Room Escape Artist

The Magical Academy is a tabletop escape game created by Exit: The Game.

Format

Style of Play: tabletop escape game

Who is it For?

• Puzzle lovers
• Newbies

Required Equipment: pen & paper, scissors

Recommended Team Size: 1-2

Play Time: 1-2 hours

Price: about $15

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

The Magical Academy where we attend school had been infested with polterboldts, impish creatures determined to wreak havoc. Using our trusty decoder disk, a deck of riddle cards, and several “strange items,” we worked through a booklet of ten puzzles to defeat the polterboldts.

Cindi S’ Reaction

In Exit: The Game’s The Magical Academy, we discovered that polterbolds, or mischievous goblins, had found their way through a portal and were wreaking havoc in our school. Each puzzle led us closer to corralling the polterbolds and sending them back to the netherworld where they came from. This game was a lower difficulty and had mostly straightforward puzzles, so gameplay flowed smoothly through the majority of the game. Just when I thought we would make it to the end with no hints, we encountered a couple of tricky puzzles, including one that was confusing to execute, even with the solution cards right in front of us. And though the artwork was whimsical, we were disappointed with the lack of aha moments we’ve come to expect with these games. Overall, unless you are new to Exit: The Game or really like this theme, I would recommend playing other, stronger games in the series.

Theresa W’s Reaction

When I saw the 2/5 difficulty ranking for The Magical Academy, I thought it would be the perfect first foray into tabletop puzzle games to play with my mom, and I was right! As someone who has played a lot of Exit: The Game installments over the years, I love getting fresh perspectives on the games, and dragging my puzzle-adverse mom to play a game for 2 hours ended up being full of joy. The puzzle difficulty is perfect for those looking to bring new players into the tabletop puzzle genre, with each solve being clear and concise, while having some adorable artwork. I wouldn’t recommend this game to experienced Exit: The Game solvers, as there isn’t anything terribly novel with the puzzle design, but I genuinely feel as if The Magical Academy is a fantastic choice for a first time puzzler!

Sarah Mendez’s Reaction

The Magical Academy was an averagely entertaining, overall straightforward Exit: The Game installment, whose strength might be its theme and whose weakness is simply a lack of standout aspects. Fans of wands and more wands will enjoy the ambiance, and a majority of the puzzles were solid. A few were underwhelming with unpleasant executions, either from excessive repetition or physical complexity that demanded high precision. I didn’t dislike the overall experience, but it didn’t feel memorable either. It’s a fine entry point for newbies and an adequate endeavor for completionists, but not a standout in the series for anyone being more selective.

Notable aspects of this installment:

• Wizarding theme
• Less box manipulation than usual

Disclosure: Exit: The Game provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.

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