Mattel GamesEscape Room in a Box The Werewolf Experiment, Room Escape Group Game for Teens and Adults, with 19 2D and 3D Puzzles, Makes a Great Game for 13 Year Olds and Up

I played this with my 14 and 12 year old kids, and we had a blast. It's remarkable how similar it was to a real escape room, with props, clues, and puzzles, only you're all huddled around a table instead of wandering around a room. The puzzles were challenging (we didn't make it out, even after getting a time extension thanks to one of the puzzles) and played off each other.Age-wise, my 14 year old handled this game no problem. The 12 year old had trouble grasping a few of the puzzles, but others he jumped into and solved by himself. It wasn't necessary to have a "guide" - a person who didn't play but read instructions and clues - but it wouldn't hurt either, especially if that guide was someone who had already played through once.If I had to give some recommendations (no spoilers!):- Make a lot of room on a table to play. You'll have clues, notes, trinkets, and pencils scattered all over.- Look everywhere, and I mean everywhere, for objects and clues. We lost at least a good 20 minutes because we missed one puzzle piece inside the box.- All normal escape room tips and tricks apply, which if you've never been in one, means think laterally and creatively! Everything could be a clue, and sometimes the answers to one puzzle can help you solve another.- Definitely not replayable, but if you write in pencil, you can erase and re-use clues and pass the game onto friends or family.I'm going to see if this company makes any more of these games, we had that much fun.

Five adults were able to enjoy this game together. We could pass around different clues and work on different elements of the game at the same time. The story is silly, but that isn't the point. The puzzles were fun to solve without being tedious or getting anyone stressed out. We completed it in the allotted hour.

This was our very first escape the room experience so I can only review this box, not a comparison review, just our experience...First and foremost I will say that over all we all had a wonderful time!I purchased this “Werewolf Experiment” Escape the Room in a Box for myself and my 2 children for a Halloween family night ‘stay-cation’. I was not sure if it would be too difficult as my oldest is only 14 years old and my younger child is only 10 but it looked like fun and the price is less than a haunted hayride (we did that 2 weeks ago) or even dinner at a goodChinese restaurant!It was NOT TOO DIFFICULT FOR THE THREE OF US ( ages= adult, 14years old & 10 years old ) HOWEVER IT DID TAKE US MORE THAN 1 HOUR!This is due in part to the fact that the box was missing a piece that was a vital part of the final combination! I know this sounds bad but it really isn’t a reason not to purchase the box or to miss out on the experience.... it means that for one puzzle you may have to use the answers (not the hint which was only good for confirming our suspicion that we were missing a piece of that particular puzzle) to ‘escape’!So some of the reasons I still think this is a great box are as follows:The items in the box and puzzles are quite cool! Trying not to spoil it for anyone I will say that the box is all you need, you do not need to add any props or objects if you don’t want to!The puzzles were fun and there is a good variety of different types of puzzles! Part of the fun was figuring out how to do each puzzle and there are puzzles for all different skill (or age) levels! My 10 year old was just as important to our groups success as my 14 year old and had a blast solving some of the puzzles!If you want the background music it is available online at escaperoominabox.com and ready to play (there are also repack instructions but we chose to enjoy it fully and write the answers right on the materials...) the music was a lovely addition at the beginning (it even suggests a bathroom break if you aren’t worried about the timer which was nice for a family event, Lol!) however it plays in 15 minute increments and we forgot to continue playing the music pieces after the first 30 minutes...I was also delightfully surprised with the 3D puzzles!For the price it was a really great experience!A few things I did not like were that the piece was missing so we basically missed the opportunity to work one of the main puzzles! It felt a little like cheating to have to look up the answer ( the hint did not help except that we stopped wasting time to look for the missing piece ) and that was very disappointing when you are working so hard not to take any clues!I thought the music would have been more enjoyable if it simply played for the full amount of time without having to manually go back to the page and cue up the next track to play but it isn’t essential and apparently can be played somehow with Alexa?!?The final lock must not have been closed tightly from the manufacturer or was somehow defective (it was quite hard to lock again?) because my son picked it up to move it out of his way and it popped open! The jar didn’t open up however (if it was one of the square boxes it probably would have opened ruining a part of the experience) so we just locked it back up and kept playing!Even though a couple things were a bit ‘wrong’ the experience as a whole was definitely worth it and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to others!A great evening at a great price!!!

My husband and I had never participated in an escape room before. Our sons, in their 20s, had been to some escape rooms. We played this game last night, and all four of us had a great time. The puzzles had a nice mix: lots of variety, some easy, some very challenging. Most of the puzzles truly required collaboration to solve. We did have a few frustrating moments, where it seemed like we were not making any progress, but then there would finally be that "a-ha" moment, followed by actual cheering and clapping, when we solved a puzzle or cracked open a lock. It took us 1.5 hours to solve the puzzle and "escape" (and that was without using any of the hints - I really wanted to look at some hints, but my sons wouldn't have it!) My sons gave me credit for purchasing a great game, how cool is that? Our only quibble is that a couple of the puzzles could use some tweaking, in that the clues were really a bit too vague. But despite that, this made for a wonderful evening of family fun for the day after Thanksgiving. Highly recommended.