Thames & Kosmos EXIT: The House of Riddles

Amazing value, so much fun and set up in a way that really means you get to try options and ideas until you find the right way. You need to pay a little attention to how it works but once you start it’s very easy to use. Some of the puzzles and results are genius! Have already ordered a bunch more of their games, can’t wait!

LOVED THIS GAME! Whether you are a LOTR fan or not - this is great fun! Stretches your brain, lots of surprises in store and helpful hints and tips when needed. Great fun! A brilliant gift or to host a games night.

This game and the others by this brand are all really fun. They're great for families and friends amd would make a good gift if someone likes puzzles and solving things.

It is a real fun game and it is lovely that it was inspired by a nice theme. Maybe a bit complicated at times, so it’s easy to get stuck. Take this into account if it is your first time playing one of these games.

We played as a family of four with our sons aged 8 and 12. If you read through the instructions carefully beforehand the game is easy to set up and is clearly explained. We've never done a real life escape room experience before and this is the first home escape room of this range we've tried. We darkened the room, lit candles and lava lamps and used the atmospheric soundtrack that comes with the free app for a more 'haunted experience'. The app also has a timer for the game and will 'score' your game at the end giving you a star rating based on the time spent and the number of help cards used. The game itself is not at all scary so fine for younger players, but the soundtrack can get a bit eerie for younger children. The game has around ten challenges and it took us 1hr 58m to complete. Some puzzles are more tricky than others but eventually the penny dropped with each. There are Help Card cards to give you hints but we did not have to use these. This is a marked as a 'beginner level' which I think is about right and for ages 10 and up which I also think is OK. Our 8 year old perhaps did not 'solve' any of the riddles but it was at a level where he could contribute ideas and had plenty to do that meant he was still actively included. Best played around a table so all can see and be involved. Can only really be played once but for the money, two hours of quality entertainment for a family of four seems good value to me. We have the Mysterious Museum to play next.

This was our first Exit Game we played. We have done several escape rooms and really enjoyed that, so we got one of the Exit games o keep us entertained during lockdown. We chose the Stormy Flight as one of us is in the airline industry. We did need a few hints to get us going and therefore had a slow start, but we really enjoyed it once we got in the right puzzle mindset for it. We did take almost 2.5hrs to do it and both had a bit of a headache after, but this might just be due to it being our first one and it does take some practice and getting used to, in particular the extend of where to look for clues and how to use and even destroy them. I understand where complaints about the price come from as it is a single use game and you could get replayable games for not much more, however we both agreed it absolutely is worth the money. The escape rooms we've played from all over the world were anywhere between 20-35 pounds per person for one hour of fun. Having played this with two people, that cost us £6.75 each for two and a half hours of fun. You can do the math if you would play these with a party of 4. You are also provided with quite a lot of game components of good quality. If however you would still find the single use and/or game time an obstacle, we would highly recommend the adventure games, the Dungeon or Monochrome inc. We have played the Dungeon last night, and we played for 5 hours (with breaks) and you don't destroy anything making it possible to pass it on.

The haunted rollercoaster is definitely the best one of these we've done so far. The puzzles are all challenging but achievable. Me & my husband played it on a date night over a few drinks. It took us about 1.5 hours. Would recommend.

Puzzles are fun but art is badly AI generated unlike the hand-drawn art from other titles in the series. It breaks the feeling of immersion significantly.