Unlock!: Exotic Adventures

Three card-based escape rooms with a companion app: boogeymen, a storyteller's last tale and a space expedition.

Designers: Germain Winzenschtark, Cyril Demaegd
Published by: Space Cowboys
Editions by: asmodee, Korea Boardgames, Gém Klub Kft., Hobby Japan, Asterion Press

Unlock!: Exotic Adventures (2018) is a box of three escape-room scenarios played with a deck of cards and a companion app. You search scenes by flipping numbered cards, combine objects, enter codes and chase clues while the app keeps the clock. The three adventures are Night of the Boogeymen, Scheherazade's Last Tale and Expedition: Challenger, so you get a spooky one, a storybook one and a sci-fi one. Everything fits on a table, no props and no mess, and the cards stay reusable for a different group. Ideal for one to six people, though two or three tends to be the sweet spot. Expect puzzles that feel like proper detective work, with a nicely varied rhythm between scenarios.

Three scenarios in one boxCard numbers combine objectsCompanion app gives hints and the timer

Who it's for

You like escape rooms but prefer the sofa to a booking. Three varied scenarios let you try a spooky, a storybook and a sci-fi adventure.

Not for you if…

You dislike playing against a clock or need your phone off the table. The app runs the timer, the hints and the codes.

Vibe's take

Frantic in a friendly way. Everyone is digging through the same pile of cards, shouting numbers and fighting a timer that never seems fair.