The Enigma Emporium - "Wish You Were Here"

Updated: Apr 29

Photo above is property of The Enigma Emporium

Company: The Enigma Emporium

Game: Wish You Were Here

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games 📬

Genre: Mystery

Date Played: July 16, 2023

Difficulty (based on 1 player): 8/10

Size of Team: Unlimited (1+)

Time: Unlimited (Approximately 45-60 Mins.)

Price: $15.00

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They call you the modern-day Sherlock Holmes. And not for no reason. Over a few months, you receive a set of postcards from an anonymous party, claiming to be the equivalent of your Moriarty. If you’re able to read their messages, you’ll have a full list of their locations, their crimes, and most importantly, their name. Can you chase this serial criminal down? Or will they stay scot free?

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This unassuming game came to me as a set of five postcards in an envelope that served as title box, back story, hint channel, game instructions, and overall theme. Sticking to the mystery and intrigue of the game itself, the postcards themselves hardly had any fluff - filled corner to corner with puzzle components or clues. So take that as a hint of its own.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Instructions and back story come in two forms - on the back of the envelope that stores the postcards and in the link Enigma Emporium provides you on the same side.

Due to the limited space and how self-contained this game is intended to be, you can get a little overwhelmed with where to start first. So before you get into the details of this game, here’s a hint to help you - each component within each postcard serves a purpose. There are no coincidences.

While there is no way you can mistake these postcards as components of a puzzle experience, the design still has them looking true to a typical postcard sent through snail mail.

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I am not going to lie - these puzzles pose a fair challenge. Therefore, do not be afraid to use the hint system.

Taking the story into consideration, the postcards are coming from all around the world. And the puzzles’ contexts reflect that. Topics range from science to literature to even politics, so Google will be your friend here.

If you’re concerned about the difficulty of the puzzles, here’s another tip - After getting the pattern of how the puzzles flowed for about 1 - 2 postcards, you can figure out how the rest of the cards work.

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Whether standalone or with other postcard sets, Wish You Were Here serves its own experience. And unlike many escape rooms in a box or mail order escape rooms I’ve played, the self-contained nature of the material and medium lends itself to being easily passed around a group of friends. As someone who either does not have their own space to host group plays yet, having a game that can be passed around without compromising the experience, is a refreshing take. No worrying about looking for refill components after destroying your own game to escape here!

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