Unlock!: Escape Adventures – The Formula

A card-based escape room: track down a missing chemist and his truth serum in the New York subway before time runs out.

Designer: Cyril Demaegd
Published by: Space Cowboys

A chemist has gone missing in the New York subway tunnels, and you have until the clock runs out to find him. Unlock! The Formula is one of the Unlock! escape-room-in-cards adventures, a cooperative game from 2017 where you search scenes, combine objects and enter codes into a companion app that tracks time and hands out clues. The Department lost contact with Dr. Hoffman while he was developing a truth serum, so you head into the tunnels, track down his laboratory and recover the formula. Each box plays once with real puzzles, no board and no extra gear, just cards, a phone and about an hour. One to six players.

Escape-room puzzles with cards and an appMission in the New York subway tunnelsIncludes a short tutorial adventure

Who it's for

You like escape rooms and want one at the kitchen table, solo or with up to five others.

Not for you if…

You want to replay the same box, since each adventure is a one-time puzzle.

Vibe's take

Brisk and chatty. Everyone leans over the cards, shouting out numbers and wild ideas while the app timer ticks. When a combination finally clicks, the whole table groans and cheers at once.