Tag: Andrew Reynolds

The Box – The Diamond Heist [Hivemind Review]

by reahivemind, posted in Hivemind

The Diamond Heist is a real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, created by The Box in Metz, France.

A mobile website with a photo of someon breaking into a building. Under the image is a prompt for a password.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection, recommended to have a second screen or second device

Recommended Team Size: 2-5

Play Time: 75 minutes

Price: from 20€ per person

Booking: Book online for a specific time slot. This game is available in both French and English, but you may need to email them about English booking availability.

Description

The Diamond Heist is a standard remote avatar-based game that uses Google Drive to share image closeups. You are connected with Bob, your avatar, and you have to help him break into a shop and steal “the blue lion” aka a large diamond.

Hivemind Review Scale

REA's hivemind review scale - 3 is recommended anytime, 2 recommended in quarantine, 1 is not recommended.

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Continue reading “The Box – The Diamond Heist [Hivemind Review]” →

Escape Room in a Box: The Walking Dead [Hivemind Review]

by reahivemind, posted in Hivemind, Products, Tabletop Escape Game

Escape Room in a Box: The Walking Dead is a tabletop escape game created by Mattel.

Escape Room in a Box The Walking Dead box art depicts a cracked door with many zombie hands reaching through it.

Format

Style of Play: tabletop escape game

Required Equipment: pen and paper

Note: You’ll need a computer and printer to reset the game for another user.

Recommended Team Size: 1-3

Play Time: 90 minutes. The timer is only relevant if you want it to be.

Price: about $30

Description

This is a tabletop escape game in the same vein as previous Escape Room in a Box installments. You solve mostly paper puzzles, open real (plastic) locks, and repeat until there are no more puzzles. It is more about the puzzles than the story.

Open box, an assortmnt of locks, paper puzzles, and plastic props.
Continue reading “Escape Room in a Box: The Walking Dead [Hivemind Review]” →

Daydream Adventures – The Witch’s Forest [Hivemind Review]

by reahivemind, posted in Hivemind

The Witch’s Forest is a real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar, created by Daydream Adventures in Toronto, ON.

Intro screen for The Witch's Forest, a Virtual Experience. Depicts a colorful magical forest.

Format

Style of Play: real-life escape room livestreamed and played through an avatar

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: 60 minute game clock

Price: $110 CAD for four players plus $15 CAD per additional player (plus tax)

Booking: book online for a specific time slot

Description

This is a standard avatar-led escape game through a forest setting. Video vignettes are sprinkled in throughout to advance the story.

The witch’s home had been intruded by humans who’d left all their trash. We had to help the witch bring everything in her home back to normal and then cast a spell on those rude intruders.

A clock and a mirror hanging from a tree.

Hivemind Review Scale

REA's hivemind review scale - 3 is recommended anytime, 2 recommended in quarantine, 1 is not recommended.

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Continue reading “Daydream Adventures – The Witch’s Forest [Hivemind Review]” →

Eschaton [Hivemind Review]

by reahivemind, posted in Hivemind, Interactive Theater

Eschaton is a virtual nightclub and immersive experience that includes a light puzzle hunt.

A well dressed man on video speaking into a camera.

Format

Style of Play: an audio-visual experience that includes a light puzzle hunt

Required Equipment: computer with an internet connection

If you plan to solve the puzzles, you’ll want a way to take notes and maybe a Google Sheet to keep organized.

Recommended Team Size: 1-2 people per connection

Play Time: 1 hour per visit

Price: $15 per connection (prices go up for holiday events)

Booking: book online for a specific Saturday night performance

Description

When Eschaton opens, its website provides you with a Zoom link. From the Zoom link, you learn how to get to other Zoom rooms. Players move from room to room throughout the experience at their own whims. You might stumble across a puzzle.

The Eschaton puzzle experience is somewhere between a puzzle hunt and an ARG. There is a lot to find and tons to solve. It would require multiple visits to complete.

Of note, Eschaton is an interesting experience with great performers, but it is not an escape room in any way.

Hivemind Review Scale

REA's hivemind review scale - 3 is recommended anytime, 2 recommended in quarantine, 1 is not recommended.

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Continue reading “Eschaton [Hivemind Review]” →

Gaggle Studios – Return of the Mayan Curse [Hivemind Review]

by reahivemind, posted in Hivemind

Return of the Mayan Curse is a collaborative, multiplayer point-and-click adventure game created by Gaggle Studios.

Mayan temple exterior, a tall set of stone stairs approaching a temple entrance.

Format

Style of Play: point-and-click with multiplayer support and integrated video conferencing

Required Equipment: computer with internet connection (mandatory), webcam (optional), microphone (mandatory), headphones (highly recommended)

Also, a mouse is recommended over a trackpad.

The game requires you to download a client. It’s relatively small and the website lists the minimum computer specifications.

Recommended Team Size: 2-4

Play Time: The game clock is 60 minutes, but the game key gives you a 120-minute connection to play.

Price: $29.99 for up to 4 players

Booking: Purchase a game key, download and install the software, and play at your leisure.

Description

Collaborate with up to 3 other teammates – each on their own device – to click around the rooms and solve puzzles; communication is a must.

Audio and video streams funnel through the game, so you can see and hear your remote teammates within the game itself. Every player watches synchronized cutscenes, and then explores independently and interacts with the items they find. When one player solves a puzzle or takes an item, everyone else’s view changes accordingly, keeping everyone in sync.

Collapsed floor inside the temple.

Hivemind Review Scale

REA's hivemind review scale - 3 is recommended anytime, 2 recommended in quarantine, 1 is not recommended.

Read more about our Hivemind Review format.

Continue reading “Gaggle Studios – Return of the Mayan Curse [Hivemind Review]” →