I must have seriously underestimated my group of teens, we used every. single. hint on this one. It was still fun, and took up a decent chunk of time at our Christmas Party. The graphics and storyline were top notch!
Very cute- doing it long distance with the family
Ran this with a group of teenagers, they loved it. Took me about 45 minutes to prepare - lots of cutting out. But it looked really professional when done. Will definitely be doing this again.
It was a fun escape room and everyone had fun with it!
High quality game. I am looking forward to playing this with the whole family Christmas Eve.
The graphics don’t print up as vibrant as they show. While it is a fun game, the clues don’t fit inside the envelopes you are supposed to make. I would recommend NOT sealing the DIY envelopes and stapling the edges instead. If you seal the edges, it makes it too difficult to open the envelope since you have to stuff the clues/contents of each envelope inside. The game finishes on a flat note…..nothing exciting happens (no QR code to scan on your phone to “unlock” the lock, etc), you simply open another envelope and if you got it right, there is a small unassuming certificate that says, “yeah, you did it (per say)”……kind of a downer for all of the work. It’s a LOT of cutting & game pieces (clues) are all different sizes, shapes, etc. I would also recommend printing out on a heavier paper or card-stock so your clues don’t curl.
Hi Julia,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a detailed review and for sharing your experience.
I’d like to clarify a few important points for future customers who might read this.
Print quality:
The graphics in our product photos are not digital mockups or enhanced renders. They are printed on a real home printer using the exact files customers receive. Thousands of customers have printed and played this same game with excellent results. Print vibrancy depends heavily on printer settings, ink levels, paper type, and printer model. For consistently perfect results, many customers choose to use a local or online printing service, which we always recommend as an option.
Envelopes & contents:
The envelopes are designed to be folded paper envelopes, not sealed shut permanently. Folding the contents (as they are paper clues) is completely normal and intended. That said, customers are always free to use regular envelopes instead. This flexibility is part of the DIY nature of printable escape rooms.
No internet / QR code ending:
This game is intentionally 100% offline and self-guided. While we do have many games that use the internet and QR codes (including several Christmas titles), the overwhelming feedback (especially for holiday and family gatherings) is that people do not want to be on their phones. They want to sit together at the table and play. That design choice is very deliberate, and it’s one reason this game has been enjoyed by tens of thousands of players worldwide.
The ending:
Every puzzle and physical element in the game is tied to the story, which concludes with a narrative resolution and a personalized detective certificate. Many families enjoy adding a photo and keeping it as a souvenir. Whether that style of ending resonates is, of course, subjective. But the story does have a clear resolution where the players become the heroes.
Cutting & assembly:
Printable escape rooms do require cutting and assembly. What you see in the product photos is exactly what the game contains—no more, no less. The materials don’t assemble themselves, and we’re very transparent about that so customers can make an informed choice before purchasing.
We genuinely appreciate feedback, even when opinions differ, and we’re glad you still found the game fun overall. Thank you again for playing and for sharing your thoughts.
Robert & Gabriel @MysteryLocks
I cannot speak highly enough of this escape room. I planned a very last-minute birthday party and was scrambling for ideas to make it fun; since it was too late to order any escape room kits, I found MysteryLocks on Google and decided it was worth a shot. I didn't have very high expectations but it genuinely made my party the happiest birthday I've ever had. Me and my friends had so much fun solving the clues, imitating the audios in funny voices, cheering each other on, etc. I will absolutely be a returning customer and am so grateful for the lifelong memories this escape room gave us!! 1000% worth it for the price, accessibility, and especially the enjoyment!!
The game is highly immersive and beautifully put together! Can’t wait to make my adult kids solve it to find their presents!!
Great transaction! Shipping was quick and item as promised.
There was a slight mistake in the provided documents, but when I contacted the seller, they responded promptly and quickly resolved the issue. They might even have the root cause fixed now. As for the quality, I love MysteryLocks escape rooms, and so does my team.
This is such a fun and creative game. Really good instructions as well
We decided to just have our oldest and her friends play this escape room (ditched the little brothers this time...sorry guys). Our daughter and her friends had a blast!
Decided after our last paper escape room to do this one as a date night (no kids allowed). It was a lot of fun and perfect for two!
We tried this as a family but realized better with a smaller group. We enjoyed it and had fun. We got stuff a couple of times but we had many hands moving things so that made it a bit more difficult. Would recommend but highly suggested a smaller group (really only if you have kids involved...ours kept turning things or moving things).
This company by far is my favorite for their outstanding set of games. They are all incredibly creative, while still being intuitive to figure out. Lots of fun.
Chocolates taste is a little off but otherwise my family and i are having a great time
I bought this to use for a middle school student council-run advisory challenge for our 13 advisories. It was so well organized, that even though my co-advisor and I constructed 13 copies of everything, it was easy to do. And the kids really enjoyed the puzzles, especially how previous items were needed for later puzzles. My own advisory wasn’t able to finish in the time we had, and begged me to let them finish later because they enjoyed it so much (which we did). All in all it was a terrific experience, and I would purchase other escape rooms as well!
2nd purchase for a Christmas Gift
Lots of pages to download
Sellers very prompt with queries and helpfulness.
Hope the recipient will enjoy !!
We loved it!
It was fun and very original.
It was the 1st time we played a 'paper only' escape game. We printed it out on good quality paper but next time we will print on A3 since some of the details were hard to see on A4.
We will definitely come back for more.
Good quality item, matched the description, and met my expectations.
