Escape Mail Episode 2 Review!

Back in December we received & reviewed the first episode of Escape Mail. If you didn't have the chance to catch that review, Escape Mail is an escape room in an envelope. There are twelve different episodes to complete, you are able to sign up to get one a month or they have an option where you can get several or even all of them in one go instead of waiting for the next episode to arrive. This month we received the second episode & I will be sharing a short review on it. The subscription is $14.75 per episode or you can bundle and buy them at once for $12.50 each. 

In the first episode it had a map included & had mentioned that there was a missing piece. I wasn't sure if that meant to hold onto the game pieces or not, but I did hold onto them. However, we didn't need them for the second episode. Aside from a pair of scissors, a phone with Wi-Fi & a pen/paper everything you need can be found in the envelope. The amount of time this takes will depend on how well your detective skills are. If you end up getting stuck, they do have some small hints that can get you back on track & if you want music playing while you are figuring everything out, they have a QR code for a customized play list that fits with the episode. We do not really pay attention to anything other than figuring out the clues, so we do not have anything playing during our sessions. 

Each episode is engaging & really pushes you to think about each piece included in the envelope and how they might connect. The piece you need to start will have a small riddle included on it that will give you the clue to where to start next. During this episode there was only one puzzle we got a little stuck on, so we peeked at the clue & realized we had done the puzzle correctly we were just looking at the answer in the wrong way. Otherwise, we just needed to take a moment to think about how the clues intertwine with each other & how they could be used to solve a puzzle. 

As this is something that is meant to be completed by yourself or with a group of friends/family, I won't go into detail about any specific puzzle, so I won't accidently giveaway the answer or how to complete it. I will say that some of these puzzles make you think outside of the box & they are a lot of fun to complete. My family and I have really enjoyed both episodes so far & think this would make a fun monthly game night if you do the twelve-month subscription. Age wise it is recommended for ages 10+ and I think that is pretty accurate, due to the complexity level of some of the clues. Younger children might find it too difficult or too boring as they can't really participate in helping solve the puzzles. My son is right at the age limit of ten, he enjoys helping out with the puzzles and thinking of ways they need to be solved. We are looking forward to seeing what the other episodes have in store! I think they did a fantastic job at putting these envelopes together & hope they come out with some other story lines in the future as well. 

✉ Does this sound like a Mystery Escape you'd enjoy subscribing to? What stands out to you the most about this subscription?

Disclaimer- Escape Mail provided Episode one for this review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Escape Mail Episode 1 Review!

 

If you enjoy solving mysteries & completing puzzles then Escape Mail may be just the thing you are looking for. Escape Mail is a fun escape room in an envelope! Season one of the series currently has twelve different envelopes to complete, you can buy them one at a time or subscribe to them all at once. They are $14.75 per episode or you can bundle and buy them at once for $12.50 each. If you aren't a big mystery solver yourself, but know someone who is, I think this would make a wonderful holiday gift. 

I received episode one to complete with my family & we had a good time trying to solve everything in this episode. Each episode will take you one to two hours to complete & can be played with one to four players ages ten and older. You'll have everything you need in the envelope aside from one or two things that you should have around your house. We needed to grab a pair of scissors, a roll of tape & our cell phone in order to get started on solving clues. I like that they had a little card that included a play list with songs that went with this episode, it was nice to have in the background. 

There will be a QR code to scan which will bring up a short introduction video on their website. This video will go over the basics of what you will need (the items mentioned above) & give you a small clue of where to start your adventure. If you ever get stuck & need a small hint there is another QR code which will allow you to take a small peek at any spot you feel like you can't get past. However you may not need that QR code depending on your detective skills. 

We have done escape room boxes in the past that were kind of meh, they lead to a little bickering and seemed to just drag along. That wasn't the case with Escape Mail, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit & everything seemed to move along at a steady pace. Some of the clues took a little bit to figure out however we eventually managed to combine our ideas & thoughts and figure out the clues. The only thing that bugged us slightly was that the all the S's on one of the papers all looked like plus signs which threw us off a little when it came to that particular part of the game. I think this episode was set up wonderfully, I liked the different assortment of puzzles types. It was fun brainstorming with my family to work on one puzzle to lead us to the next clue. I also like that this doesn't have to be completely at home, you can take it with on a trip to complete in your hotel in your down time or even have a picnic at the park on a nice day while completing these puzzles. 

