that are really helpful with the deductions. One in particular was really satisfying when I finally realized what the key was to solving it!

It can sometimes be difficult when boxes refer to materials from previous boxes, but I think this one included some great references to help point the way (FYI: the website also provides downloadable versions of the items of interest for those who choose this route!).

This mystery also had some good tactile props and visual references. In particular, their map was once again very detailed and well done.

It’s a nice touch that the website provides Extras in the form of Spotify playlists and food/drink recipes. I haven’t gotten the chance to try making any of them, but they do seem delicious!

Also, in the last box, I commented how the mobile site was a little harder to navigate. Since then, they’ve added an easily accessible navigation bar for each puzzle! They also include a great “how-to” reference on the intro page to help orient you to this. 😊

Pondering Points:

In the last section, I complimented the variety of puzzles that this box included. Unfortunately, this can also be a double-edge sword in some cases, as some of the puzzles have the potential for causing roadblocks. But! The hint system does a great job in pointing you in the right direction and guiding you toward the solution. Admittedly, we’ve gotten good use with it on a couple of the puzzles, and were able to reverse engineer the solution to see what logic we were missing.

After needing to consult one of the answers though, we were still confused how one of the numbers is part of the solution, as we’re pretty confident the puzzle provides one more than the solution indicates. As the hints acknowledge, this puzzle can be tricky – perhaps a picture with the appropriate areas highlighted would be helpful here.

The hints also identify what is likely to be the hardest part of the box, and in our experience, it was indeed. It will definitely be a hit or miss with players as it is a longer and more complicated process puzzle, involving a lot of clues to put together and things to keep in mind. The logic felt a bit arduous on our end, and there was some ambiguity on how to start solving it after putting together the information we needed.

There was one puzzle that was good overall, but the colors used can sometimes be indistinguishable in certain areas, depending on the player and room lighting. I am apparently not as good at distinguishing colors as I think I am.

Verdict:

Overall, this box had a lot of great interactions and satisfying solves. It certainly was a fun sequel to Part 1, and I’ll be interested to see how it ends in Part 3! Subscribe to The Conundrum Box here! You can get $5 off your first box with our Promo Code ERA5OFF!

7/10 (Good)

The Conundrum Box – Sleepy Hollow Box 1: Washington’s Spies (Review)

November 6, 2019November 6, 2019 ~ EscapeAdventurer ~ Leave a comment

Editor’s Note: This review comes to you courtesy of my lovely wife, Kara. Thank you Kara for this excellent review!

Location: Your Home!

Players: We recommend 1-4

Price: $30 per box

Theme:

From The Conundrum Box’s Website:

SAVE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN

First Impressions:

Though I have enjoyed our latest run of “spooky” themed boxes, I was not sad our Halloween run would soon be over with the completion of this one. However, I have always enjoyed the film/TV adaptations of the classic story of Sleepy Hollow! After our first taste of The Conundrum Box’s Boxes, Anastasia: The Lost Princess, I was excited to see what their take on the legend would be.

(Note: Brandon has excitedly informed me that the spooky themes are apparently not over…I do this for you, readers. Though I do have to admit that these themes do make for great mystery boxes!)

High Points:

This is only the second of The Conundrum Boxes that we have done, but it is very clear how thoughtful they are in concocting and immersing you into the story they have created for you to enjoy. This box included a “choose your own adventure” element, which was an enjoyable update to the adventure mode that we saw in the Anastasia box. I would certainly be curious to know the percentage of people who choose each path!

For the most part, the puzzles were really fun to solve, with a couple in particular being very satisfying to complete. The story wove well into the puzzles, which were multilayered, diverse, and non-linear. I always appreciate when there’s a range of difficulty, which was evident here. The clues were pretty intuitive and it was easy to put the associated ones together, which is always helpful in identifying if you have the right parts to solve the puzzle. And, if you’re ever not sure, The Conundrum Box website has a great, incremental hint system that will put you on the right path.

The box contained a neat meta-story, and we really liked the way the clues allowed us to move forward with it. There was a reference that was used multiple times, and though this may seem like a minor detail, I just wanted to say THANK GOODNESS for its organization. This made it extremely easy to use, and saved us from a lot of potential headache.

Actually, there were a couple of items that were used multiple times, and they were always pretty intuitive. In particular, there were some mini-figures that were a great visual aid with a couple of the puzzles. Also, while this is neither a pro nor a con, I was surprised that one of the more tactile clues wasn’t used more (though I did like the way it was used!).

Low Points:

As alluded to above, there were a couple of puzzles that could use improvement. One of them involved a great visual component, but the last part of it is confusing as the method used to solve it seems inconsistent/contradictory with the internal logic of the puzzle.

The other puzzle we had trouble with is one that I think players will either love or hate in its current form. I really like the thought behind the puzzle, but there were a lot of things to keep in mind and a high potential for human error, without a clear indication of what mistake was made. That being said, some sort of automation in this puzzle would be very helpful in allowing players to make choices and be able to accurately see the results of those choices. Additionally, while I am all for saving paper, this puzzle in particular would have benefited from being printed single-sided.

As mentioned previously, this box contained mini-figures that were very helpful in completing the puzzles. It’s possible we may have missed it, but one more representing us players would’ve been helpful. Though, we did enjoy being represented by a little plastic cat that we just happened to have nearby. 😊

As a minor point, we were using our phones to navigate the website (which is great in general). I probably would recommend players to use a computer rather than a phone, as the mobile site didn’t seem to have the navigational structure of the desktop version, which makes it easier to go back and forth between puzzle pages. This sometimes made it slightly harder for us to figure out which page we needed to return to in order to find the puzzle page we wanted to work on next.

The box would also benefit from some audio options. Though I enjoyed the detailed story line, it can sometimes be a lot to read out loud to your partner/group.

Speaking of story, the ending of the box was certainly unexpected. This is not a bad thing, and was clearly a transition to the next box, but I definitely did not expect it to go where it did.

Verdict:

Though there were certainly some places for improvement, this was a solid start to the 3-box series. I think the range of puzzles will keep it interesting for both newer and experienced players. With an intriguing ending and a couple of neat items that I’m pretty confident will be used for the next box, we look forward to seeing them again in Part 2! Subscribe to The Conundrum Box here! You can get $5 off your first box with our Promo Code ERA5OFF!

7/10 (Good)