ThinkFun’s ‘Mystery At Stargazer’s Manor‘ enables you and your kids to take part in all the nail biting, fun and excitement of the escape room experience in your very own home!
If you haven’t heard about ‘Escape The Room‘ games then where have you been?
The games began as online digital adventures and very quickly established themselves as real-life events all around the world where players are locked in a room and need to uncover clues and hidden objects to escape. It’s one of the latest worldwide crazes to take hold with escape rooms popping up all over the place.
Mystery At Star Gazer’s Manor Overview:
Mystery At Stargazer’s Manor is neatly packaged up in a very portable cardboard box. Inside you get…
- an instruction manual that introduces the concept of the game and sets the background of the story
- five sealed envelopes covered in illustrations depicting various areas of the Manor
- a ‘solution wheel’
- the first ‘Scene Card’… the card sets up the scene for the game and talks players through the first basic puzzle which shows how the solution wheel works. From here players move on to the first envelope and begin the game proper.
The solution wheel is very cleverly done. The solutions to each puzzle are encrypted into the wheel and you only find out you’re correct when you align he codes up under each puzzle symbol. If you get the code correct then a pair of identical symbols to the puzzle symbol will be revealed and you can open the next envelope.
Each illustrated envelope contains a combination of scene card, puzzle pieces, diagrams, symbols etc. that you need to keep in play throughout the game.
The game is timed so you need a stop watch handy as well
What Did We Think of Mystery At Stargazer’s Manor?
Mystery At Stargazer’s Manor is well designed and all the pieces are well made using high quality materials. The puzzles are work well within the story and where necessary interlink smoothly.
The game is for 10+ age group and my 10 year old twins and 11 year old managed to join in fully (once the arguing and oneupmanship had died down) and managed to solve the puzzle well within the time limit with just a little input from us. Infact they solved the first puzzle in 10 minutes, which was a jaw dropping moment for me and Mr Dad!
The box says it’s suitable for 3-8 players but I think that 4-5 is probably the better option as you can only work on one puzzle at a time which mans that you’re likely to have a few people feeling ignored, or not heard and ultimately not being able to join in properly. Then again if you’ve got a mix of adults and kids with the adult over seeing it then it would probably be fine.
The puzzles are fun but not overtly difficult so I’d say it’s aimed more at the kids than adults although the game is still enjoyable for grown ups. It also has a linear feel to it in that the game leads you down the path of puzzles rather than leaving your direction choice as part of the puzzle.
Once the mystery is solved and all the puzzles are completed you can’t play the game again because you know the answers and as mentioned before the puzzle direction is very linear. But you can pass the game on to friends and family to play or even host a games night but not join in. Clear instructions on how to re-pack the game can be found on the ‘Think Fun’ website which is a great way to recycle the game.
We really loved the Mystery At Stargazer’s Manor, it’s a great introduction to mystery puzzle games for kids and because it only takes a couple of hours to play it’s a perfect play date, sleep over or just a plain old family bit of fun. It’s small size makes it great for taking on holiday as well, which is just what we did.
My 3 eldest children!
Family. Especially my nephews who are not old enough to come the live escape games we have attended in the past.
the hubby and son
My mum and sister would probably be the first to join me in a game
My children.
My son and daughter- they would love this because it is exciting and different from other games
With my family
with my family
my daughter x
My nephew
with my kids
my partner and kids
my hubby and older 3 children
My husband and kids
My sister
With my grandchildren and husband, in fact anyone who knocks on the door!
With my sisters
I’d play this with my grandchildren
I’d play with my family
I’d play with my family
With my partner and our 3 children x
My children
I think I would play a adult game and play with my sister and mum and dad. Go back to the old days and have fun
with my son
My niece Abigail
I would play this game with my family.
My 2 teenage children my son is 13 and my daughter is 14 . This is something they would love to play we always play board games especially when we have bad weather and upto now our Monopoly board is being worn out so would love something new to play x
I would play with anybody who would play with me as I love board games
With my oldest Grandchildren and my husband
A family unit…. would be awesome
Think the great-niece would love this. Might need a bit of help at first, but she quickly picks things up. Thanks for the chance.
My partner 🙂
I think my friend Robin would like this game so probably with him.
My family would enjoy playing as different to what they have
my husband and two older children
they would all be interested in this as much as me
My friend Becky and her husband , we go to murder mysteries