Mattel Games Escape Room in a Box:The Walking Dead Board Game, Party Game for 4 to 8 Players with Clues & Puzzles Inspired by AMC TV Series, Gift for Teens & Adults Ages 13 Years Old & Up

We've done over 100 escape room (physically) and tried a few different escape game rooms including Exit and Escape Room game. This one is our favorite so far. Our favorite features is that it's is non-linear, so different people can work on different puzzles at the same time. For our family of 4 with two teens this was great, and it kept everyone involved for the whole time. I would say this is challenging, and if you are newer to escape rooms - it's ok to take more time. There is nothing in the game that would stop you for taking more time. There is a nice booklet with clues in it, but nothing that would let you solve the puzzle without actually solving the puzzle. There is a nice online support to print out extra copies to put it back together to re-use, but I would recommend putting it back together right away. It's tricky.

Honestly, this escape room was a blast! Our family of three people did it in about 2-3 hours (yes, I know this is over the time limit!) without any hints. The puzzles are fun and engaging and the physical components are really what set it apart from the other escape rooms- there are locks you can actually unlock, and pieces that you have to physically interact with in order to solve it. We did this game blind and did not realize there were multiple parts- it felt like the gift kept giving! The puzzles are actually challenging (not like the kid escape rooms) and the best part was we really felt like we had to work together to solve them. The end reward of actually hearing things unlock was so great! 10/10, we plan to regift to some of our friends so they can enjoy as well.

We had a group of four adults play this over the holidays. It was a blast! I think we had more fun with this game than we ever had with any of the "EXIT: The Game" releases. The box says it takes 90 minutes to escape. It took us roughly double that, but we didn't mind one bit. Frankly, we were enjoying ourselves so much that we didn't want it to end at all.The game is not without its flaws, however. I was reading another review, and that person had pretty much the same experience that we did. The last, say, 1/3 of the game depends heavily on one particular object, and that object is soooo tiny that it's nearly impossible to use correctly. There are other "rough edges" (shall we say) in the game that the designers could have improved upon also.The puzzles ranged in difficulty from average to difficult; I don't think there were any that were slam dunks... maybe one, but it was time-consuming so that balances out. Regardless, you had to think a bit to progress. One clue we never did solve--at least not while the game was in progress (but I figured it out later)--but fortunately we were able to work around it; which brings up another improvement that could have been made: the Hints booklet is not much help. It contains one hint per puzzle, and the hint is usually rather obvious; i.e. it says something that you've already figured out. Allegedly, there is an answer sheet available on the Escape Room In A Box website (along with repacking instructions and other items), but at the time that I'm writing this review, the website has been "undergoing maintenance" for several weeks now, and it doesn't look like it's coming back any time soon. [UPDATE (2/18/22): The Escape Room In A Box website is gone. It redirects to the Mattel online shop.]The game has one potentially fatal flaw, where it is possible to end the game prematurely. Unfortunately, I can't describe what it is without spoiling the game; but it's a big flaw (unless my game simply wasn't manufactured correctly, which is even worse!). Were it not for this flaw, I would have rated this game a perfect five stars based solely on the fun factor. However, when you consider the fatal flaw along with the other items I mentioned, I'm pretty much forced to deduct a star whether I want to or not; the game just isn't polished enough to warrant five stars. Regardless, first and foremost, games are supposed to be fun, and in this regard "Escape Room In A Box: The Walking Dead" _far_ exceeded my expectations.Two final observations:1. You don't need to know a thing about the TV series The Walking Dead to play this game. Just imagine any zombie apocalypse and you'll be fine.2. The locks--everything, really--are made of plastic. They are sturdy, but not indestructible. If you solve the puzzles correctly, the locks will open easily. Don't force things or try to use brute force. You can tell by feel whether the lock is open or not, without yanking on it full strength.Enjoy!

This excellent escape game comes with a variety of thoughtful (but solvable!) puzzles, interaction with various included physical objects, and extended play of roughly 90 minutes. It is easily one of the best in-home escape games on the market. And we've played a lot of them.Knowledge of The Walking Dead is absolutely not required (and will not help solve the puzzles). Fans will likely enjoy some references to the series. But if you don't watch, don't let the branding stop you from buying this game.For those familiar with Mattel's other escape games, this is far and away the best entry. The puzzles are a tad more sophisticated and the general game play features (nonlinear puzzles contributing to the overarching solution) work well here.Our little two-gamer-plus-dog household played through in about 90 minutes with one hint. One puzzle had us stumped for a long time, though. And one drawback is that Mattel uses a hint system that could use an upgrade. Hints are conveniently assembled one after the other in a handy booklet. This format makes it too easy to accidentally stumble onto a hint you weren't looking for while trying to find the one you need. So be careful in reviewing for hints for unintentional spoilers. Unlike some games, there were not escalating hints either. So if the one and only hint for your puzzle doesn't help you, you'll be stuck. Fortunately, we eventually figured out the one that we struggled with a bit, since the hint didn't help us.It's hard to imagine 8 people playing this game as the box suggests. But the nonlinear game play makes it easier for multiple players to split up tasks and come back together.I highly recommend Mattel's newest entry in the home escape room market. If you're a fan of escape rooms, you should try this...before the zombie apocalypse arrives!

Lo compré en una oferta a menos de 400 pesos. A este precio, es inigualablemente bueno si gustan sentir lo que es una experiencia de escape room.

Played with 6 adults, missed the 90 minute deadline by about 30 seconds, but still had SO much fun. We've done a bunch of actual escape rooms in the past and have always enjoyed the challenge of the puzzles. We thought this game did a great job of creating puzzles that made us think, without being completely impossible. Also loved how they made such good use of all items included in the game. Very creative and well thought out. Totally worth the money for this game. We're waiting for it to be back in stock (with prime) and plan to buy a few for gifts. Definitely recommend. And also think the more the merrier with this one as there are so many different puzzles included. Definitely important to have 6-8 people and to divide and conquer! :)

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement I bought this for my son and his family to play over Christmas when we open the box all looked pretty good but on the last bit of the game the camera you could hardly see what it was trying to tell you and we have four different age groups in our family and none of them could read it which made it impossible for us to be able to finish the game we ended up being over three hours on the game to try and work out what it meant but to no avail in the end we had to look online to find out the solution so I would not buy again I feel very let down as these games are not cheap

Came fast took us a while to finish and it is kind of difficult to reset

Kept this to play on a rainy day and we are all reasonable intelligent people (doctors, engineers, scientists, A level students) Absolutely rubbish. No clear process to follow through the “game”. The puzzles are poor and the pieces supplied of very poor quality (there is a camera but it’s just about impossible to make out the provided images) I have no idea whether we succeeded in unlocking the locks or just used excessive force. In the end we all just drifted off and gave up. What a waste of time and money.