The Sunken Treasure | Exit: The Game - A Kosmos| Family-Friendly, Card-Based At-Home Escape Room Experience for 1 To 4 Players, Ages 10+

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 did this with my 9 year old son, who is very smart and loves puzzles. We downloaded the app and listened to the introduction. It was a little slow to get through but better than reading them aloud myself. We REALLY enjoyed the puzzles. This was difficulty level 2 of 5, which I felt was perfect for us. We did use the help cards on a few, and only used the solution card on one particularly difficult puzzle. It took us about 2 hours or so to complete and we both had fun the entire time. Even though the box is small and there aren’t a lot of props, it really had some ingenuous puzzles that were fun using just the decoder, cards and book. This game had my son so excited that afterwards he saved the decoder and made his own games for his little brothers quite a few times! In my mind that’s the best kind of game - one that inspires creativity to make new games from it. It’s a little bit of a shame that the game can only be used once because you Mark and cut it up, but there are certain puzzles we could keep and my son could use in his own made up games. The price is totally worth a few hours of fun and all of the creativity that flowed from it. Now a days it’s more about the experience than the material objects! I already bought another one - we’ll do a couple level 2 before advancing to level 3. I think once you do a few you learn how to think like the puzzles.

I played this with one other person. It took about two hours. It was definitely harder than we expected but doable with the hint cards for most riddles. Some of the riddles we found were unsolvable with what we were given but some we could figure out on our own without the hint cards. You’re given 2 hint cards per riddle and the solution if you really can’t figure it out. We used the hint cards for most riddles. I really liked the manipulatives and that every part of the box was used. I absolutely love escape rooms, and this was right up there in difficulty and felt like a real escape room without physically being in the room. I highly recommend this series but feel it should be rated higher than a 2 out of 5 in difficulty.

Out of 5 Exit games played so far, this was my and my husband's favorite. The clues were logical; we never ended up with those "how was I supposed to know that?" moments. Very good entertainment value for the money.

These are great for get togethers. We used ours when my adult kids came home for a visit. It was fun and just challenging enough.

I bought this game along with the lost cabin. I'll be gifting the lost cabin for a secret Santa gift at work and kept the sunken treasure for myself because, as a scuba diver, this theme really interested me. I loved the game and the story and will definitely be going back for more. One tip I would give is if you're using the timer on their app you might want to have your phone plugged in. It drains your battery pretty fast and I didn't notice my phone shut off. When I finished I went to check my time and found my phone was dead. The good news was it appeared that it still had kept track of my time once I turned the phone back on, I think. If so, then playing this by myself took roughly about 2.5 hours. I was able to figure out most of the puzzles without having to use any hints but there was one puzzle in particular that really stumped me. I used both hints and still had to guess multiple times before I got it right. I refused to look at the solution card. At the end I went back and looked at the solution card and realized that, though I had gotten the correct answer card, I got there the wrong way. If you're able to figure that puzzle out without having to use any hints, congratulations, you're a super genius and you need to stop playing around with silly games and get busy solving world hunger or curing cancer. I have a subscription box with Hunt A Killer and have also played their one off box Death at the Dive Bar. I have also been to an actual escape room one time. Comparing the price and quality of those things to this game I would definitely say that this is a good value for what you pay.

