The Enigma Emporium - "Funny Pages"

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Company: The Enigma Emporium

Game: Funny Pages

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Adventure

Date Played: June 5, 2021

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 7.5/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (1+)

Time: Unlimited (Suggested play time 3-6 Hours)

Price: Kickstarter - $49 for the base game, $56 for the base game & promo pack, $250 super special limited pack

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Stephen Kelly, a cartoonist at the Daily Periodical has gone missing. He's a colleague of yours from back in the days. Since the police is going to labeling this case as a "cold case" soon, it's up to you to save Stephen. Maybe he left some clues for you in these comic illustrations?

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We received the base game and promo pack for the review. The beautiful comic box design provided a easy "open and close" lid for repackaging. Inside you'll find a promo pack pouch, instruction/narrative/hint/solution booklet, notepad, pen, calendar page, 2 decoder bookmarks, and 28 comic illustrations, I love the glossy and thick paper stock they used for this game.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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This is by far the easiest instruction I've ever received for a tabletop game. After the backstory, you're ready to play! Feel free to examine the 28 comic pages in any order of your choosing. It's important to be organized and take good notes for this game. You'll probably end up using larger notepads than the one that was provided. Internet will be necessary at some point during the game so do keep either a phone or laptop handy. This game can be played at any pace. We tried to binge through but it's probably not a good idea. We would suggest to solve 5-7 comics a day so you can fully enjoy them in the right mindset.

I love the cooperative game design. We no longer have to fight with each other for that single clue paper. Instead, we have 28 of them to pick from! It was great to be able to pass the comics to one another for a different perspective and to be able to skip and come back to ones that we were stuck on. Hints were set up in 3 nudging stages. Personally, the first two felt vague to us most of the time so if it's a puzzle we're stuck on for awhile, we went straight to the third hint or solution.

If you did get the promo pack, we would advise starting with that first. Since the solution to each comic illustration is a specific day during the week, it does help to read the thought process on how you can achieve the solution from the "How to Play" booklet.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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At first glance, you might think to your self, how difficult could these be? There's only that much you can visualize on a single page of comic illustration. Well, get ready to be amazed! The quirky commentaries and lively illustrations will make you think everything is a clue. We definitely over thought on a few simple puzzles (creating red herrings for ourselves) but other times, we were able to conceptualize the harder ones right away.

A ton of variations in puzzle types were incorporated into this game. You might think you're seeing replicas but think again! This game was definitely designed with players with some sort of puzzling background in mind. If you're a beginner, feel free to Google (even experienced puzzlers may need to do this) and use the hints and solutions. Identifying the type of puzzle and what items you will need to utilize will put you on the right path.

We were really impressed by how the creators were able to stitch together the entire storyline for a very amusing ending. Right from the start, I wondered about the grater as it's just "staring" at me throughout the game. How will we be able to use this? I guess you'll have to play the game to find out.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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We've been super excited about this new project by The Enigma Emporium for awhile now and it did not disappoint! The narrative was clever and witty. The puzzles were challenging yet satisfying. Additionally, the quality of the materials used can easily resist damage making it quite easy to replay or regift the game in the future. "Funny Pages" took the "seriousness" out of puzzling and fill it up with laughter. You can enjoy the game as a solo player or share it with your loved ones. No matter what you decide, just remember the end goal: Have fun!

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Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of these game:

Video above is 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 The Enigma Emporium 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.

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