The Conundrum Box - "The Great Explorers Society and the Forbidden Temple"

Photo above is property of The Conundrum Box

Company: The Conundrum Box

Game: The Great Explorers Society and the Forbidden Temple

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Puzzles By Mail 📬

Genre: Adventure, Greek Mythology

Date Played: November 6, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (Suggested 1-4 players, ages 12+)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested 2 hrs)

Price: $44.99 or subscribe - $29.99/ Month, $86.99/ 3 months, $161.99/ 6 months, $299.99/ 12 months

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As an F.B.I. agent, you have been tracking down a shadow organization called C.H.A.O.S for most of your career. When you receive a tip that Andreas Anders, a lead member of the C.H.A.O.S organization is seeking a mythical treasure within a mysterious temple in Greece, you head to the Great Explorers Society looking for information and help to get to the treasure before he does.

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The game came in a box with 4 envelopes marked with locations and “Do Not Open Until Told” stickers, a letter from the FBI, a large circular “plate” and a pamphlet with a plethora of information. There is also a help sheet if this is your first time playing a Conundrum Box or any type of at home puzzle game.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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To navigate through the game, you are given a website where you can read the story or listen to the audio clip. At the bottom, there will then be a place to input your answer to the puzzles. If you are correct, the next part of the story will unlock. One thing we appreciated was that the website explicitly told us how many letters/numbers the answer should be as well as there should be no spaces or capital letters in the answer so that eliminated the guesswork.

The hint system was easy to use and gave many layers of hints. We were able to go through a few layers of them without having our “Aha” moment spoiled.

The introduction and the beginning of the game was strong with story as was the ending. There could have been a little more story in the middle of the game as there was not a lot going on. We did learn a lot of Greek mythology through this game though. There was a reference guide to help us through but a few times we did try to reach deep into our memories to see if we could remember what we learned in elementary school about the Greek gods.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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We were very impressed with how many puzzles were in this game. There were so many more than we expected. With so many puzzles as well, we did not find much repetition of the same type of puzzles. There was also a nice range of difficulty throughout the game with some puzzles that we were able to see right away, some that were straight forward logic puzzles while there were others that made us scratch our heads a little more to figure out what needed to be done for the solution. A lot of the puzzles in this game also required us to do stuff and interact with pieces rather than just cross referencing which we found creative and made us smile as we solved them. One puzzle we thought was very clever for a take home game which helped simulate being in an in-person escape room.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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We learned a lot about Greek mythology through this game, which if you are a fan, you would absolutely enjoy this game. If you are Greek mythology buff, you could add an extra challenge and not use the references to solve the puzzles. We are always a fan of extras so there was a nice list of recipes and drinks that could be enjoyed while playing this game, which Conundrum Box seems to have for all their games. It did seem odd that the game came in such a large box since it seemed everything could fit into a flat envelope. We would suggest 2-4 novice players for this game or even 4 to 6 beginners as some areas you had access to multiple puzzles so there would be a lot for everyone to check out. If you are ready to take an odyssey to ancient Greece, grab a few friends and give this box a try!

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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 experience, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank The Conundrum 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.

#MatthewLui #AtHomeGames #SubscriptionGames #PuzzlesByMail #TheConundrumBox #USA #Temple #BehindTheMasterMinds #Adventure