ThinkFun Secret of Dr. Gravely’s Retreat - Escape Room Game for Adults and Kids Age 13 Years and Up

We bought this game for our New Year's party with family - it was an absolute treat. The puzzles were intriguing and it was a lot of fun to play. It was really something that we all worked together on.There were some easy puzzles and then some quite tricky puzzles, tricky enough to make sure even the most astute sleuths are challenged. We managed to escape the room in just under an hour. We chose to play the extended game because we were having a lot of fun and managed to complete the extension in about 15 minutes.It's a shame that you can only play it once but I guess paying £1.75 per person to entertain 8 people for a couple of hours its pretty good value. We'll definitely try the other games in the series.

This was great fun - it took a group of 7 of us aged 11 to 45 2 hours to complete. There was enough for everyone to do so no one was bored or left-out. I would definitely recommend this. We had booked to go to an escape room but had to cancel due to C-19- it was a good substitute!!

A good little escape game. Me and my husband are both escape room fanatics and have played most of the escape games out there. This one was very nice the usual codex format and the envelope system work well.It is recommended 3 - 5 or 6 - 8 players you get 2 hours for 3 - 5 and 1.5 hours for 6 - 8. However i would say this one is perfectly doable with 2 players. My husband and I completed it in 1 hour 35 mins and this included the optional extra puzzle within.DO NOT BREAK THE GAME!!! there are certain puzzles within that include rope. I wont spoil it but all i will say is that at no point should any ripping if paper occur to access the contents. You can get them open by unlocking the ropes.Good little game. I recommend it :)

Three hours of entertainment for the family - 2 adults and 2 18 year old teenagers. A couple of the puzzles are very simple and I think it would be better if the makers or even the suppliers put a sheet in with the game indicating which puzzles are the easiest and so suited to young teens of around 13/14.Realistically, you can only use this once, but compare with the price of going to the cinema or going bowling to a match and it looks like a cheap night's entertainment.We ignored the time limit and took our leisurely time with it.

(warning: micro-spoiler inside this review)This game is designed for a group of 3 to 8 persons and a 90 min game session, but I would strongly disadvise to play it with a group larger than 4: we were 2 players and it only took us 55 minutes to solve all the riddles of the game.First of all, almost all the riddles are sequential and follow quite a linear path; meaning that most of the time all the players will solve the same riddle together.Then, the riddles themselves are easy, even really easy if you are used to escape games and escape rooms, so you won't need 6+ brains to solve them - unless you've never played an escape game before or attend to play it with a group of kids.Good thing is, the game material is very beautiful, and the 'packaging' (I won't say more) is quite fun to play with :)And another very good point is the possibility to 'restore' the game to its original state, so you'll be able to lend it to your friends!Globally it was a fun game, but based on the gametime / price ratio I'd rather suggest EXIT or UNLOCK.ESCAPE THE ROOM should be for beginners only.

I bought 'Dr Gravely's Retreat' having enjoyed Think Fun's first outing in the play at home escape room genre, Mystery at the Stargazer's Manor. On first opening of the box you are presented with a rather underwhelming but decorative stack of sealed envelopes, an initial story card, and a code wheel for checking your deductions later. As the game unfolds and the envelopes are opened you find that they in fact contain a wide variety of clever puzzles, gizmos, story cards, and sometimes...more sealed envelopes. The aim of course is to solve all the clues and 'escape' the retreat within the time limit. Make sure you have a decent amount of table/floor space available to spread everything out on.The time limit varies depending on how many people are playing with 2-3 players getting 2.5hrs and 6 players getting around 1.5hrs. Both games in the series are designed to be played from around age 12 upwards but the puzzles are suitably taxing for older players too, just set the time limit a little tighter. For reference, we played it as a team of 3 thirty somethings whilst drinking and escaped in around 45 mins.What's more, there are full reset instructions available on Think Fun's website, so once you've completed the game you can pass it on to a friend!To cut a long story short...if you're after something different to play with the kids or a few friends then this is ACE!

Six of us played this last night. We've done a few escape rooms but were interested to try this home version. It was excellent - really well thought out and presented and challenging enough to keep everyone on their toes! Well done to whoever designed this and we hope they make more.

This game was great fun. We all dressed up. Themed the canapes and food to era., bit like the old Murder Mysterys. Then on with the game. Yes you can only play it once, but £12 for a nights entertainment for 8 is great value I think. We all had a great night, Escaped the room with oonly minutes to spare.....