I want to provide you with a more in-depth details about some of the fun activities in this game, but I also do not want to give away any game clues. We had a great time solving this first mission & we are excited and want to know what happens next. If you are a little impatient & do not want to wait for a monthly envelope to arrive you can purchase one of the bundles that sends all of them at once. 

✉ Does this sound like a Mystery Escape you'd enjoy subscribing to? What stands out to you the most about this subscription?

Disclaimer- Escape Mail provided Episode one for this review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Escape the Crate Review + Giveaway!

Escape rooms can be a lot of fun, but you might not have a full team of players to go with or you simply don't want to leave your house and that is okay! There is a fun alternative of doing an escape game all from the comfort of your own home. I recently received the wonderful chance to work with Escape the Crate on a review (plus a giveaway below!). What sets their escape games apart? Instead of being a escape game company that sells only one or two escapes for you to complete this is a subscription based escape crate that will send you a new crate every other month, it starts at $29.99 a crate but goes down in price if you buy a longer subscription. They put a lot of work into each crate and it shows when you are playing the game.

To play this game thoroughly and completely you will need a fully charge electronic device that can hook up to the internet. Why? Instead of this being a paper/item only escape game it has an interactive website that helps you along on your journey. If you don't feel like reading everything out loud to your group they have audio buttons you can hit and it will read everything out for you. Along with having someone read the directions and story to you, they also have youtube videos intertwined that have vital information for your escape.

For our crate we are spies who work for an agency that is able to travel through time to help stop a villain from destroying the timeline. One of the things that I like most about this isn't just that it comes with an app, but you'll also get an assortment of documents, real props and the box that it comes in itself is part of the game as well so it really is the whole package. 

The app does provide some hints at the bottom of the page in case you get stuck, just like how a game master would help you out in a Escape room. You are not punished nor do you have to remove anytime from your count down for using a clue, they are meant to be helpful so that you can enjoy your game experience without feeling overwhelmed or upset. If you prefer to play this alone instead of with a group they have "solo" options for certain aspects that would normally require at least two people.

The first half of the game is set up a little easier than the second half so that first timers can get a hang of how to play, then once you move onto the second half it becomes a bit harder. Both parts have their own set amount of time to complete them in or you can choose just to do it for fun and not set a timer at all. I liked the fact that we were not stuck doing both portions at once, each one takes an hour to an hour and a half which is a decent amount of time so we finished the first half then did the second half a few days later when we weren't busy.

We all had a lot of fun working together trying to figure out clues, the kids even pointed out things their dad and I didn't spot when first looking at everything that ended up being a big help for solving different aspects of the codes we needed to progress further in the game. The second half of the game was indeed harder than the first half and didn't have as much direction as the first so we were stuck on the first riddle for a little longer than we'd like to admit until it finally clicked as it was something you wouldn't think of right away. 

They do provide information on how to "reset" the game and also offer a way to print off any sheets that get ruined during the game so you can re-start everything, therefore you could re-gift this crate to a friend or a family member to try out. I think the Escape the Crate team did a great job putting everything together and making it user friendly. If you love Escape games or have been wanting to try one out, I suggest taking a look at their website to see what they offer. If you missed a crate that you really want to try out they offer you the chance to purchase a retired crate.

Want to try out a crate of your own or subscribe for a set amount of time? Use code MOONLIT20 to get 20% OFF of your purchase.

PRIZE ALERT: One lucky winner is going to win a crate of their own to try out. 

This is open to US & Canadian Residents! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! This giveaway is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 3/14/2022

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment answering this question > If you could have your crate set in any time period/era, which would you choose?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer-  Escape the Crate provided the products mentioned above for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Puzzlcrate Review!

 

The holidays are coming up which means it is time to start thinking about gifts for the ones you love, a great idea for a gift is a subscription to something that relates to a interest of your loved one. There are so many awesome subscription boxes that cover a number of things, today I am going to be sharing a subscription box with you called PuzzlCrate. Each month you'll receive a box that comes with two different puzzles and a collectable pin, each box is $35 monthly or you can save a few dollars if you subscribe for a longer plan. They offer six and twelve month subscriptions along with one for month to month.

