Company: Bluefish Games
Game: The Curious Stairs of Mr. Hincks
Language: English
Country: USA 🇺🇸
Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬
Genre: Fun, Adventure
Time: Unlimited
Size of Team: Unlimited
Date Played: August 15, 2020
Price: $17.00
Yippee! We've longed for another game from Bluefish Games after playing their "The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks" and now it's finally here! "The Curious Stairs of Mr. Hincks" is a prequel to "The Curious Elevator of Mr. Hincks" but you can play them in any order since there's no actual story or puzzle connection with each other.
We're always mesmerized by the contents in their puzzle boxes. This one was no different. They are always very vibrant in color with many types of clue/info pieces for us to discover. More importantly, there's always going to be something in there that'll make you wonder: "What's this for?" We love how they are able use a simple "tool" like paper (in various forms like cardboard, newspaper, flyers, etc.) to convey their messages and to create unexpected "wow" moments for the players.
This puzzle box had the same instructions as the elevator game. There's an online portal that you'll be able to enter solutions and receive hints on. Since the goal is to climb your way to the Hincks Hall of Fame, a password is required to pass each level of the stairs. This makes each puzzle on each stair level seem like their own mini puzzle. We quite like this type of game design. In this game, you'll encounter a pizza store, video game, "magic", and perhaps even some origami? the game design is very clean and has a nice flow to it. It keeps the energy of the players going since every a puzzle was completed, a new portal will open up and all the puzzles/story in the next level are all fresh material.
As escape room enthusiasts first, our mentality for difficult puzzles/ciphers are probably not on the same level as some hardcore puzzlers out there. Bluefish games' puzzle designs give us that vibe of playing an escape room in their game through association of clues, searching, and finally putting everything together for that final victory moment.
If you are looking to get a feel on Bluefish Games', you might want to start with this one first since there are less puzzles and you can familiarize the rules of the game. This doesn't mean that this is the easier game, (we actually felt that this was the more difficult one) it'll just act as the lure that'll instantly make you want to purchase their stair game after. Now that we're done with the stairs, we are back to longing again...Bluefish Games, please take me to "escalator" soon!
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:
(If you do decide to try this book, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Bluefish Games for providing us with samples of their game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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