Room Escape Artist

“Dude, where’s carabiner?”

Location: at home

Date Played: September 21, 2025

Team Size: 1+; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 2-3 hours

Price: Kickstarter price is $26, MSRP will be $29

REA Reaction

As we opened Case 2: Finders Keypers, I was once again instantly smitten with the idea of the Ministry of Lost Things. We were extra delighted that this case was key-themed, as regular readers of this site know that we (but especially David) love 🗝️🗝️🗝️.

As we’ve come to expect from PostCurious, they delivered a polished game. They used high quality printed materials, and created detailed artwork to contain each and every puzzle. Just look at the artwork on the box. They’ve drawn an entire whimsical world!

I was captivated by the puns as soon as I started charting my way through the first puzzle I touched in transmission one. Impressively, this level of punning never let up. I loved it!

When compared to the first case we played in this series, we felt that the puzzles in Finders Keypers were more similar to each other, meaning less surprises. They were all excellent puzzles, however, with clear clueing and satisfying resolution. The adorable theme, beautiful artwork, and pun-tastic writing kept us engaged – the postcard puzzle was a standout and pure joy. The overall impression was a most excellent sophomore outing that wasn’t quite as wow as the first one… which is, perhaps, because of how much the first one expanded PostCurious’ range, which now we take for granted.

PostCurious launched a Kickstarter for this game today. We have complete faith that PostCurious will deliver on their Kickstarter promise and ship this product, as they have with many products before this one. Yes, you’ll be able to buy this game in stores and online eventually, but if you enjoy tabletop puzzle games, don’t wait. Just back their Kickstarter today. PostCurious never misses.

Who is this for?

• Adorableness afficionados
• Punny people
• Puzzle lovers
• Players with at least some experience

Why play?

• The puns alone are good enough reason.
• But also, how the puzzles and the puns are intertwined.
• Adorable, whimsical artwork

Story

The Ministry of Lost Things helps reunite lost items that have landed in the Elusiverse (a parallel dimension for forgotten items) with their owners in the Realisphere (our world) when some sort of clerical error has an item land in the wrong place (how embarrassing!). In our position at the Department of Returns, we had been assigned a case of a lost carabiner… which meant many lost keys, among other possessions.

Setup

Finders Keypers was all stored in a compact box that we could toss into a suitcase and take with us on a trip (which we did!)

The box contained a welcome note and five envelopes labeled “transmissions.” We opened the envelopes in order, solving the puzzles within before proceeding to the next envelope. The sixth envelope contained the solution and resolution.

With the production copies, the box will also include a refill pack for any items which get “used up” while playing the game.

Gameplay

PostCurious’s Ministry of Lost Things: Finders Keypers was a standard play-at-home escape game with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay included a variety of puzzle types, but was heavily logic based. There was also a bit of ciphering involved.

Analysis

➕ More than anything else, Finders Keypers got points from us for its abundant and impressive use of puns. The Ministry of Lost Things (MOLT) series leans hard on the puns, starting with the first case, Lint Condition, and never lets off the gas. We were amused by each and every paper and item we read while playing this game. We absolutely loved this style of humor.

➕ PostCurious always delivers high quality materials and beautiful artwork. Finders Keypers was no exception. This was a compact game that relied almost exclusively on paper materials, but they looked good and felt nice to handle. We loved all the little details in the art, including the artistic puns!

➕ Our favorite puzzle was the one where the gameplay was the art and the art was the gameplay. PostCurious always produces such fantastic artwork, and we loved traveling through their images on our way to a solution.

❓Finders Keypers leaned heavily on logic puzzles where we had to uncover all the constraints within the written and/ or artistic details. We sunk a lot of time into a few such puzzles, without noticing quite all the details, which led to some frustration. This isn’t a critique of the design of the game. The puzzles were fair, and the clueing was complete. Rather, this is a word of caution to players to be extremely detail-oriented, and make sure you have a teammate who enjoys logic.

➖ While the puzzles were clued adequately, we would have appreciated more clueing in a few places to make sure momentum wasn’t stymied. For one extraction, we sat around sipping our drinks for a bit too long, with everything correctly placed, but unsure how to get moving. In another instance, since we didn’t receive any intermediary feedback, we were relieved when our answer lined up perfectly after everything stuck in place.

➕ While the majority of the gameplay was 2D, PostCurious added intrigue in the finale envelope with a challenge that came off the tabletop a bit more. It was thematic, layered, and tangible. We loved it.

❓We suggest playing the Lint Condition, the first case in the MOLT series, before playing Finders Keypers. The first case did more extensive world-building, which we felt added to the experience of the second case. We’d played both, but our teammates hadn’t played the first one and didn’t have the same appreciation for the world that we did.

🔑 The prize at the end was thematic and cute, but we could think of a funnier, even more thematic version of this. We hope that’s part of the Kickstarter stretch goals.

Tips For Players

• Space Requirements: a small table
• Required Gear: pen and paper

Back PostCurious’s Ministry of Lost Things: Finders Keypers on Kickstarter, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: PostCurious provided a sample for review.

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