Jun 20, 20213 min read

Operation Lockbox - "Aunt Mildred's Attic"

Updated: Apr 29

LOCATION:  Edmonton, AB, Canada

Photo above is property of Operation Lockbox

Company: Operation Lockbox

Country: Canada 🇨🇦

Language: English

Type of Game: Rental Gamebox 📬 (Need to be picked up or add delivery fee)

Genre: Adventure

Game: Aunt Mildred's Attic

Date Played: June 20, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 adults & 2 kids): 5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Age 7+)

Time: 24 Hours (Which is the rental time, but recommended time is 45 Mins)

Price: $65CAD (Weekdays)/ $75CAD (Weekends)

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Your lovely Aunt Mildred has decided to pursue her lifelong dream of going pro on the Texas Hold’em Poker circuit in the big city. To fund her endeavor, she has asked your Uncle to send her retirement savings to her. Unfortunately, she has forgotten where she has hidden it in the attic. Since Aunt Mildred is quite paranoid, she has hidden the money using puzzles and clues, leading to it. Your uncle has recruited you, their smartest (and probably best looking) nieces and nephews to find it for her.

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When we got the old trunk, this absolutely was something we would have found in an old relative’s attic. Attached to it was a zippered bag, with a well labelled “You’ve Got Mail” on it with an "envelope” inside. The envelope was very impressive as it was completed made of wood but no doubt was an envelope.

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Operation Lockbox prides itself on upcycling and thrifting a lot of their props and it showed but not in a cheap way. They were all quality props full of nostalgic, which fit right into the theme. There were a few times the kids would look at a prop and ask “What is this?” and we would respond, “Well, when we were young…” and show them how it worked. Another great quality we enjoyed was rather than laminating the paper to keep it from getting worn out and damaged, they decoupaged it onto wood. This gave it a much sturdier feel and did not make me feel we needed to be super gentle with it. Though we did not use it, how the hint system worked was they provided you with a phone number that you could text when you were about to begin and they would be on standby for 2 hours if you needed hints (We’re sure if you messaged after the 2 hours though, they would still respond).

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As this was one of their easier games, most of the puzzles involved more searching, observation and following instructions. This fit well with the kids as they loved discovering new secrets along the way or playing with the old toys. There was one puzzle though that if you were observant enough, you could by-pass a lot of the puzzles so make sure to follow the linear flow of the game. One puzzle really stood out and impressed us. It was so unique that we still could not believe that they could have set that up with the amount of box space that they had.

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With all the escape rooms closed during the pandemic, renting this at home escape box was a great alternative to play from the comfort of our own home. As we opened and unlocked more things through the game, we truly felt like we were rummaging through the attic looking for something but also stopping along the way to reminisce about some old memories. If you could get enough people together for the game, this is well worth the cost. We would recommend 4 people, which could be either kids or adults. Either way, there will be plenty to do for all. When playing this game though, make sure to inspect everything and to play with all the toys and gadgets because you never know what you might find, whether it be some answers or a trip down memory lane.