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The box states it is for 2 to 8 players, but there were only two of us playing. So it was a surprise when we opened the box to find character invitations for 8 players. Maybe it is meant as a dinner party game where we all play different roles, we mused. But, no. The characters seem to play no part in the game whatsoever! Professor Puzzle encourages players to make an evening of Escape from the Grand Hotel. They included invitations to mail to guests, who can come in character and in costume. This would be a fun way to make a play-at-home puzzle game into a bigger event. Invite your guests, set your scene and get ready to host a night of fun and intrigue. The ultimate quest? To uncover the dark, hidden secret of The Grand Hotel …
It wasn’t clear that those character invitations were even an option until we had started the game. The story was hokey, but it came together well enough in the end. It worked for the game and made us smile in the end. Your experience of this game is very similar to ours, but we found the game far too easy, until we got to the coded fax. This puzzle made absolutely no sense – even after reading the supposed answer. Any chance you can explain it to us? It's always an excellent service with brilliant products at a very competitive price - will use again!When the Blossoms’ glamorous, rich and influential guests arrive for the grand reopening, they’re ready for a night to remember – but little do they suspect it will be for all the wrong reasons! Each room envelope unfolds to reveal a clue. Some rooms contain a puzzle to solve, but surprisingly, not each room holds a puzzle. Some just hold a puzzle piece or a continuation of the story. Yes, there’s a lot of reading.
To make a larger event around this game, mail out the enclosed invitations and have your guests arrive in character and in costume. Note, the character roles are entirely for fun and are not relevant to the gameplay. Escape from the Grand Hotel”arrived in a beautifully designed box with quality printed material. Bigger than most escape-room-in-a-box we have played (except Mystery At the Stargazers Manor) we were expecting great things. Owned by the wealthy but mysterious Blossom family, the once magnificent Grand Hotel was in danger of being closed for good until the sudden return of the Blossom son, Kurt, and his beautiful wife, Lauren. They want to restore the hotel to its former glory, but nothing is quite what it seems… invitations in envelopes – with full descriptions of the characters so your guests can dress up in advanceIf you type something in the 'Text to display' box, that will be displayed instead of any star rating. We encountered some taxonomy inconsistencies within the in-game instructions. The way that it referred to things sometimes shifted. This got confusing. Weird, wonderful, exhausting, entertaining, daft and downright ridiculous, Phantom Peak is an immersive experience not to be missed. The first puzzle worked well for onboarding players. It wasn’t too challenging. Through it we understood how Escape from the Grand Hotel wanted us to play it. We enjoyed the structure of Escape from the Grand Hotel. Each puzzle led us to another room in the hotel. It was fun to explore the hotel in this way.
The gameplay took some clear inspiration from the ThinkFun tabletop escape games, using location envelopes and paper components to tell a puzzle-driven narrative. Their approach to answer verification was clever. The Grand Hotel was once the place for the rich and famous to visit. After decades of disrepair, the mysterious and wealthy Blossom family had restored the hotel to its former glory. Kurt Blossom and his beautiful wife, Lauren had invited us to the hotel’s grand reopening. We were ready for a night to remember – little did we suspect it would be for all the wrong reasons!Professor Puzzle stumbled with hinting and editing. Bluntly, this game felt under playtested. There were too many little problems that were easily fixable. The hint system was innovative, but insufficient. Another very different at home proposition, Escape from the Grand Hotel, is a table top, envelope-based escape experience. Owned by the wealthy but mysterious Blossom family, this once magnificent hotel was in danger of being closed for good until the sudden return of the Blossom son, Kurt and his beautiful wife, Lauren. They want to restore the hotel to its former glory but nothing is quite what it seems!
It’s the big re-opening of the Grand Hotel but nothing is quite what it seems in this immersive escape room game!Sadly I felt a little let down by this room and I can't put my finger on why. It could have been that the final stage tech wasn't as smooth as the rest or maybe just that our expectations were too high after enjoying their other rooms. There are some interesting ideas and a lot of great execution in Escape from the Grand Hotel. If you really enjoy tabletop escape games, this one had a lot to offer. However, there were too many little flaws and gaps that got amplified by the limited hint system for me to comfortably recommend this to a tabletop escape game newbie. Who is this for?
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