Puzzle Post: The Missed Flight (Play at Home)

The best post you’ll receive all year!

Lucy Kingston has been on a conference tour of Europe but after speaking some uncomfortable truths to a journalist, she’s found herself caught up in a story of lies and corruption. She’s in way over her head.

She was supposed to deliver your message but has had to cut her trip short and go into hiding. She’s stashed the message in our vault and managed to put 7 puzzles together from her trip.

Puzzle Post is exactly how it sounds, puzzles that you receive in the post, although I say you receive it, it’s more designed for you to send it to someone else. We were contacted by the designers of the game and they asked us if we would be interested in giving it a go, it was a no brainer, the concept alone was intriguing enough.

The concept of this game is actually really rather simple and it made us wonder why it hasn’t been done before. Let’s say I want to break some news to friends or family, I could simply send a WhatsApp message, or I could make them work for the news and send them Puzzle Post and make them earn the news. They have to work through the game and solve all the puzzles before getting to the end and unlocking the message (image or video). The possibilities are endless.

No, before you’re wondering, you can’t use it to send hate mail to someone. The team at puzzle post have thought about how the system could be abused and have some rules in place just in case (check out their FAQs for more info), they even make it safe for sending to children.

When our post arrived we were greeted by a pretty standard envelope that gave no indication of what was contained within. However, as soon as we took the inner-envelope from within, that’s when everything changed.

CONCEPT/EXECUTION

When reviewing games we try to pick them apart just to really try and get to the bottom of them. I’m not really sure I can find anything negative in the Puzzle Post.

Possibly the only ‘flaw’ in this system is that the recipient is given access to the clue system so if they really just wanted to get to the message they could just bypass everything. Hopefully they won’t do that as they would miss out on all the fun. The only way around this would be to give the sender access to the clue system and they could then give as much or as little help as they wanted to (probably a bit mean though).

Everything that was contained in this pack felt authentic, to be honest I’m still not sure if they made the items specifically for the game or took real world items and made puzzles to fit, either way, everything worked.

Of course an escape room, and indeed a puzzle game is about more than just puzzles, it’s about the story and the immersion that goes with it. Everything in the envelope helped build a picture of your mission and set the scene well.

PUZZLES

A game is only as strong as its puzzles, and these puzzles were strong, guided by some beautifully thought out signposting. When you start the game it guides you to a starting point which helps you understand how items are connected but from there you’re on your own.

The biggest puzzle really is going through the information in front of you to work out what is relevant and what is staging. Once you know where you’re going you’ll find a pleasing mix of puzzles, from observation, to logic, and a little maths – generally just good quality puzzles.

Out of all the puzzles we were stumped by one, and only one. As it turns out we were just drastically over complicating it and it was no fault of the puzzle.

CLUE SYSTEM

Receiving an envelope in the post it would be understandable to assume that everything you need is in the envelope, but no, you need the internet too, not to solve the puzzles, but to get your final message. In the introduction letter there’s a url the recipient can go to should they need any assistance (which hopefully they don’t abuse).

Puzzle Post uses a tried and tested clue system where each puzzle has three nudges that are gradually revealed so you don’t accidentally view too many or the wrong ones. If those nudges aren’t enough to get you back on track, then you can view the solution – don’t worry, the recipient will be able to get your message.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We really didn’t know what to expect when we started this game, but by the time we were finished, we were sold! It’s a great concept, perfectly delivered (no pun intended) and has so many uses. Party invitation? Pregnancy reveal? Happy Birthday message? So many options!

P.s. we’ve classed this as an ‘escape box’ but really it probably deserves its own category as it’s pretty unique.

TOOLS REQUIRED

• Internet
• Mobile phone
• Pen and paper for note taking

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Time Taken: 37 mins

Website: https://www.puzzlepost.uk/

*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review.