The Sunken Treasure is the second game in the EXIT series that my wife and I have played, the other being The House of Riddles (THOR). Both games are rated at Level 2 difficulty, but The Sunken Treasure is SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult than THOR... to the point where either this should be a '3' or THOR should be a '1'. Here's a paradox: Although I'm rating The Sunken Treasure lower than THOR (3 vs 4), my wife and I enjoyed playing it more. I personally liked that the decoder disc was keyed by either numbers or sea creatures. I thought that was a fun twist (though everything was kind of small, requiring a magnifying glass to read). In general, the riddles were more fun to solve and more rewarding (i.e. challenging). In fact, if it weren't for two riddles in particular that were ridiculously lame and/or incomprehensible, this game would have received a much higher rating. WARNING: The next few paragraphs contain spoilers. I'm not going to be giving out answers or describing methodology--that's what the Help Cards are for--but you will gain a distinct advantage through this insight that you wouldn't normally have during the course of play, and it may detract from your experience. [Actually, it might help contribute to your enjoyment; but it's still insight you wouldn't normally have.] ============= Begin spoiler section. ============= Between The Sunken Treasure and THOR, there is a trend that I consider detrimental to the game. The packaging (box, rule book, etc) is considered part of the playing pieces. First of all, in the game setup instructions they tell you to put the special objects off to the side, to be used later in the game as we "discover" them. Then why not tell us up front that the packaging is considered part of the special objects, too, and tell us when we discover those? But my biggest beef with the use of packaging in the game is the basic premise of the game. We're supposed to be trapped in a room (or in this case a sunken wreck) and need to find a way out. How does a game box, for example, fit into the theme of being trapped in a wreck? Did there just happen to be an EXIT game box in the wreck (that didn't disintegrate after being waterlogged for hundreds of years)? This is a fundamental disconnect from the basic premise of the game, and in my opinion detracts significantly from the experience. One such riddle in The Sunken Treasure took my wife and me 45 minutes to solve (we do try to use brainpower first before resorting to Help Cards)... and we'd still be trying to solve it if we hadn't used a Help Card which directed us to the packaging. That's unbelievably frustrating. There was another riddle that also took us 45 minutes to solve... and actually, we never solved it. We had to look at the solution card. We knew the methodology to use, we did everything we should have done, but making the leap from the method's output to the actual solution, well, that was really a stretch. "Thinking outside the box" is one thing--and that's just fine--but this was way beyond the box, and I still contend that there was no reasonable connection. ============= End of spoiler section. ============= So two riddles alone took us 90 minutes. In and of itself, I really don't mind that. It merely means I get to enjoy more time with my wife engaging in a fun activity; but I'm not lying when I say that I had a headache by the time the game ended. Part of the reason for that was because of the two riddles, for sure, but the main contributor was the poor quality printing on the cards and story book. They chose a very bad background color & texture, and the writing was barely perceptible. Lots of glare, too. We didn't have these problems with THOR, but it was bad with The Sunken Treasure. There are some things in the story line that don't make sense (to me), but it's just a story. A game. It doesn't have to be 100% cohesive to be enjoyable. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the waste from the "once and done" game materials. This game can't be passed on to other family members or friends, or even a thrift store, when you're finished with it. Overall, it was fun playing The Sunken Treasure. There are some frustrating moments--at least there were for me--but it was an entertaining way to spend an evening with my wife. There is no way this particular EXIT game could be enjoyed by more than two players, though (IMO). Everything is just too small. For a couple, though... go for it!

Fun game! Enjoyed playing with my sister and BIL. We love escape room games. Bought it again to play with different family members. Why? Because my mind is a forgetful 50+ year old, so I know I won’t remember the game! LOL

Fun game - efficient service

It's a fun experience for a small group (I recommend 2 and for sure not more than 3 people). This version is particularly suited for beginners as an introduction into the exit game series. Some of the puzzles were a bit straight forward and boring, however, I would still recommend the game.

Muy divertido, el nivel de dificultad es adecuado para un grupo de personas que juegan un exit por primera vez. Presenta un desafío sin llegar a ser frustrante. El concepto del tesoro fue bien desarrollado en todo el juego. Lo resolvimos en aproximadamente 90 minutos.

Hallo! Ich habe dieses Spiel meiner Schwester und ihrem finnischen Freund geschenkt. Obwohl er zwar schon sehr gut deutsch spricht, bevorzugen sie die englischen Versionen der EXIT Games. Wie alle anderen auf englisch erhältlichen EXIT Games hat den beiden auch dieses hier sehr viel Spaß gemacht. Da es leider das letzte englische EXIT Game war, dass sie noch nicht kannten, hoffen sie nun natürlich auf weitere englische Versionen dieses fantastischen Spiels! Liebe Grüße, Sina

Really enjoyed playing the game. Too bad you can only play it once.