Price: $45-$50 for a single shirt, $80-$90 for a couples pack
REA Reaction
We were big fans of the first Solve Our Shirts game, Escape from the Maze of the Minotaur… so we had XXL expectations coming into their latest game, Treasure Trove of Pirates Cove.
I can safely report that Solve Our Shirts managed to take what was great about their first game and improve upon it… and they managed to do this without treading the same ground. It’s remarkable how many surprises can be hidden in a damn t-shirt. It feels like magic.
Image via Solve Our Shirts
Treasure Trove of Pirates Cove wasn’t a perfect game. The first puzzle was a bit of a steep on-ramp and I really wish that there was one clear puzzle on the front of the shirt that a friend could solve while we’re sitting in a restaurant, so that when they ask about the shirt, you can explain that “it’s a puzzle shirt, and here’s a simple one for you.”
I’ll also add that I think that the aesthetics of this Solve Our Shirts’ shirt are greatly improved… and while I probably won’t wear it out… because I’m a New Yorker at heart and sea green is waaaayyyyy too far from black for my comfort… I’m flirting with the idea of wearing this one, just to see what it feels like to wear this color. Your mileage may vary.
Overall, Treasure Trove of Pirates Cove is a stellar tabletop escape game product. CU Adventures comfortably ranks among the top creators in the field. If you’re even passingly interested in play-at-home puzzle games, this is one to buy.
I cannot wait to see what they think of next.
Series Overview
This review only covers details specific to this individual game from Solve Our Shirts.
For a detailed explanation of the concept and mechanics, and a general analysis of the entire product line, check out our Solve Our Shirts Overview.
Treasure Trove of Pirates Cove differs from the overview in three key ways:
In episode 4, we chat with Chris and Anne, owners of the escape room company CU Adventures in Time & Space in Urbana, Illinois. Chris and Anne’s game design has a very thoughtful cinematic quality to it, full of spectacle, surprise reveals, and smooth narrative flow.
After learning about their background in indie filmmaking and their love of kitsch, horror, roadside attractions, and fantasy scavenger hunts, all the pieces fell into place. Chris and Anne have a strong aesthetic vision that becomes apparent the minute you play any one of their wonderful games.
We really loved rummaging around in their brains, and we hope you’ll enjoy all the stories and tidbits we discovered.
Episode 4
Episode Summary
In this episode, David and Peih-Gee chat with Chris and Anne Lukeman, owners of the escape room company CU Adventures and the escape room shirt companySolve Our Shirts.
We talk about how a trip to Wisconsin and to two attractions in particular “opened their eyes to a level of weird that became a commercial business.” Those attractions were Wizard Quest, a fantasy-themed scavenger hunt and House on the Rock, which Anne describes as a “skyscraper hobbit-hole of kitsch.” We learn about their background in indie filmmaking and how it has influenced their escape room design process. As part of his design philosophy, Chris says that anywhere in one of their escape rooms, “it should feel like a picturesque, lived-in space, and either tell part of the story, inform part of the puzzle, or be weird, or be funny. It HAS to do one of those things.”
They talk to us about the pros and cons of operating in a smaller community. We find out why they decided to release their remote game Lost Temple as a print-and-play. David and Peih-Gee gush over Solve Our Shirts, their latest project, which is an escape room in a t-shirt. Chris and Anne tell us about their plans to expand with a fantasy-themed mini-golf course with additional gamification, a bar, and gaming rooms.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
Anne and Chris tell us how a trip to Wisconsin in 2012, and visits to two different attractions in particular “opened their eyes to a level of weird that became a commercial business.” [1:09]
One of the attractions was Wizard Quest, a scavenger hunt that takes place in a large immersive fantasy-themed space. [1:40]
Wizard Quest
The second attraction was The House on the Rock, which Anne describes as a “skyscraper hobbit-hole of kitsch.” [4:55]
We learn about Anne and Chris’ background in spectacle-based, indie filmmaking, and how they met in college. [9:30]
They tell us about how they actually crossed paths at a Bruce Campbell book-signing event 6 years before they officially met. [10:30]
Chris talks about how his background in production and set design has influenced his escape rooms [12:20]
As part of his design philosophy, Chris says that if a player stands in any part of his escape rooms, “it should feel like a picturesque, lived-in space, and either tell part of the story, inform part of the puzzle, or be weird, or be funny. It HAS to do one of those things.” [13:11]
Anne talks about how their games typically follow a three-act structure similar to a play or a movie, and how it typically corresponds to three different spaces. [14:10]
One of the things that CU Adventures takes pride in doing well is accommodating both newcomers and experienced players. [15:40]
They don’t create rooms of varying difficulty. Instead, they prefer to adjust difficulty level on the fly via the hint system, gamemaster interaction, or by swapping out a puzzle. [16:16]
We talk about the length of escape room games and discuss unsatisfying conclusions to escape rooms. [17:15]
Anne and Chris tell us that none of their games end with unlocking a door. They discuss why their games don’t end with an “escape back to reality.” [19:13]
Anne and Chris discuss the pros and cons of operating in a smaller community. [20:50]
Anne and Chris tell us about their traveling rooms, which are mobile, large-scale escape rooms that they created for special events like GenCon. [23:25]
We talk about their digital games, Floor 13 and The Lost Temple, and their roots in old-school point-and-click adventure games, including Monkey Island, 90’s MUDs (multi-user dungeon) and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [26:45]
Anne and Chris talk about their decision to release The Lost Temple as a print-and-play digital game instead of as an avatar livestream game. [28:50]
We chat about Solve Our Shirts, of which David and Peih-Gee are both big fans. [32:35]
Anne tells us about how they were able to pivot from an escape room company to manufacturing and fulfillment of a physical product. [34:10]
Solve Our Shirts – Image via CU Adventures
We talk about the hint system in Solve Our Shirts and how hinting and cluing is an art form when done well. [36:30]
Anne and Chris talk about their plans for expanding, which included a fantasy themed mini-golf course with additional gamification, a bar, escape rooms, and gaming rooms. [40:10]
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Guest Bio
Chris and Anne Lukeman, owners of CU Adventures in Time & Space and Solve Our Shirts
Chris & Anne Lukeman are owners of CU Adventures, an escape room company located in Urbana, IL. In addition to their in-person games, they have also hosted large-scale pop-up escape rooms at Gen Con Indy, and developed the digital/print-and-play hybrid games The Lost Temple and Floor 13. Their newest game is Solve our Shirts, a full-length at-home escape room where all the clues are on a t-shirt!
