Room Escape Artist

A distinguished line of laser-cut puzzle boxes

Location:  at home

Date Played: January 2024

Team size: we recommend 1-2

Duration: 60-90 minutes

Price:  from $29-$55 depending on the box

REA Reaction

Since we first reviewed iDventure’s first Cluebox, Schrodinger’s Cat, back in 2019, this series has expanded dramatically.

We will have specific reviews of each product coming, but we wanted to simplify things by starting with a baseline review that looks at the whole product line… which is stellar and consistent.

Wooden, mechanical puzzle boxes comprise a whole branch of the puzzle world with its own community, creators, and an incredible amount of product depth. I cannot overstate the level of craft that lives within this community. With that craft comes a lot of handmade, low production run puzzles that you will be lucky to ever touch in real life.

iDventure’s Cluebox series does an admirable job of providing wooden puzzle boxes with a production model that is still fairly elegant, but mass produceable and affordable. These laser cut boxes are fun and resettable. That’s the magic of Cluebox.

If you’re interested in exploring this branch of the puzzle world, then I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

Series Installments

• A-maze-ing- Safe
• Cambridge Labyrinth
• Captain Nemo’s Nautilus
• Davey Jones Locker
• Schrodinger’s Cat (reviewed in 2020)
• Trial of Camelot
• Unfinished Case of Holmes

Who is this for?

• Mechanical puzzle lovers
• Any experience level

Why play?

• Tangible, elegant design
• Each box offers an interesting series of discoveries
• Durable and resettable

Setup & Gameplay

As a series, Cluebox combined mechanical puzzle box with escape room, with a moderate level of difficulty.

Typically puzzle boxes don’t provide clue structure. They exist for you to tinker with until you learn their secrets. That’s not the case with Cluebox puzzles.

Each Cluebox had a light story behind it and a series of clues engraved into its sides. It didn’t feel like it wanted us to hack at it until it opened; it felt like it wanted us to understand its progression.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.

Analysis

While the particulars of each box vary, there are some broad strokes observations that apply to all of them:

➕ Each Cluebox offered brilliant laser cut wooden puzzle boxes.

➕The series has well-tested progressive discovery puzzles that allow players to slowly understand the markings and mechanics on the box as they explore the object.

➕ This is an approachable series both from a design and budget standpoint.

➕/➖ Each Cluebox is a financially accessible wooden puzzle box that is more than elegant enough, but doesn’t represent the level of artistry that finer puzzle boxes offer.

Tips For Players

• Space Requirements: A table is nice, but your lap will suffice.
• Required Gear: Sometimes a pen and paper can be helpful.
• Take your time, there’s no need to force anything or rush.

Buy Them Now

Buy your copies of iDventure – Cluebox Puzzles, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

• A-maze-ing- Safe
• Cambridge Labyrinth
• Captain Nemo’s Nautilus
• Davey Jones Locker
• Schrodinger’s Cat
• Trial of Camelot

Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission

There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon or Etsy after clicking into the links included in this post or backing us on Patreon.

The money that we make from these helps us to grow the site and continue to add more value to the community that we love so much.