top of page
Writer's pictureCici Cao

Puzzling Package Industries - "The Runes of Odin"

Updated: May 1


Videos/ Photos provided by Puzzling Package Industries

Company: Puzzling Package Industries

Game: The Runes of Odin

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Mythology, Exploration, Norse Culture, Magic

Date Played: 10/13/2020

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10

Time: Unlimited

Size of Team: Unlimited. (Ages 14+)

Price: $135.00


🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

The story of how Odin obtained his magik was passed through many generations. Odin's well has became the search target for many other people who's been seeking similar power. Cormac Dunsmore - an academic rather than field expert - was sent to locate it and never returned. Decades passed and recently a new agent in the agency was assigned to this old case but she has no clue on where to start. She's going to need your help to location The Ruins of Odin.



🆃🅷🅴 ❞🅻🅾🅾🅺🆂❞

The game came in a cardboard box packaged as if there were artifacts hidden within. And there were! Inside the box, you'll find a welcome packet with instructions and other reading materials, letters and telegrams, a scroll, a wooden rod, a wooden plaque, a drinking horn and stand, a bag of rune stones, 9 squares, and a matchbook. The drinking horn and the rune stones were quite beautiful and well made. They could easily go on a display shelf after game play.


🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

After reading the instructions, we went straight to the reading materials first. If you like a game with heavy narratives then you'll love this story line. Since this old file was just recently discovered in the present day, you'll experience some "time traveling" vibe. We thought it was funny that we had to google search some of the modern day internet slangs but fully understood the olden days telegrams and letters. There were a lot of clues embedded in the reading materials so it would be important to pay attention to details and the chorological order of the story. Brandon's not really big on reading so I took on that position and found that taking notes definitely helped with this game.


🆃🅷🅴 🅿🆄🆉🆉🅻🅴🆂

Most of the puzzles were single step puzzles that involved some type of decoding or translation. If you correctly solved one, you may be awarded with a "magical" encounter. At times, I felt like I was a linguist and others, a professional rune caster. You'll also encounter some researching and searching which goes perfectly with the role you're playing in the game. Finally, if you're looking for some good old deduction, you've come to the right place. The puzzles were not too difficult and were all in line with the theme.


🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

Besides enjoying the narratives and puzzling our way to finding the location of the well, I felt like we just went through a history lesson on Nordic Mythology. I can't say I'm an expert at rune stone readings now but I'm definitely feel closer to their culture than before. There's a mystical energy surrounding this culture and we're happy to have experienced it through this game. Get your drinking horn out and pour yourself some Nordic inspired drinks (or just some wine would do), turn on the recommended Spotify music list, get into character (maybe assign reading roles) and embark on this magical journey of "The Runes of Odin".



(If you do decide to try this book, please remember to let them know that you heard it from"ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)


Disclosure: We thank Puzzling Package Industries for providing us with samples of their game. Although complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.


Comments


bottom of page