Escape The Puzzle Box - “Chasing the Tree of Life"

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Company: Escape The Puzzle Box

Game: Chasing the Tree of Life

Country: United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Adventure

Date Played: April 28, 2022

Difficulty (based on 2 Players): 6/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Ages 14+)

Time: Unlimited

Price: £19.99

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Your father has gone missing on his expedition where he was trying to find the next clue to locate the infamous "Tree of life". He sent your sister Lara his research in case he didn't return, but all the information was encoded in case it fell into the wrong hands. Lara has sent you his research to see if you can help her decode his findings and figure out which Mayan temple holds the next clue. Can you help her find his location?

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The game comes packaged flat in a large envelope and contains a flat-packed cardboard box, setup instructions and a shiny facsimile of the father's journal on stout A4 paper, plus a basic, light metal chain and a 3-digit padlock for locking up the box.

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First things first, you need to build the box, which is very easy if you have folded similar postal or storage boxes before, just follow the creases. If you struggle, searching for tips online might help, although there are no directions on the Escape The Puzzle Box website.

Then pop whatever you want to be the “treasure” inside (a gift or special item) and follow the instructions in the black leaflet to chain and lock the box. NOTE: One person will have to know and use the final answer to open the padlock and lock the box, so do not read the black leaflet if you are wanting to solve the final code! You can get away with solving the puzzles that lead to the code, however.

Once that is set up, scramble the lock code, then either give the box and the dossier to your gift recipient or begin the mission yourselves!

After reading the introductory letter, you will need to crack the clues and decode the writings in your father’s journal, which will help you to decrypt the graphic Mayan alphabet and discover which temple he went to.

There is no online element, everything is self-contained. There is however a series of hints and a final answer entry on the company’s website.

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There were more puzzles to this game than the previous game that we played - "Operation Swan Dive", and it did feel like a more cohesive and self contained story. You will need to crack around 6-7 puzzles at first to decode the alphabet, then determine the correct temple.

Then you can open the folded paper to help you use that information along with other clues throughout the journal to determine the 3-digit code which will unlock the chained box and reveal its contents!

The puzzles are varied and you need to cross-reference keys and locks which keeps you guessing! There are also two puzzles which require you to manipulate the papers and this was a nice touch.

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It took us roughly 40 minutes to solve all of the puzzles and we liked the theme and the way that all the puzzles were linked, and of different sorts. In comparison to "Operation Swan Dive", this is a fairly simple mystery game designed to present a gift to someone inside a locked box with puzzles to solve to find the combination for the box and win your gift! As before you can get a discount on your next order. This title is recommended for ages 14+ only because there are some more adult themes contained in the story due to the nature of the topic.

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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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(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

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

#HelenBailey #AtHomeGames #TabletopGames #Oneoffs #PuzzlesByMail #EscapeThePuzzleBox #UnitedKingdom #UK #Adventure