I was gifted a box to check out and share with all of you, as you can imagine my kids were pretty curious what was in this box when it arrived. It drove my husband and kids a little nuts because I waited two days before opening it! 

Inside I found two very unique puzzle cubes, a really cute puzzle pin, a sticker and two papers explaining each cube. The first one I pulled out is called the Mefferts Curvy copter, the design on this is actually quite pretty it reminds me of a four leaf clover. The way this puzzle moves is crazy, there are so many moving pieces that can be moved around at once. Everyone was passing it around playing with it, and between more than one person trying to turn it different ways, it actually ended up with two pieces being completely stuck and jammed, my husband ended up taking it apart and putting it back together to fix it. (which was neat seeing what was inside). 

Once back together you can't even tell it was ever taken apart and we are back to having fun with it trying to figure out how to get all the sides back once we mixed it all up. 

Next in line is a puzzle called the Duomo Pyraminx. I really enjoy trying to figure this one out, its movements are quick and make a nice sound when figuring out the puzzle. Even with as much fun as both of these are they make me realize I really suck at trying to figure these out, hahaha, but that won't stop me from continuing to try and maybe one day I will manage to get it figured out. 

There was also a cute collectable pin that looks like a puzzle cube and a sticker featuring the Puzzlcrate logo. Looking at their website at some of the past crates they send out some pretty crazy looking puzzles, I've never seen a large majority of them before so I think this crate is a great way to discover new puzzle cubes you've never heard of. 

Have you ever figured out how to solve any kind of puzzle cube?

Disclaimer- Puzzlecrate provided me with a one month box for free in exchange for a review , no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

PaRragon Books December Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by PaRragon for the review free of charge.**

 As many of you know I was on a short hiatus due to various reasons, I do have a few posts to get caught up on so I will be getting those started along with bringing some new content your way as well. PaRragon books has a book program for bloggers that offers a look at a few of their books each month and my kids love when the box shows up on our door because it is always packed full of fun. This post is sharing the box I received in December so it will contain a few Christmas related books.

      



Things You Never Knew About Santa Claus; This is a fun and entertaining book for small kids and I am sure a few big kids would get a kick out of this book as well. It goes over things such as why Santa has rosy cheeks and a round belly,  and it features him doing a number of silly and crazy things. Did you know Santa has a dragon named Blaze? Neither did I until we read this book together. The kids got a kick out of this book and it was a fun book to read during the holidays. I see my kids maybe reading this once or twice during the year otherwise I think this will be a seasonal book for us to read together. The illustrations were well done, colorful and kept the attention of my youngest. It is a thirty two page book and it has a hard cover, it is best suited for ages 3-6.

Creative Experience; This is a crayola Beatles themed activity book great for fans of all ages who love the Beatles. I personally have never been a fan of the Beatles so this wasn't a book that really made me excited, but I have some family members I know would love this so it was a win-win. The book offers several different activities that range from coloring to word coding and puzzles. This book is sixty-four pages of creativity and the paper type if is printed on is actually quite nice, I don't see this activity book falling apart from too much use like some cheap coloring or activity books can/will.



Hello Christmas; This is a cute Christmas themed peek-a-boo book for toddlers ages 6-24 months, it has vivid colors printed on board which means it can stand up to being beat up a little bit from your toddler. It is a short book and a short story which is perfect for the age range since they are usually distracted easily and will quickly be on their way to doing something else. This book is a bit on the younger side for my children but it was still a pretty cute book!



The Littlest Snowman; This is another cute Christmas toddler book for ages 0-24 months, it features a cute little snowman puppet and a short seven page story that is easy to follow along with and offers eye catching graphics. It is a board book which is great for this age range because it can stand up to quite a bit from young children.



Marvelous Mixed Puzzles; As the title suggest this book offers a marvelous mixture of puzzles and it includes a little bit of everything. One of my favorite things to do to de-stress a little bit and get my mind off of things is to play Sudoku so I was happy to see this book included that along with crossword puzzles, number links, word chains and more it offers over two HUNDRED puzzles!! It is sure to keep you entertained for several hours and is just the right size to throw into your purse or backpack to easily carry it around with you for when you are stuck in the doctors office, on a bus or just somewhere not that entertaining. I am really enjoying this book and I am glad they included it.

All of these books can be purchased on Amazon and all for under $10.