The Ghost In The Attic is an absolutely fantastic 'The Mystery Agency' escape-room type puzzle-solving game for as many players as you like, aged around 14 or over. Play is co-operative, and you'll need all of those different brains with different skills in order to beat the game. I'm proud to say we did, in around 2 hours - all of which we enjoyed immensely.
The Ghost In The Attic is an 'escape room' type game, where you follow clues and solve puzzles in order to discover the solution. Sent to us for review by The Happy Puzzle Company, this is without any doubt THE BEST mystery/puzzle/escape type game I've ever played (including in-person escape rooms). It is incredibly well written and beautifully put together.
First of all players need to work out the code to release the game, using clues found in the items available. You'll need a tablet or laptop to access 'archive websites' with useful clues (and to input your solution at the end), but most information is hidden within the box and your copy of the recalled board game. This is actually a genuine board game which you can play later - but you don't have to play 'The Ghost In The Attic' in order to solve the mystery - it's a real 2-in-1.
We played as a multi-generational group, with the Grandparents and our 2 teenagers. It was instantly interesting to everyone, we could barely wait to get started on solving the mystery, with both of the teenagers and Grandma immediately spotting different clues and getting to work on deciphering those particular puzzles.
There was absolutely nothing frustrating about The Ghost In The Attic, and there wasn't anything that didn't make sense. There are hints available online if you get stuck, and they'll lead you to the answers without simply solving the puzzle for you. It is incredibly well put together and each step feels really rewarding. You want to know what is going on, who the ghost is, and why they have attached themselves to the recalled board game. As you begin to piece everything together, more and more makes sense, and the storyline reveals itself beautifully. I honestly can't compliment the creators of this game enough. It is excellent.
Not only is the Mystery Agency puzzle part of The Ghost In The Attic excellent and rewarding to play, it also looks great. The outer box is designed as a parcel, and inside the padlocked recalled board game is really great quality, and beautifully illustrated. There is a heck of a lot of detail, so much so that my 13 year old kept taking photos and enlarging them, and even spotting extra hints as he went along.
I have attempted not to give too much away in my review, because we had an excellent evening playing, and I'd hate to spoil that for anyone else. It took us almost exactly 2 hours, and you can choose to go against a timer if you want the extra pressure. We really did play together as a team, there were no frustrating clues, and everyone solved at least 2 important parts each. We will DEFINITELY be buying another one of these Mystery Agency games - we loved it!
The Mystery Agency puzzle is suitable for as many players as you like aged around 14+ (the more the better!), and the 'recalled' The Ghost In The Attic board game is for 2-4 players. This is an excellent Christmas gift for families with teenagers or for groups of teenagers or adults - and it even has instructions for how to pack it all away to pass on and let someone else play. I cannot recommend this game highly enough.
The Ghost In The Attic is available now rrp £46.99, and is one of a series of The Mystery Agency games. Here's an Amazon affiliate link to The Ghost In The Attic with the latest price...
This looks really interesting, I guess the fact you get the board game as well which is presumably replayable offsets the cost a little. Thought you'd like to know the amazon link is broken though.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jax - we've actually passed it on to one of our older kids to play with their mates, so double value 👍 All Amazon links are sadly going to break over the next 3 or 4 weeks, because they've decided no more image links - so I have a heck of a job to do to go through my blog and update or remove over 1,000 of them. Tsk. Thanks for the comment, it's much appreciated!
DeleteThanks for sharing this article.
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