Escape room board game/home game as a gift adults

[Agatha10]

Three intelligent adults who like puzzles will be in a bubble at home this Christmas, regardless of any rule changes, due to severely CEV.

A really good escape room at home would be perfect. It does need to be quite challenging for them (they are all good at puzzles/quizzes). Inspired by another thread I have the Journal 29, but need something to go with it.

Any personal recommendations would be amazing.

Watching for ideas too. We are hoping to do this new years eve. I've seen one in argos but as we've never done one before I've no idea if it would be any good or not.

Sorry, op, no help to you I know.

You could try the unlock collections - they even have some free ones which you can try here: www.board-game.co.uk/unlock-collection/

Not an escape room, but the Sherlock Holmes games are good fun, absorbing and suitably challenging.

Not a physical thing you can buy but the app store has a series of games called The Room which are really absorbing puzzles, you could maybe give a gift card to cover the purchase of them?

We've done some of the Exit games and they are good. They have different difficulty ratings. Dh and I enjoy the really hard ones and we have done some of the easier ones with the older children helping.

escapethereview.co.uk/which-room-in-a-box-should-i-buy/

As an alternative I would really recommend collaborative board games.

Our favourite is Pandemic (and particularly Pandemic Legacy) but we have a few others including forbidden island and forbidden desert - these are good because you can pick the difficulty rating.

Following for more ideas for DH Christmas presents!

I would also recommend the Exit games, they’re pretty good for satisfying puzzles and one or two real Aha! Moments.

Oh yes, I love The Room games - more of a solo experience than something collaborative.

We got an amazing mystery game called Detective. Honestly it's amazing!

@BlueBirdGreenFence could you link to it please?

It's so cool. You're basically a police team that need to solve a mystery. You follow the clues up online with their database. It's definitely challenging and requires the thinking caps to be put on!

www.board-game.co.uk/detective-review/

The link isn't showing for me but if you Google 'Detective. A Modern Crime Board Game' review you should find it 😊.

@Larach, I like the idea of many bits and pieces in the box - Sherlock Holmes is definitely on the possible list.

Will look a Detective, but not sure about it being a card game. Pandemic the same - is it enjoyable and engaging with cards? I feel like I would want a few more elements if I was playing myself.

@UnaOfStormholdUnaOfStormhold - will try one of the Unlock ones myself and give it a go. I also love the room app games - they are incredible.

Looking at the Exit rooms too.

BTW that board game website link is great - has videos.

Just played The Ruby Palace from this company that usually does in person escape rooms. It was brilliant, all online and can have teams over Zoom.

palacesphere.com/

We’ve done an Exit game and it was pretty good and clever - not as good as a real life escape room though sadly.

If they’re into normal boardgames then would second Pandemic (maybe even Pandemic Legacy if they’re together for a long period of time) - much more longevity than an escape room which can only be played once.

For anyone looking for a small stocking filler item, I’ve found something that looks good. Just ordered Wish you were here. Actually I ordered two, one for someone else as well.

It’s three postcards. That’s it. I was really tempted by Carte Rouge, but not sure if that might border on annoying and long!

www.theenigmaemporium.com/

Better review explaining it here www.meeplemountain.com/reviews/enigma-emporium-presents-wish-review/

@Highfalutinlootin I quite fancy the zoom one myself, but not sure it is their style.

Thanks for the recommendation @Agatha10... Going to try one of those as a stocking filler for DH!

Has anyone tried either of these deadlockedrooms.com/digital/ ?

If they are good, I might see if there is a way to gift them.

@Agatha10 Popping back having just played Unlock; The Temple of Ra to say I don't recommend that one - it's very pernickety and much less satisfying than the others! As someone on boardgamegeek said "It's hard for all the wrong reasons."

@UnaOfStormhold - thanks for letting me know. Will avoid that one! The 5 (not 3!) postcard game has arrived today (for anyone still interested and wondering about delivery time).