UNLOCK! Mystery Adventures Card Game - Escape Room-Inspired Cooperative Adventure, Fun Family Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 10+, 1-6 Players, 1 Hour Playtime, Made by Space Cowboys

These unlock sets are a lot of fun, there are 3 separate mysteries to solve. Which an hours time. My family and I usually need a little more time, but we don’t mind. Each card has a little puzzle or new clues. It’s fun, can’t really replay though unless you really can’t remember the answers.These sets are a great value. The cards and the puzzles are well done and quality.

I enjoyed these three. The only one that was a little bit more on the confusing side was the underwater one. It took us a minute to figure out how to start it to get cards to get moving. But the otherwise they were pretty good. The pirate ship one was very well done. I like the map that we had to do. I was happy with each of these mysteries. This was a good box set

After playing all the EXIT: THE GAME titles (through 2021), my wife and I decided to dip our toes into the Unlock! series. We're impressed.I decided to start with Mystery Adventures (the second set released) instead of Escape Adventures (the first set released) because the latter does not include a beginner level game. I'm glad I did. Here is a quick review of the individual games.The House on the Hill (Level 1): This was ALMOST a perfect introductory game to the series... and really, the "almost" part is due to a poor instruction set more than the game itself. For example, the instructions never mention that we can select cards from the deck willy-nilly. That is, let's say we saw something like "17 + 10" in one of the cards. We didn't know we were supposed to take card 27 from the deck in that scenario. [By the way, that's just a random scenario I dreamed up just now, not an actual part of the game, so no spoilers here... and even though I just revealed an unwritten game mechanism, it's something that _should_ have been included in the instructions in the first place, so again, no spoiler.] Some of the puzzles were rather difficult for a beginner game--we had to make use of the hint system--but regardless, this was a solid game... and so enjoyable that we decided to play The Nautilus' Traps _immediately_ afterward. We enjoyed this game a lot for our first-time Unlock! experience.The Nautilus' Traps (Level 2): I had heard bad things about this game in reviews, but you know what? They're dead wrong! The Nautilus' Trap is a great game. It is not without its flaws, though. A couple examples come to mind. The second puzzle, for example (the hatch leading into the Nautilus), uses a word that I had never heard of, so I looked it up in the dictionary. It doesn't exist! I know which word they meant to use, but if you use that word, then the puzzle doesn't work... not to mention the word is misused in that context anyway. So chalk one up to bad translation from French to English.The very first puzzle in the game was also unfair, to say the least. You shouldn't get penalized for following the game instructions.A third example concerns a certain puzzle where, if you can't read music, it becomes significantly more difficult. Don't get me wrong, everything you need to solve the puzzle is right there in front of you, but I can't imagine someone with no musical background picking up on it in a timely manner.So yes, there can be frustrating moments as you play, but overall I thought the puzzles were logical and doable with a little thought.The flow through the submarine was somewhat haphazard... it seemed like all the rooms just kind of blended together, and we were constantly inundated with clue cards from all over the place. This game also did a very poor job of telling you which cards could be discarded after you solved a puzzle; at times, there are quite a few unneeded cards sitting on the table. And I don't know how other games in the Unlock! series go, but The Nautilus' Traps had a red herring where it seemed like the creators were intentionally trying to penalize you. Again, not cool. With all that said, however, both my wife and I thought that this was a rather fun game. We weren't turned off by it like other reviewers were.The Tonipal's Treasure (Level 3): Admittedly, we might have been out of our league on this one; we probably should have played a few more lower-level games first. On the other hand, in our defense, many of the clues were also way too vague, requiring unreasonable leaps of logic to achieve the puzzle solution. However, the worst part was the mistake I made. Remember I mentioned earlier about the "willy nilly" taking of cards? My mistake is exactly why that practice should be removed from the game mechanics. I thought I saw something that led to a card, so I took it from the deck. Big mistake. I had accidentally stumbled upon the last puzzle of the game. The game was pretty much ruined at that point; but we continued as best we could.Most of the puzzles in this game are doable, but some just stopped us in our tracks and left us scratching our heads. We used a TON of hints in this game, and I believe had to resort to one outright solution. Oh God, and I almost forgot... this is a pirate theme, right? So obviously there are going to be parrots involved. On some clues, you have to listen to what the parrot says... but whoever is doing the cheesy parrot voice imitation is REALLY BAD, and it is impossible to understand what the dang bird is trying to say! They would have been better off teaching a real parrot to say what they wanted it to say, and then record the parrot. Ugh! There was another puzzle, and I can't say anything about it without spoiling it, that required deviation from the rules to solve. We did in fact solve it (after the app responded with a hint after a failed attempt and associated penalty), but deviation from the rules is not cool.Anyway, in spite of my criticisms and the major mistake I made, we actually ended up having a really good time with this game, though it took us a long time to get through. I revisited the game the next day, and when you remove the fatal mistake I made originally, and read on the answer sheet what the parrot is really trying to say, the overall game flow made a little more sense. A little. Yes, this game was fun, but it could use an overhaul to polish it up.General Comments: First, the playing cards are way too small. My wife and I were stumbling over each other, and we needed magnifying glasses to see important details. I can only imagine how horrible it would be with 4-6 players instead of just two!The games are rough around the edges. They're "good enough" to get the job done, but they could be tightened up. I mentioned the rooms running together in The Nautilus' Traps, for example, and it was like that in The Tonipal's Treasure, too. Lots of jumping around instead of a structured flow.The story line in all three games was above average.It's still too early for us to tell, but based on these three games, our initial impression is that we're going to enjoy Unlock! more than EXIT: THE GAME. Time will tell; but right off the bat, Unlock! has two major advantages over EXIT. First, the games can be replayed (i.e. given to family, friends, or a local thrift shop); and second, "packaging material" (e.g. the game box) is not used in the games, thus making them more immersive. I also believe the puzzles themselves are more theme-correct in Unlock! than in EXIT, and it's clever how the designers integrated them into the theme. On the other hand, EXIT has "special objects" that can be physically manipulated. Like I said, time will tell. This was our first box in the series, and it shows a lot of potential for the ones to come.

