Alice in Puzzleland is an avatar-led, livestream adaptation of an in-person game created by Escape Hunt in the UK.
Format
Style of Play:
- Adaptation of an in-person game (can be played IRL)
- Avatar controlled by the players
- Web-based inventory system
Required Equipment: computer with internet connection
Recommended Team Size: 2-4
Play Time: 60 minutes
Price: £80 – £120 per team, depending on team size
Booking: book online for a specific time slot
Description
The avatar is our hands and eyes through Zoom, as usual. There is a Google Doc serving as an inventory, where we see more detailed images of certain objects we find.
Hivemind Review Scale
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The Lone Puzzler’s Reaction
Delightfully authentic twist on the Alice in Wonderland theme. This game was a joy to play with lots of quick-hitting puzzles and fun moments. Not really a hard game, but it was action packed. An in-person avatar kept the game moving without any impact on our creativity. The space was not a large one, but it was full of obviously handcrafted props and sets. The game should be fun for all levels of player experience and ages.
Brett Kuehner’s Reaction
- + The set was beautiful and contained a lot of things to interact with
- + Really great physical puzzles. It would have been even more fun in person.
- + Good audio that helped tell the story
- – A few of the puzzles didn’t translate well to remote play
- – The handheld camera movement isn’t the best if you are subject to motion sickness
- + Puzzles were well themed
- – Some puzzles were a bit ambiguous or had weak connections to the clues
- ? The last step in several puzzles was easily found with trial and error, which has pros and cons
Joel Smileypeacefun Reaction
In the magical world of Alice, someone stole tarts for the tea party. We had to find them and bring them back.
At its best, Alice in Puzzleland had gorgeous set design. This was a puzzle-heavy game, filled to the brim with challenging and fun interactions. Reveals on top of reveals were awaiting us.
At its worst, the gamemaster was not super high energy. In fact, they hardly got a word in because we were talking over each other quite often. That in turn happened because there was a lot of puzzle content that could be worked on simultaneously. But with the online avatar, we could only work at one thing at a time. The time given for the online experience was almost too tight, where even skilled players will be kind of pushed through the game. Additionally, the cluing sometimes felt a bit off. In one or two instances it was not clear why a certain clue or number went into a specific input.
Even though putting this game online caused some flaws, I would have loved to play this in real life.
Theresa W’s Reaction
Alice in Puzzleland was a solid escape room with many tangible, fun puzzles that I so wish I could have done in real life. Most of the puzzles were on theme with fun solves and cute audio effects, yet one puzzle left our team befuddled. The camera quality wasn’t great, making a handful of players slightly motion sick at the choppy movement. There were many adorable moments scattered throughout the room, and tiny surprises around every corner!
Cindi S’ Reaction
Escape Hunt’s Alice in Puzzleland is beautifully designed and one of the most immersive games based on the Alice in Wonderland theme that I have ever played. I only wish I could have been there in person! From the Mad Hatter’s curious cottage to an adorable tea party, the set just begs you to explore every corner. There are many thematic puzzles that kept our team busy, and a few even stood out for me as unique and memorable. One puzzle was difficult to view remotely; I’m still not sure how we solved it. While being there in person would have made solving the puzzles easier, they still worked in a virtual format. This game is for Alice fans, who will recognize characters and scenes from the books, and anyone who wants to spend a little bit of time in Wonderland.
Disclosure: Escape Hunt provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.