Mystery at the Stargazer's Manor

Thinkfun - Escape the Room

Age: 10+

Players: 3-8

Play Time: 90-120 mins

Difficulty: Beginner

A little while back, I bought three escape games from the Thinkfun - Escape the Room series. After playing the solid Secret of Dr. Gravely's Retreat and the underwhelming Murder in the Mafia, we kind of lost interest for a while. Alas, we had nothing to do tonight, so we decided to finally play the last one, Mystery at the Stargazer's Manor.

This one was identical in format to Dr. Gravely in that you are given an instruction manual, a bunch of sealed envelopes, and a solution wheel. You begin the game by reading the first story card and progress through the envelopes, opening each one as you solve the corresponding puzzle by entering the correct symbols into the solution wheel. Rinse and repeat until you get to the very end and the mystery is revealed.

In terms of production value, Stargazer's Manor was on par with Dr. Gravely. The paper and cardboard elements were printed in colour on sturdy and quality materials, allowing the entire game to be reset and either resold or passed on to someone else.

The story was fine, a bit predictable. The struggle with these tabletop games is that it feels like there's a disproportionate amount of reading relative to the number of puzzles you have to solve. And no matter how well-written it is, there's simply no substitute for the immersion of a real-life escape room.

Our main problem with the game, however, was that it was far too easy and straightforward. With 3 players, the allotted time limit was 120 minutes (90 minutes if 6-8 players), but we ended up finishing the game in 38 minutes — and around 10 minutes of that was just reading the story cards! There's always a fine line when it comes to puzzle difficulty — too easy leads to boredom and too hard leads to frustration, and neither are very fun. To be honest, Z seemed to find resetting the game without any assistance more challenging than the actual puzzles 😂!

Unfortunately, for the price of the game, we didn't think Stargazer's Manor was really worth it. Less experienced players (especially with the format) might get a bit more out of it, but for our family, this is likely our last Thinkfun escape game.

Rating: 6/10