Support Room Escape Artist’s Mission
There are lots of ways to support Room Escape Artist, like buying from Amazon, Etsy, or Art of Play 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.
Update 3/23/21: If you enjoy Solve of Shirts, we hope you’ll check out our interview with creators Anne & Chris Lukeman on The Reality Escape Pod.
A monster with the body of a man and the face of a puzzle.
Location: at home
Date Played: December 2020
Team size: 1-4; we recommend 2
Duration: 60-90 minutes
Price: $35-$40 for a single shirt, $50-$60 for the deluxe edition, couples packs also available
REA Reaction
To the best of my knowledge, Escape from the Maze of the Minotaur is the first time that puzzles, cotton, and a bit of polyester have been blended together to create a play-at-home escape game… and it was great fun.
Image via CU Adventures
Solve Our Shirts is onto something and I strongly recommend it. The question that you have to answer for yourself is which edition you’re purchasing:
Standard ($35-40) – the core product
Deluxe ($50-60) – the core product + a few added props and puzzles
(Or the couples version of either of these)
My advice: The core product stood firmly on its own. If your budget is tight, this was the main event and you will not feel like you missed out.
If you’re not going to miss the extra $15-20, the premium product added a few good puzzles and a prop that gave me a good laugh, and now sits on my desk.
The couples version is great if the t-shirt design speaks to you and a puzzle solving companion in your life. While we appreciated having two shirts side by side for solving, a second shirt added no additional content.
All options are good options; simply pick the one that speaks to you. I can’t wait for more Solve Our Shirts.
Images via CU Adventures
Series Overview
This review only covers details specific to this individual shirt from Solve Our Shirts.
For a detailed explanation of the concept and mechanics, and a general analysis of the entire product line, check out our Solve Our Shirts Overview.
Update 3/23/21: If you enjoy Solve of Shirts, we hope you’ll check out our interview with creators Anne & Chris Lukeman on The Reality Escape Pod.
SOS FTW
Location: at home
Date Played: December 2020
Team size: 1-4; we recommend 2
Duration: 60-90 minutes
Price: $35-$40 for a single shirt, $50-$60 for the deluxe edition, couples packs also available
REA Reaction
Solve Our Shirts is a burgeoning product line that blends physical props, t-shirt design, and a digital interface to create a novel way to puzzle. The concept was cool and the execution was stellar.
CU Adventures has achieved a renowned status for their escape room design pre-2020, and their digital escape game design throughout 2020. With games like the 2020 Golden Lock Award-winning The Lost Temple and the similarly brilliant Floor 13, this small company from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois has provided some of our favorite puzzling experiences of the past year.
While there is only one installment currently in the Solve Our Shirts lineup, we have it on good authority that there will be more coming, so with this overview, we’re ready for when future installments arrive.
Update 3/23/21: If you enjoy Floor 13, we hope you’ll check out our interview with creators Anne & Chris Lukeman on The Reality Escape Pod.
Floor 13 is a combination digital + printable game created by CU Adventures in Time & Space in Urbana, IL.
Format
Style of Play: fusion of point-and-click adventure game and print-and-play tabletop escape game
Required Equipment: computer with an internet connection, printer, pen and paper, scissors, tape
The no-printer variant is really good, but the print-and-play version is better. Also, make sure that all players are using the same packet (print or no-print).
Recommended Team Size: 1-3
Play Time: about 60 minutes
Price: pay what you want; minimum $10
Booking: purchase online and play at your leisure
Description
Floor 13 was a fusion of LucasArts-style point-and-click adventure with tabletop escape room. We received a PDF with about a dozen printable pages (there is a no-print variant as well), and a few pages had bits that required cutting out. Then we used a web-based interface to click around and interact with the game world. This interface kept us organized while presenting the puzzles as well as the story.
Avoid using the paper elements before being instructed to do so or you might short circuit the game.
