Tag: Andrew Reynolds

Edaqa’s Room – Office [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Hivemind

Office is a point-and-click game created by Edaqa’s Room.

Illustration of an office desk with a computer, a stack of books, and many plants.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
  • Play on demand
  • Web-based inventory system
  • Point-and-click

Who is it For?

  • Puzzle lovers
  • Best for players with at least some experience
  • Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper

Recommended Team Size: 1-3

Play Time: 60-120 minutes, but you have 15 days to complete the game

Price: priced per player from $4.75 for a solo player to $13.00 for a group of 4+ players

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

Office is a point-and-click online game where you collect useful items to solve puzzles of varied complexity. Solving puzzles involved entering codes, manipulating objects into appropriate configurations, or using inventory items in the correct places. When a player solved a puzzle or discovered an inventory item, all players were notified of the discovery.

External voice chat is necessary. Edaqa’s Room offers an option, but players are free to use whatever chat platform they prefer.

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Project Avatar (Hypno Dive) – Mystery Hotel [Hivemind Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in Hivemind, Project Avatar

Mystery Hotel is an avatar-led online escape game created by Project Avatar of Hypno Dive based in Ukraine.

Card reads, "This escape room created in Ukraine."

Format

Style of Play:

  • Adaptation of an in-person game
  • Avatar controlled by the players
  • Includes video segments

Who is it For?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-8

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: $100 for a team of 4 players plus $25 for each additional player

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

Mystery Hotel is first-person avatar-led escape game with graphic overlays and cut scenes that give it a videogame style.

First person view, with a HUD. Hands reaching out to open an ornate book.
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Nomis Piy – Missing [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Book, Hivemind, Nomis Piy, Products

Missing is a puzzle book created by Nomis Piy in Singapore.

Nomis Piy Missing Escape puzzle book cover and demo interior pages printed in a colorful, cartoonish style.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Puzzle book

Who is it For?

  • Puzzle lovers
  • Best for players with at least some experience

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper

You need an internet connection to check your answers. A pen is necessary to record your answers on the answer sheet. Paper is helpful for notes, but not necessary.

Recommended Team Size: 1-2

Play Time: There’s no clock. Expect 4-6 hours of play, perhaps more.

Price: S$25 (roughly 18.41 USD) plus shipping from Singapore

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

This is a puzzle book with a light story and lots of puzzles. As you solve each puzzle, you input the answer online. If correct, you get instructions to fill in the answer sheet in the front of the book. Sometimes you get information you will need for a subsequent puzzle. If incorrect, nothing happens. You need to use different parts of the book in unique ways to solve the puzzles. One section is sealed and only available when you’ve reached that section.

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The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs [Book Review]

by Andrew Reynolds, posted in Book, Products, Reviews

If you enjoy The Puzzler, we hope you’ll check out our interview with author A.J. Jacobs on The Reality Escape Pod.

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Author:  A.J. Jacobs

Year:  2022

Page count:  240 pages of written material; about 80 pages of puzzles and solutions

Price:  $28.00

Publisher:  Crown

REA Reaction

It’s easy to understand why author A.J. Jacobs has been on the New York Times bestseller list 4 times. His writing throughout The Puzzler is engaging and very easy to binge. I needed to make myself put the book down multiple times in order to reflect on what he had written rather than just turning to the next chapter.

Packed full of humor, anecdotes, and insight, The Puzzler was a delight to read. Jacobs does a wonderful job of making this book feel personal. He shares his triumphs and secret (well, not so secret anymore) puzzle shames, we meet his family, and we follow him around the world. We also meet some of his political leanings through some offhand commentary, which I didn’t feel was necessary in a book about puzzling.

He immersed himself in puzzles for years to write this book and provides meaningful conversation on a broad spectrum of puzzles. With nearly 20 puzzle types covered, readers will read about one they really love but likely also one that they don’t care for. My litmus test was chess puzzles; I’ve just never been interested in them. And while I still don’t feel compelled to delve into them the way Jacobs did (sitting down with Garry Kasparov himself), I still enjoyed the chapter and left with a greater appreciation of the style.

man smiling with short brown hair, in a button down blue shirt
Book cover image titled The puzzler, with an image of a three sided cube with jigsaw pieces, crossword puzzle and rubik's cube.
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Emergency Exit – Virtual Dr. Becker [Hivemind Review]

by REA Hivemind, posted in Emergency Exit, Hivemind

Virtual Dr. Becker is real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, created by Emergency Exit in Greater Manchester, England.

The game host looking into the camera intensely. He's wearing a headset with a microphone.

Format

Style of Play:

  • Adaptation of an in-person game (can be played IRL)
  • Avatar controlled by the players
  • Includes video segments
  • Interactive NPC(s) (other than a player-controlled avatar)

Who is it For?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Story seekers
  • Any experience level

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, pen and paper

It also helped to have a note taking device handy.

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: 60 minutes

Price: £80 per team

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

You are invited to spend an hour with the famous Dr. Becker at Boleskine Lodge Practice… but do not dig too deep. Dr. Becker has a past which is questionable at best and not everyone agrees with his methods.

The game was livestreamed through Zoom. Emergency Exit added some amazing video sequences to transition between scenes. There were also two people running the game: our gamemaster and an additional cameraman. There was no inventory website.

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