WBG Score: 7
Player Count: 1-4
You’ll like this if you like: Exit and Unlock games
Published by: Grand Gamers Guild
Designed by: Jonathan Chaffer
This is a free review copy. See our review policy here - SPOILER FREE REVIEW
The Kringle Capers is the first version of a series of one-off small box escape rooms using just cards. You can find out about the others in the series here. They are all 18-card decks that offer a 60-minute escape room-style adventure, set around a different popular holiday: Halloween, Valentine's, or in this case, Christmas. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays.
How To Set Up The Kringle Caper
Open the box and take out the 18 cards. I suggest getting a paper and pencil too. Keep the cards face down, in order. On a phone or computer, head to this website and click on The Kringle Caper "Play" button. Once you are prepared, click on Start and proceed to select card number one. The timer will begin!
How To Set Up The Kringle Caper
Read the text on card number one. You will then see a red magnifying glass and some more red text. For each red magnifying glass icon you see you will need to work out the answer for that number of words (or phrases), and then enter them into the website you previously loaded. all answers can be found on the card you are using that time, or perhaps, on previous cards you had access too. You will never need to use later cards until instructed.
The website has handy information and hints if you get stuck. The hints will give you a time penalty, while the information will just give you access to some things that may or may not help you. There is no time penalty for using the information section, but it won't all be crucial. We completed the entire game without using it. However, we did use our phones to look up the lyrics to one particular song, and we could have used the information page instead if we had remembered! The hints work well and offer some guides and clues before giving you, if you really want it, the full answer. You won't ever get stuck.
If you enter a wrong answer, it will tell you and ask you to look again. If you enter a correct answer, it will add a small bit of story and then instruct you to take the next card. Make sure to get your spelling correct otherwise it will not work. Some answers are phrases instead of single words. Some cards have more than one answer. You must enter them separately, one at a time.
Some cards may require you to write on them. If you want to keep the game to use again or lend to a friend, you can simply write on a separate piece of paper or write in pencil. No cards will be destroyed or affected in any other way. A paper and pencil would help in other areas too, working a few things out.
Keep playing through each card as instructed until you complete the final 18th card. You will then be given a brief conclusion to the story and your score. This will be based on the time it took you to solve all the cards, any hints you used, and then a final score out of five.
I won't spoil anything by saying anymore, but here is the first card, just to give you a flavour.
Is It Fun? The Kringle Caper Escape Room Card Game Review
If you enjoy puzzle games and escape room style challenges, you will love this. It is very simple, and a scaled-down version. There are only 18 cards after all. So, don't go into this expecting big props, twists, or surprises. It is a simple card-based puzzle game, with some familiar challenges, and a fun holiday-inspired theme.
We played this in the blazing sun, in the middle of summer, and still had a good time with it. I will certainly keep it around for another turn on Christmas Eve this year. I think by then we will have forgotten the answers so we will easily be able to enjoy this again!
I am keen to try out the other games in this series and see how they develop the idea. But what we have here, with these 18 cards, is a pure, simple, distilled version of a card game-based escape room that offers a good 60 minutes of family fun. Well worth checking out if you enjoy these types of experiences. This one is certainly very well executed, not too tricky to solve (it's ranked 2/3 on the difficulty scale) and was something my entire family enjoyed doing together (nine and eleven-year-olds).
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