My husband and I have done 2 real escape rooms and loved them both. During the quarantine I wanted to find something non-electronic that we could do together and a cooperative game sounded like just the thing. We started the EXIT series with the Mysterious Museum (a level 2), then Secret Lab (3 1/2). Since then we’ve also played Pharoah’s Tomb (4) and Sunken Treasure (2) and have Forgotten Island (3) and Forbidden Castle (4) waiting in the wings. Having done four of these games so far, this is what I have to say:We are absolutely AMAZED at the cleverness. I’m particularly amazed that although each game follows the same basic format (i.e. once you’ve played one you will know quickly how to play the rest), each one is completely and utterly different in terms of theme and puzzles to solve. We have seen no duplications of anything, though each game does give you more ideas about how to think for the next one.We time each clue and then enjoy going back over what stumped us. Some puzzles took 1-3 minutes, others took 20-30 minutes or more. On the first game my husband felt we were stuck too long at one point so he went for a clue, but I was sorely disappointed that we did that. Since then we tough it out - NO CLUES! Though after we’ve escaped the room it’s fun to go back and read them.Also - these are one and done games. In other words, once you solve it you won’t want to do that again (unless some time has passed and you have a terribly memory) because it’s one solution - one game. There is no variation if you play it again. BUT... for the price - it’s cheaper than two movie tickets (also one and done) and totally worth it for an evening of entertainment. They say you have to cut/tear/bend and while that’s true we managed to keep each of the games in tact and passed them along to friends. Sometimes it SAYS to cut so we cut and just taped back together. If bending was required we used our imagination so as not to deface the game or give clues to the next players. We were able to make it happen each time. So technically you can pass it along if you want to, but even if you didn’t - like I say - cheaper than going to the movies.How many people? One could do it. Two was perfect for us. MAYBE three, but the caveat is that the pieces are small and can only be looked at by a couple people at a time. If you had a group of 4 or 5, someone will be waiting. Two people is great because the ones I got quickly, he wouldn’t have and visa versa.My only complaint: the writing is quite small on some of the pieces making it really difficult for me to read. My younger-eyed husband didn’t have a problem, but if it were just me the tiny print on some of the cards would have taken away some of the joy.So far we’ve had four great date nights and had a blast. The people who aren’t liking this game obviously just bought the wrong game for them. Go into it understanding and accepting the challenge and you will do just fine. The clues are pretty good and are progressive... so lets say you take a clue and you already had figured that out - it won’t count against you and you have two more progressive clues to check if you’d like. So there is no reason you can’t finish or understand the game. Be patient, clever, and think outside the box (or sometimes inside the box, but I digress...)LOVE.THESE.GAMES. !!!I purchased The Secret Lab as a way to simulate the traditional "Escape Room" activities that my family has grown to enjoy as tradition for the past few years, but obviously with a lot of these places either still closed or out of business due to COVID I had to look elsewhere.The group of 6 had several less "puzzle-minded" people, but everyone was able to find a way to meaningfully contribute, even if that just meant being a designated note-taker, etc.The puzzles were challenging at times but all felt fair and never felt unsolvable. There were some clever misdirections that sent the group down rabbit holes, but made the eventual solution more fun.The game includes a scoring system based on time taken to complete and number of clues used along the way, but the lack of the hard time limit & cap on number of clues you typically find in a physical escape room puzzle made the experience much more inclusive and fun for the entire group.I would absolutely consider purchasing another Exit game for our next game night and will recommend the series to friends and family.This was my first time playing one of the Exit games and it was so much fun. Our crowd was extremely tired and distracted by interruptive children, so I do just to do it without kids and well rested. It took us just over two hours with 4 people. The clues were hard enough to make it fun and you felt good about figuring something out. There were two clues that stumped us and the clue cards were a bit dumb, we’d have to pull 2-3 before they told us something we already didn’t know. There was only one clue that we figured out but the pattern didn’t really make sense and we just had to try different combinations until it worked. It was fun because the four of us all offered different ideas so we each played a part. I think the game could have been super confusing if I didn’t have two people playing that had played an exit game before. They explained how different things worked because of their experience with the last game. Like knowing that some cards you don’t use right away and and where to look and what not. I bought this game for a friend, but I got it on a sale, I personally don’t think I’d pay full price just because you only get one use out of the game. My one major complaint with the company that makes them is to make multiple books! It was frustrating that only one person would be able to figure out the clues while the rest of us would sit around because we couldn’t see the book. I highly suggest you copy the pages of the book or take pictures of the book just so you can look together at the same time so everyone can be helpful.My engineer gaming group (4 ppl, 30 yrs old) took 2 hours to solve this with 3 hints\clues used. It was pretty hard. I'd start with an easier one if you're new to escape rooms. Our 4th engineer decided to quit after 20 mins because none of the solutions we were coming up with made sense to him.The system is