The Box itself with the digital game intro screen

You’re in the mood for an Escape Room. Great! Except it’s a Tuesday night and you haven’t made a reservation. No wait, it’s the dang babysitter who canceled on you. No, wait, you don’t want to go outside. No, wait, your dog ate your ticket. No wait…

We get it. For reasons both legitimate and/or less so, you can’t (or won’t) get out of the house.

Lucky for you, you can Escape from the comfort of your own home! No wait. You get the point. Play the game without having to sit through a receptionist-in-a-cape’s poorly executed British accent!

The Box, from MysteryLocks.com, is a print-at-home escape-room-style puzzle game that takes about 90 minutes to play. It is rated a difficulty 4 on a scale of 1 to 5.

Note: This review will be largely spoiler-free, but it does contain some small spoilers.

Component Overview

Before you can play, you need to print and assemble your game pieces.

You’ll receive two PDFs with everything you need to print and play the game. The first contains the actual puzzle materials, and the second contains assembly instructions. A color printer is required to print your puzzle.

After printing, you’ll need to cut out and assemble your puzzle box and various bits. This took us about 45 minutes. A regular pair of scissors works for the most part, but we did grab the Exacto Knife for some of the tiny bits.

Once your components are cut out, you need to glue some bits together to create The Box in all its Glory.

Now the game is ready to begin.

All the game bits, crafted and ready

Game Experience:

WARNING: MILD SPOILERS IN THIS SECTION

The Box is a guided experience, in that you have a webpage pulled up that presents each part of the puzzle. There is some loose story framing here. We think you’re super smart. Bet you can’t open this here Box, Smartypants. And once you’re past that loose setup, you’re Ready To Puzz.

The web interface comes with mood music. It’s an ethereal, echoey loop of the same 3 notes descending over and over and over. I couldn’t handle it. Instant Mute.

Some game bits require delicate cutouts that are too finesse-y for scissors

Each puzzle presents a bit of flavor text, the needed components for that puzzle, and some hints if you get stuck. Some puzzles have you physically manipulate components to reveal clues. Others use information on the components. You’ll certainly want some scratch paper for notes.

Once you think you’ve solved each puzzle, you enter your solution into a box on the webpage. If you’re right, you get transported to the next puzzle page.

If you’re wrong, you have to enter the solve code of the previous puzzle to get back to the puzzle page and check your work. This part of the webpage was clunky and led to some initial confusion with the user interface.

The digital puzzle interface, with flavor text and components required. The red and green buttons on top are the hints/solution.

There seemed to be no pattern of increasing or decreasing difficulty. Some puzzles were fairly easy. Others were frustratingly difficult. Using the clue system is simple, though the clues themselves vary in helpfulness. Some hints are blindingly obvious. Others set you on the right path. Some are outright obfuscating.

85% of your puzzling will happen with the game components you printed out. And those components are excellent. It’s clear that these were crafted with care. Each piece is intricately illustrated and fits the theme beautifully. The pieces can be busy to behold. A color copy is absolutely required.

As you finish the puzzles, the modicum of story that frames why you’re solving a bunch of puzzles in a row will also wrap up. Kind of. Either way, we finished it satisfied.

Final Thoughts:

The Box does a good job of capturing the experience of an escape room without needing to leave the house. Like an escape room, it is not really replayable unless you wait long enough to forget each clue.

In general, each level is a fun, puzzle-y experience. My partner and I did find that two of the puzzles were not clear (to us). That made the hints critical, and even then, we were a bit lost. I chalk some of this up to user error on our part.

Final Score 3.5 Stars – The Box captures the feel of an escape room at home, with a fun crafting element. It’s held back slightly by a clunky digital interface.

Hits:
• Nails the Escape Room feel
• Fun puzzles
• Crafting the materials is a fun bonus game

Misses:
• The music is maddening
• Digital interface can be clunky
• Some puzzles are too open-ended, but this can be navigated around via hints