SPOILER-FREE REVIEWTL;DR Version...PROS:- great price for the experience- excellent at-home approximation of the real thing, down to having help/hint cards, like you might ask a real-life game master for help- no experience necessary- during COVID: an escape room... in your house... with only those you already hang with daily!- free mobile app for skip-reading-the-rulebook instructions with graphics AND a timer with appropriate atmospheric audio, which adds a lot to the experience (they should promote this feature more)- a "scoring system" that favors quicker exits without using help cards and compares your accomplishments across different Exit games (or to other people, if you want that)- some of these puzzles are just ingenious and I don't know how they can make so many across multiple games and maintain excellent qualityCONS:- really struggling to come up with any here...- reaching/picky: there's one puzzle you can only really solve (beyond a powerful imagination) with a very common kitchen item that's not mentioned in the "other things you'll need" section (but is depicted when you get to that puzzle) ... but I can also see an argument that naming it would give too much away- there's also one puzzle where the scissor-work required just takes a long time, only one person can do it while the others watch (long, boring for them), and the longer it takes with the ticking time-pressure, the more socially agonizing it is to be "Edward Scissorhands" ... so this one game could be improved if there was a way to shorten that one puzzle.- unlike a real escape room, you can't break off into sub-teams to solve any puzzles simultaneously ... this is 100% linear ... a very minor thing, though.FULL REVIEW:My first escape room experience was when my 2nd-level-up boss had us do one as a team building thing around the holidays a few years back. So ~8 of us made it out of a hostage-like situation with ~10 seconds left.The thrill of that is akin to the first time one makes an amazingly unexpected shot while golfing (regular or mini-golf). And it makes you want it again. But my first "hit" was free.I not only wanted that experience again, but also wanted to share it with my family. This past summer of 2021, the kids were old enough to get into it, so for my birthday we tried out a real room together. We failed... with several puzzles remaining.We figured if we played smarter and ask for more help earlier, we could win one. So we did it again the last week of summer. And failed again. But this time we were so close, the game master generously gave us 5-10 extra minutes to experience finishing it. Nice, but still a bummer to "lose" again.And they cost about two hundred fifty dollars combined. Worth it, but deterred from another go for a while.Plus, it was a summer of COVID before kids could be vaxed, so we were masked up and scheduling the first session of the day to avoid people, which is much harder during the school year.When along comes my discovery of these Exit games. Gave one each to the kids for Christmas. Now, I'm a board-gamer, so it takes some mental toughness for me to consider buying a game (out of Germany, no less) where I will be damaging game parts on purpose and only playing it once. BUT for the chance of giving my family the escape room experience for this price compared to the real thing ... this is practically a steal!New Year's Eve 2021 was an ideal time to try this, and House of Riddles was the first we've tried so far. It just went fabulously! Everyone contributed, even the 8-year-old spotted some things that saved us. In the end, as a team, the family figured everything out without a single Help card, and we finished in less than the 90min max, but more than the 60min "ideal" which docked us 1 "star" (equal to under 60min + 1 Help card). This was a family-bonding, new-years accomplishment we could all be proud of.And to round out the experience... in real escape rooms, if you win/finish, they get a pic of your group while holding a board with your time on it. Otherwise, you can get a pic, but no time. So before this, we had 2 family photos with no one holding a time. But to close out 2021, I screenshotted & printed the final time (and score) from the mobile app, setup the tripod, and we got a family photo (dog included) where we finally got to hold up our successful escape room exit time!Bottom Line: While it is "just a game," it also holds the potential for building memories with family & friends that you will never forget. Thank you, game makers!My husband and eight year old have limited Escape Room experience- we have completed two, and we managed to get out right under an hour. Keeping this in mind, this was a great option for a rainy weekend day! We completed the House of Riddles in just under two hours, using five clues. Most importantly, it was fun and challenging without being too terribly hard. If you are stuck, use the clues and you will figure it out. Overall it was well worth the cost and convenience. We look forward to trying many more! Pay attention to the levels associated with each game…this one is considered “novice” and I would agree with that description.Just finally played this game after getting it as a gift for my boyfriend for Christmas. It was fun, not overly difficult but also made us use our brains. Creative play. My only critique is make the pictures a little larger for those of us who have to squint. Hahaha. Will definitely buy another one soon!This