Paruzal Games - "Game 06: The Java Shop's Perfect Grind"

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Company: Paruzal Games

Game: Game 06: The Java Shop's Perfect Grind

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Audio Escape Room 👂

Genre: Adventure

Date Played: September 4, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 6/10

Size of Team: Unlimited

Time: 60 minutes

Price: $15.00 pp

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As the owner of several coffee shops, you are delighted that a famous critic is coming to taste your delicious coffee and baked goods this morning! You head to the shop early to make sure everything is prepared just so. But - what a disaster!! Someone has broken in and ransacked the shop, including stealing all of your specialty coffee beans! Fortunately, you know your manager has hidden a secret stash somewhere, you just need to figure out how to find them...before the critic arrives in 60 minutes. No pressure!

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This is an audio escape room, where your host presents you with still images of the room and things you find along the way. You let the GM know what you would like to do, and they tell you the outcome. Everything is very scripted out, and the GMs are very professional, with smooth onboarding to help out any beginners. In comparison to some companies that are known for their wacky GMs and interactions, our host kept pretty strictly to the script. The art style is quite simple but effective in providing you the info that you need. It took us 54:17 to finish; while we did not request any hints, the GM did provide some nudges along the way.

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You will want some pen and paper handy! While there is an underlying story, the puzzles are clearly the focus of this game. There were a variety of puzzle types, from word and cipher to spatial and auditory. One thing we really appreciate about Paruzal is that they always will provide compiled pictures of items once you have found everything you need (and realize that they go together). So, rather than having to write everything down, or try to go back and forth between multiple images, you can see everything in one place. In this game, there were a few places where there could have been a bit more signposting (rather than just guessing the desired approach). However, we really liked how some components were unexpectedly used several times in multiple ways. Overall, we enjoyed the puzzles.

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In preparing for this review, I discovered that this game was commissioned by someone as a means to propose to their girlfriend! So cool! However, we had no idea while playing, and they have obviously revised the final puzzle so that it didn’t say “MARRYME.” Otherwise, that might get awkward in a public game...While this was not our favorite of the Paruzal games that we have played (our favorites are toss up between "Tee Party" and "Trapped Under Water"), we still had a great time finding those beans! Paruzal’s approach makes their games suitable for players with a broad range of experience, and I love the backstories of how many of their games were originally highly tailored commissioned experiences. Definitely a fun date-night for us!

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*** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors ***

Disclosure: The tickets to this game was part of our RECON Play Pass.

#DaveBristol #AtHomeGames #AudioGames #ParuzalGames #Adventure #US