These games are an absolute black to play. I've gotten a few different ones and I love them every time. Super clever, creative, and interactive. Obviously not HUGE replay value but I can absolutely see playing them after a few years and not remembering the stories enough to play it again.

After downloading the required app, you are good to go. The only issue I can see with this game is once you solve it the experience isn't repeatable with the same group.That being said it is still worth it for an hour of intense thought and fun for the entire family or group of friends.

So fun! Like an escape room in a box. GREAT date night idea! And doubles as a fun gift or library donation after you’ve played! Can’t wait to buy more!

PLAY THESE GAMES THEYRE SO GREAT

Think Escape room in a board game. My boys loved this game but it really only needs 3 people to play otherwise it just becomes a quick game of search and find. The game has 3 actual games inside it and you must have a phone to play it That’s bad if you’re trying to keep kids away from electronics for a change but the app turned out to be amazing and very interactive with the game board using QR code type gaming as you put the phone up to certain cards to reveal clues. I bought it for my 14 y o son with ADD in mind (recommended by professional Adhd experts) and he did like it but it took him a while to get into it cuz it was almost a bit too complex due to it requires you to pay attention to details (which he doesn’t). I think it would be better with more directions or hints. He did figure it out so was definitely focused and into the game. My 11 y. o loved it from the get go and they worked great together to find clues. The downfall was that once you learn how to play it and reveal the solution at the end you can’t really play it again unless you’re playing with a new set of people and sit back and watch. There are 3 different games in it and the first one took 1 hr then 45 and 30 minutes after that since the kids started seeing a pattern of what clues to look for. There’s a 60 min timer on the app so you have to beat the clock. The first time we played we got so “lost” that after 30 min we had to start the clock / game over. The card graphics are fantastic and the app is very cool ! It kept my family and my kids engaged and working together to strategize which was great!! But sadly they only played it once and they’ve got the solutions so now it just sits on the self.