Room Escape Artist

The Paper Labyrinth : The Power of Four is a puzzle book/ print-and-play game.

Format

Style of Play:

• Puzzle book
• Print-and-play

Who is it For?

• Less experienced players

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen & paper

Recommended Team Size: exactly 4 players

Play Time: less than 60 minutes for our group of experienced players, but there isn’t any time limit

Price: $8

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

This book is designed to be played with exactly 4 players and it centers around communication. You can purchase 1 copy of the book and share pdfs with your friends. We opted to play remotely over Zoom.

Tammy McLeod’s Reaction

This played in 1 hour for 4 experienced puzzlers.

The purchase of one physical book will provide digital copies of the puzzles for the other team members. There are 7 puzzles, each leading to a single letter. The 7 letters are rearranged to form the final answer, which can be checked on a website.

Solving each puzzle relies upon the team finding effective ways to communicate the information that is split up among the different members. Most were process puzzles, with a few small ahas needed. I was impressed by the different mechanics devised by the puzzle creators.

We did not need to make use of the hint system, however, from the website, it appears that it requires you to email the creators, which seems like it would prevent a team from finishing their game right away if they get stuck.

The puzzles in this set are very approachable for beginners, so experienced escape room players may not find these puzzles will hold their attention as a more immersive experience might. However, this game would be a fun way for 4 friends that are physically separated (as we were) to spend an hour together online.

Brett Kuehner’s Reaction

• + Book purchase comes with a free download of PDFs for all 4 parts, making it easy to share with friends
• + First puzzle is easy to get started with
• + Good puzzle construction
• ? Puzzles are fairly easy, best for beginners
• + Puzzle structure ensures all players are involved in each puzzle
• + Puzzles include a good variety, with a focus on communication between players
• – Only 7 puzzles, so a fairly short playtime
• ? Answers are provided, but hints are only available via email

Denise Kuehner’s Review

Our fourth player is here too as a guest reviewer!

This is a game from early in the pandemic, meant to be played by four people over a phone or video call. One person needs to buy a booklet, which comes with access to three other pdfs to give to the other players. Each player gets their own unique packet of clues, and gets their own turn to share information visible only to them, so good communication is needed. Our group of experienced solvers found most of the puzzles fun but too easy for us, and we all agreed that this would be more suited for newbies, and groups with young players. We didn’t use the hint system, but were concerned that it appeared to require sending an email and waiting for a response. The booklet and pdfs each come with answers at the back, so players need to be careful to avoid seeing those during play. The puzzles didn’t require any outside knowledge, or equipment other than a pencil and access to a website to enter the final answer. We enjoyed the core mechanism of sharing bits of information and deducing how they fit together, and would gladly do another round, especially if the puzzles were more challenging.

Cara Mandel’s Reaction

The Paper Labyrinth: The Power of Four is a charming idea on paper (pun intended). Each player is assigned a different role (Player A, B, C, or D) and must verbally communicate information to their fellow players in order to collectively solve puzzles. These type of games can be great for team-building or just generally strengthening one’s communication skills. This particular book was perfectly enjoyable, but I would not recommend it for more seasoned or experienced players. Rather, this might make for a good gaming experience for newer puzzlers or younger players. Some of the challenges bordered on tedious, but there were also a couple charming discovery moments. Considering the very reasonable price point, as well as the ability for players to download PDF versions of the game, I certainly felt I got my money’s worth and our team did have a nice time playing together (although I don’t know how much the book had to do with it).