Thames & Kosmos EXIT - The Forgotten Island, Escape Room Card Game, Board Games for Family Night, Ideal for Adults and Kids, For 1 to 4 Players, Age 12+

This is the closest thing I have found so far to an escape room at home. It leaves a bit to the imagination (texts instead of videos), but the puzzles are great fun. I was hesitant at first because I thought it was a 'card game', it is not a card game at all, the cards are just an ingeniously used medium for the puzzles.I have played the Secret Lab (3.5 difficulty) and The Forgotten Island (3 difficulty). I have to say, I found the Forgotten Island MUCH harder than the Secret Lab, though this could just be due to the different type of puzzles, however both were extremely fun and well thought out, and I never felt cheated once the clues had been used to figure out what I wasn't getting.They are not ideally reusable, though if you wanted to pass it on to someone they could have a good go at perhaps 70% of the puzzles, but then I think they are so reasonably priced that you can buy them as a gift without issue.If you like escape rooms, or books such as Journal 29 , definitely give these a go!

The right level of difficulty for a really entertaining game. Lasts the right length of time for two people.

Best home fun activity you can buy! Puzzles are challenging! Always some new twist in each game.

This is a very good game, its unique and challenging. For those with children this game is absolutely fine, you all work together to solve the puzzles.I would recommend starting with a beginner one because some of the riddles/ puzzles are hidden very well. Its actually quite impressive to see just how in depth they have gone to hide clues in plain sight! Starting with a beginner pack will give you an idea of what to expect.I would give 5 stars but sometimes its unclear what you need to do (having said that the clue cards are very well done).Definitely recommend, give it a try!

Played many of these now with family. An hour of fun and the odd disagreement!

I bought this game (Forgotten Island) to play on Christmas day since my boyfriend and I are just stuck home together and can't see our families. Now we're obsessed and want to get every single one in the series!! The game is super well done, the riddles are entertaining and engaging and since we didn't finish it in the evening, I woke up in the morning and went straight to it again! Two thumbs up to the creators, I very rarely post reviews but this one deserves all the stars from me!

I've have played many Exit games and to be far this wasn't as good as some of the rest. It didn't make sense in parts and the last clue is a bit misleading.

Fun game - just the right level of challenging, frustrating, and 'AHA!' moments. Played it with three adults (age 34-65), and managed to complete it in 3 hours. Not terribly good score, but considering there weren't many of us, I think we did good :) Contained all the parts, was in English, and had decent instructions. Not too fiddly, and the text was a good size (or at least, there was no complaints about tiny print!).

These games are great fun, and very challenging. Have done a number of them already. Unfortunately, they are designed to be played only once, due to folding, cutting some game pieces. You have to think of it as a nights entertainment for a group of 4 or more, similar to a night out at an escape room, or something similar. You are paying for the entertainment value of the product.

I love all Exit games, good that a few are them are offered in English, too! This was one of my favorites.

Great way to spend a cold Sunday afternoon in the winter. Very entertaining

Tolles Spiel

This was our second escape game from Thames and Kosmos (The Abandoned Cabin being our first).We ended up trying the app this time for the little tutorial, soundtrack and timer (you don't have to). The soundtrack was fun to have on in the background without being too distracting. The app tutorial probably would have been more helpful the first time we tried one of these games. It's helpful to have a pencil and pen, paper and scissors handy. I also highly recommend keeping track of the puzzles you've completed (represented by a symbol) along with the cards associated with it that you referred to. You can usually set aside/get rid of the riddle cards pertaining to that puzzle/symbol once you are done with them, though cards featuring rooms or sceneries will often be kept around longer. It could be helpful to have a little bit of knowledge of compasses though it probably isn't necessary.As two players, it ended up taking us just as long the second time around - roughly three hours. I enjoyed the puzzles in this one more - they were clever but also quite challenging (one requiring three riddle cards was a bit mind boggling to process and led to some laughter). The crescent symbol and related page (6) and cards (including Y & Z) was probably my least favorite part. We realized at the end that something seemed off related to cards Y & Z and discovered that we had done it wrong, yet by chance still managed to get the code right.We did use four clues, not counting a couple we used but didn't actually need because we had figured those things out.Patience is key because it can be very frustrating at times. Keep in mind it can take time for certain puzzles to be solved (you may need several pieces or riddle cards before you can do so, so some cards will be set aside until you can use them later). Clues can be used if needed.I managed to figure out a few things that ended up being helpful but thank goodness for my partner and their own way of thinking because I would have been completely lost for many parts. It is definitely an interesting way to spend time that does not involve technology, and that asks for more focus in a world of shorter attention spans. The downside is that it does feel rather wasteful being a single use game. Contrary to the cabin game, which could potentially be used again with care taken, this one definitely felt unusable after completion. With the cabin game, it also felt to me like there were cards leftover or not consulted, whereas this one seemed to make use of pretty much all its materials, which is at least a plus if you aren't able to use them again.The website Boardgamegeek offers a good explanation of the game if you need some guidance (see Darryl T's Exit: The Forgotten Island - A Detailed Walkthrough) but try to challenge yourself as much as you can. It's nicer to look at it after your attempt.It's funny how when we finished this, we were both exhausted and feeling like we were done and probably wouldn't do another one of these for a while, if ever. A day or two later, we were already thinking of playing a new one. It made me think of giving birth. How it could be described as very hard in the moment - to the point of not wanting to endure it again - but then you forget the pain and are ready for baby #2 (or 3 in our case)! lol