very well designed. It definitely feels more like a real escape room than some other escape room board games I've played. Educated guesses are not punished if they're wrong (like some other escape room board games), but rote guessing is also not a real option without feeling like you're cheating. Ckue\hints system was pretty decent too. 3 clues you can take for each puzzle, first one gives what pieces you need to solve the puzzle, second gives hints on how to solve it, and third tells you the solution to the puzzle.This game has one real advantage over in person escape rooms in that there's no real time limit. You can keep going for as long as you want. You don't get kicked out of the room after you fail to complete it within the hour time slot. The only way you can fail this game is by quitting. When you finish, you get a rating based off how long it took to solve and by how many clues\hints you used.First of four I've played and it was a great time. We had to use quite a few clues, but I think that was because we had no idea how it worked. I wish I could replay this without having spoilers.Spoiler Free review: This was the first Exit the Game that I tried as it was recommended and a moderate difficulty (3.5/5). I played it two player.Overview: It was fun, and did make me want to try other (harder)titles, but it could have done more with some of the puzzles. If you have escape room experience, you will have no trouble with this, but it was still entertaining and took about an hour. This was great with two people, and would likely be great for one person or a family. There's maybe not enough to do for a larger amount of players (6).Pros: There's a great variety of puzzles in here! The designers have thought of many ways to use card and paper for some unexpected solutions. The system of checking answers is also very smart. This was great played with two people and did take about an hour. Nice, small box full of goodies to explore. It does a pretty good job of emulating the different types of puzzles that are found in escape rooms and the puzzles generally related well to the theme of the lab. Everything in the box is of a high quality card and print.Cons: my main criticism is that some of the later puzzles were easier and felt a little lazy. At the start, there were some real head scratchers that took a couple of steps to solve, but at the end some clues were solved with just one card or step. This lead towards a somewhat quick and anticlimatic finish.The game is not expensive but can only be played properly once. Some cutting up is involved. However, you could still give this to somebody else afterwards and it would not lose too much value in the experience.We did not use any of the hint cards, and so felt like we didn't touch half the things in the box. That and our relatively quick solving meant the value for money was so so for me.The artwork could have been used more. Many of the cards have only text or basic diagrams for riddles. It would have been nice if more things were hidden in artwork/the room. Further, the flavour text on the cards added nothing to the game. More could have been done with this, too. The theme overall could have been a bit stronger to be more immersive.Conclusion: a great way for two of us to spend an evening. It was fun and had some satisfying puzzles, but also some puzzles that felt more lazy. It made me want to try one of the harder boxes which also seem to be the highest rated. I would recommended trying out these games, select a difficulty that will work well for you!Colleagues were talking about 'exit games' in the staff room - saying they were like an escape room type thing you can play at home. i thought cool - as i liked board games, and the price is really good so i gave it a go and we bought one as a family to play at xmas. It was soooooooo good, the puzzles are hard! but there are clues! so the puzzles are suitable for all abilities in your group, also the puzzle styles are different - a mix of image based ones or numerical ones, word ones... it really kept us thinking! And yes... we had to use a lot of the clues, but we won the game! We liked it so much we bought one as a gift for someone else. Remember though this game is once and done.... you can't relay it. But totally worth it.Intrigued by the idea of a collaborative game, I bought this to do with my wife. The enclosed instructions left us with no idea how to start, and the "Help App" really didn't help, so we resorted to YouTube for an explanation of the mechanics of the game (which will be similar for all games in the series). So, we started working through the "riddles" - some were simple, but some rather obscure or contrived. Having worked out a possible answer, you have the tedious process of checking it via the decoder disc, before hopefully getting the next riddle or more clues. There is no sense of progression or a route to escape - you just have fewer riddles left to solve, until the last answer card tells you that you've finished. We photocopied some of the materials, rather than cutting or writing on them, so we can pass the game on to a friend. However, unless you have a group of friends happy to swap games, the cost isn't worth the reward - we completed it in a couple of hours, despite the difficulties getting started. (Okay, I admit, we looked at some of the "help cards", because some of the riddles were too obscure to work out.)One of our favourite of these games (we've played every single one now) would definitely say it was easier than it was rated at, but the puzzles were really fun! We enjoy the murder mystery ones the most out of this series. If you're looking to start playing these games definitely try the easier ones first, but this one would be great next step up after a few easier ones!I bought this as a present for a friend and was very disappointed when I was told it was strictly a single use game. He wasn't even sure that a trip to a photocopier would be much use as once the game is played you have now learnt all the answers so a repeat play is boring. I was expecting it to contain some sort of clue book so that each run used different clues or puzzles so it could be used at least a few times.For a single play game it seems a bit expensive.