Escape Hunt - "The Treasure of the Aztecs"

Photos above are property of Escape Hunt UK

Company: Escape Hunt UK

Game: The Treasure of the Aztecs

Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Language: English

Type of Game: DIY Escape Kits 🖨️✂

Genre: Adventure

Date Played: October 28, 2021

Difficulty (based on 1 player): 4/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Recommend 2-6 Players) (Ages 8+)

Time: Unlimited

Price: £14.99

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Marcos Guerrera of Mexico City Museum needs your assistance after a restoration project of a Spanish monk’s art revealed a hidden treasure map! It appears to be connected to the lost treasure of Aztec Emperor Montezuma. Using the map fragments recently discovered and the monk’s unpublished codex pages, Guerrera has tasked you with uncovering the secret resting place of this forgotten treasure. Yet, like any treasure hunt, not everything will be smoothing sailing…

Photo above is property of Escape Hunt UK

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"The Treasure of the Aztecs" is a Print-n-Cut game designed by Escape Hunt. You will need a printer, a pair of scissors, tape, a pen/pencil and a device with internet access. Online access includes online website with an automated chat log that utilizes Facebook Messenger. This website consists of Marcos’ communication with you during the game. The hint system is also embedded into the conversation with Marcos. There is a brief introduction with Marcos on the chat before it opens up to the various hints, broken down by the exhibits in the pdf. Once you have the location(s), you simply type it into the chat box and Marcos will provide you with more information to continue or conclude the game.

This particular game consists of two parts as you face different obstacles to finding the treasure. The general set up follows a partial non-linear game with specific gating for players. You have a series of exhibits to solve independently first before all their solutions come together to provide the necessary information to solve the final exhibit puzzle in each part. This method lends itself to group work as you can easily divide the puzzling between friends and family. All components do not need printing but some benefit from being able to write on them and but there are a number of pages that specifically have cutting marks that need printing for assembly and manipulation.

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The puzzles for "The Treasure of the Aztecs" were a nice mix of spatial recognition, pattern identification, ciphers, logic puzzles, and more. These are puzzles you have probably seen in some form before but the variety meant I didn’t feel like I was doing the same thing over and over. The puzzles were straight forward so perfect for new or younger players to try out and also a good option for a more experience puzzler looking for a game that won’t take long on a busy day. The puzzles themselves used some minor elements of the Aztec language to lend itself to the theme but there is no knowledge of Aztec language and history required for this game.

We ran into one issue with the chat box when we first started playing but the company responded promptly with an easy “restart” function that rebooted the chat box. By now the issue should be resolved. I enjoyed the chat function when it was working because it provides the same satisfaction of opening a lock when Marcos confirms your answer is correct. Another thing to point out was the puzzles themselves lacked strong narrative ties to the story that I feel could have really enhanced the immersion. As it stands, this game has the puzzles at the forefront with the story and theme in the background.

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"The Treasure of the Aztecs" provided my team is an hour of adventure puzzling that gave us some good “aha” moments and the incentive to keep going as Marcos encouraged us on. The elements of non-linearity make this a great team game, and this can easily be completed in a hour so the commitment of time isn’t too demanding during a busy week. I recommend this for players looking for a good number of puzzles and a light adventure theme. This is game is for the puzzler looking to embrace the treasure hunter in them!

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Disclosure: We thank Escape Hunt for providing us with a sample of the game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#JillianRaymond #AtHomeGames #PrintNCut #UK #UnitedKingdom #Adventure #Mayan #EscapeHunt