was pretty fun for my 12-year-old and her friends. It was one of their first escape rooms so it was tricky but they had fun.I've played games from the Exit series before & decided to get this as a gift for my dad for my family to play together. We had 3 people (all adults). I felt that most of the puzzles were fairly quick to solve, but the solutions were always fun so we never got bored. Most of the riddles in this one had mini hints in them, which made it much easier than some of the other games in the series. The puzzles get harder as you move along, so I feel that it builds very well for people just learning to play this kind of game. You do have to destroy the game pieces to solve puzzles & it is one time use, so that hurts a little. But, I still feel like the price is good for a one-time fun experience for a small group of people.If you've played room escape board games before, I would recommend you find a different game in this series. The Exit series is good & has several games on different difficulty levels.We bought this because my 11 year old wanted to try an escape room but we couldn't find a good simple beginner one anywhere near us. Some of the puzzles were definitely too difficult for him, but the adults were able to solve them eventually. The system used to confirm your answers and go on to the next "room" was quite clever, and the hints were useful on occasion. Also, we were able to not damage the materials by making photo copies on our printer, so we could pass the game on to someone else when we were done.3 of us had a difficult time solving. Its a bit pricey but I wanted to try it out for Christmas get together. It took about 5 hours to figure it out using the helps. So I took it to a friend's house to a dinner party and they gave up after 3 hours of getting nowhere. All of us have above average IQ's so....Review of House of RiddlesThis is described as an easy version of the Exit the Room series (set at 2/5 difficulty) and it works at that level. None of the puzzles are too difficult and doing this as a family we were never stuck and needed no clues to get through any of the stages. This was great as we deliberately chose an easier game to keep the younger family members involved. Even with the simplicity, we still got a good hours entertainment from the game and you need to use a range of skills to break the codes at each level.Overall: this will be far too easy for experienced puzzlers but is a fab entry-level starting point to the Exit game series and an entertaining family game in its own right.My first emotion of reading about this game was horror. Cut, tear and write on game components so it's one play only?!It totally works though. These games retail at £13 for standard and ive had 6 people playing one game. Compare that to the entry fee for 6 people to an actual escape room? A one time play game doesn't seem so bad now.You start the game with an introduction (can also use the app to play an "atmospheric" intro) which explains your scenario. You're somewhere and you need to escape. Use the booklet and pack of cards to guide you along the way.The brilliant thing about this game is you will get stuck however hint and answer cards are available should you require them. My only warning is make sure the number turner is all punched out. I was thrown for about 20 mins and I was sure I had the answer but it was throwing a blank - because a number hadn't been punched! Duh :)Ive played two and purchased a third and played with 9+ to adults. Great for an hour for family time or to play with friends.Various puzzles to get your teeth into which need logic, strategy and creativity to solve.I'm looking forward to my next one and to start increasing the difficulty. The difficulty levels can be found on the image of the box, they are the little round circles. The more circles filled in, the harder the game will be.Really good fun!Played during a wet and windy night on holiday recently and it was a hoot! We spent about 90 minutes on it (slightly less perhaps) but didn’t once feel like it was dragging.If we got stuck (we did a couple of times) it was good to have the clue cards available to us to give us just a little hint if we needed, but if we were unable to progress using that we could get a clue which was a little more obvious - and then finally, we could check the solution card (if it came to that!)Will definitely be buying another one, and counting down the hours till the next wet and windy evening!We would highly recommend this game. It was bought for our 11 year old as part of lockdown birthday celebrations and was well worth the money.It was fun and taxing but not too difficult that you got fed up. Used the App, which provides a timer and background sound effects.Took us around 2 hours to play - but we did have a couple of short breaks.Ideal for families to play together whilst at home during current times.Would also love to do another one with friends when we can.Great purchase!We bought this game for something to do during lock-down, four of us played it 2 adults, ans two kids aged 11 and 14. You have to work through the booklet and solve clues to give you number codes to enable you to move on and complete the game. Took us and hour and a half, the game recommendation says 1-2hiurs so glad we are “normal!!” We enjoyed it although took us a while to solve clue 1!! There are little “helps” if you need to use them. Worthwhile for something to do. Well put together