Cici Cao

Feb 21, 20234 min read

Odes Unboxed - "Suite Heart"

Updated: Apr 30

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

Company: Odes Unboxed

Game: Suite Heart

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Game 📦

Genre: Romance

Date Played: February 14, 2023

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 2/10

Size of Team: 2 Players

Time: Unlimited

Price: Since they haven’t yet finalized the experience, they haven’t determined a final rate. Roughly, it's expected to be between $1,000-$2,500.

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We first discovered Odes Unboxed when our reviewers Krista & Dave wrote their article "Commissioning a Bespoke Puzzle Game" for their wedding. The level of quality, creativity, and thought that Josh Rosenfeld, creator of Odes Unboxed, and the rest of the team put into their experiences is phenomenal. Timing-wise, their romantic experience - "Suite Heart" was the perfect way to spend our Valentine's Day together.

We all have crazy hectic work schedules and sometimes we forget to just sit down and carve out some quality time with each other. "Suite Heart" is that weekend getaway for you and your significant other to "check out" from your everyday routine and "check in" to a romantic and intimate experience.

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"Suite Heart" was delivered to us in a huge cardboard box with a sealed envelope addressed to me - Brandon (the planner). The envelope contained instructions on how to set up the game and recommendations on when to start. Inside the cardboard box was a beautiful, gold gift-wrapped box with a silver ribbon, a red "Suite Heart" box, and a purple pouch that read "Property of Brandon & Cici" with another sealed envelope, and another mysterious item. You can tell the creator was very organized. After removing the gift wrap, we unveiled a black box that read "C&B" in gold on the cover. Inside, there were 7 pouches with locks on almost all of them and each pouch resembled a location within the hotel that we would get to explore. The attention to detail ranged from having our names/photos on almost every item down to labeling all the locks that were assigned to the pouches. There were many surprises that we encountered during our journey as we opened each box but our favorite was definitely the cryptex! All the items were high quality and well thought out for this customized experience.

Photos above are the property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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One of the first instructions that we had was to light a candle. This definitely set the mood for us with the pleasant smell and the ambient lighting. Each pouch (room) that we explored tapped into some form of emotional intimacy whether it was something from the past or just a reminder to enjoy one another's time and company. The gameplay for "Suite Heart" utilized all 5 of our senses to strengthen the love that we have for each other.

Photos above are the property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

This game's focus is not on the puzzles. For beginners, you'll definitely learn a thing or two a decoding messages but the goal of the game is for you to not be stuck on a difficult puzzle for hours but to enjoy each other's company and solve it together. In fact, a lot of codes will be given to you to continue on to the next chapter of the journey. The "wow" moments in this game revolved around the memories that we've created together and by piecing together the puzzles, we rediscovered them.

Photos above are the property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

Brandon (planner) - In order for Odes Unboxed to customize your "Suite Heart" experience, one person is going to have to provide the necessary information and details required. This might take a couple of hours to do as there's a good amount of information the creator would need in order to make this special for that significant someone (trust me, it's all worth it in the end!) When Josh (the creator) first reached out to me, he was extremely organized and knew exactly what he needed in order to streamline this process. The questions were thought-provoking and also got me to reminisce while flipping through old photos of Cici and me from when we first met back in 2010 until now. The entire experience was well structured and did exactly what it was designed to do... be in the moment!

Cici (that significant someone) - I was amazed by this entire experience. First of all, Brandon definitely got a great helper this year for planning something special for Valentine's Day. This is a lot of work! The numbered instruction cards, candle scent, blindfold chocolate tasting, our wedding music, wish list, jigsaw puzzle, memory photos, and more! If I didn't know beforehand what this was, I would have thought I'm being proposed to again. The personal messages throughout the experience were my favorite. The final item that I was able to create as I went through each step will be on my desk forever. The experience brought out emotions that we've never thought to express for each other. Sometimes we would be laughing and remembering the good old days and other times we actually had tears coming down our cheeks. There were also moments that felt like therapy or meditation that helped released a lot of unwanted tension. If you're looking to rekindle your love for each other, strengthen your relationship, or create a memory that would last for a lifetime, Odes Unboxed will make it happen!

Photos above are the 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 Odes Unboxed for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.