Break In Alcatraz

I'm not usually moved to write reviews for products, but I need to make an exception here. I ordered this game to help wrestle the family away from the digital realm for a few hours and am really glad I did. Not only am I impressed with the game play, but the playing board itself it exceptional. It's beautiful, functional and engaging! I also learned something . . . I was surprised to learn that this game, in part, is based on actual events, AND I LIVE IN THE BAY AREA! Shameful, I know. We had a delightful evening marveling at the art and figuring out the crafty puzzles inside. Nothing too easy or overwhelming - just right. Took us about 2 and a half hours to play and provided us a screen free couple of hours. The box says it's for 10 and up, and I would agree with that assessment. We have three teens that took great interest in the, shall we say, "subverting of authority" angle of the game. Now they are bugging me to show them "Escape from Alcatraz", which I haven't seen either (like I said - shameful), so we have that to look forward to as well. This is a great game and I Highly Recommend it!

Not only is this game a great way to get the teens away from the TV and video games, but it provides an opportunity for the family to work as a team. We have a competitive family. Most games only have one winner. This game is different. The only way to win (Break In) is to work together. It is a bit complicated at first to figure out how to set it up and how all of the cards work. The puzzles are difficult enough to be challenging, but not too difficult that they are frustrating. The teens are good at deciphering the clues. Fortunately, when we got stuck, we used the website dedicated to this game to help us. But don’t read it before you play the game because you don’t want it to spoil it for you. The game takes about 2 ½ hours to play. This is not your typical game board! It is very cool! Ingenious, really. Once finished, repack it and pass it on to another family to enjoy! Tip: Be sure to leave sufficient time to play. Don’t start late at night! We will probably try the Chichen Itsa Game next.

I didn't have high hopes going in to this game, given the other reviews, and they aren't wrong, but I was happy for the price I paid ($15). The quality of the game pieces was better than I expected. There's even a plastic 3D puzzle included. The opening layers is unique. Though you'll want to use something flat like a butter knife to help pop the cardstock layers off the plastic studs when its time. This game would be difficult to do in a medium or large group. I played it with one other person, and that was a good number. While there are a couple cases where 3 puzzles can be done in parallel because they are printed on separate cards, there's still only one card giving you direction on all 3 puzzles that you'll have to share, and most of the game is played serially. The printing is small, so you can't have a lot of people working one puzzle at a time. The game rules suggest you take a picture with your phone so multiple players can work it at the same time, but that's pretty ridiculous. And the fact that all the layers stay connected throughout the game, makes it a clumsy to pass around and look at. You'll also need a bright place to play. I would recommend having a flashlight on hand. There's a couple puzzles that are hard to view otherwise. There are a good number of puzzles, with good variety, and for the most part they are the quality you would expect from this kind of game. But there is some conflicting information in some of them that does lower the quality of the game. And some vagueness where there shouldn't be. Like at the start there is a card that says "read this card" and has a picture of a talking face; that actually means pull a card from the deck that has that talking face picture, but when I first saw it I thought it was just saying to read the card aloud. We also had a mix up in our game and didn't realize we were supposed to start the game with the toolbox card and mailbox card. The rules do say that you start with the radio, tools, and letter, but we thought the letter was the previous story page in the rules and didn't realize we could keep the toolbox card either. It didn't call them cards. They could have easily avoided the confusion by also mentioning the card #, but didn't. They had the card icons, but they put them next to an unrelated tip about the making sure the perforations of the toolbox card and another card were cut out. One of the first lines in the rules say to look online for updated clues and hints, which we didn't do, but that's pretty bad to immediately tell people to look for corrections outside the game. We didn't use much of the hints, but the ones we tried to did leave something to be desired. There's also one card at the start of the game that you have 2 paths to get to (by the first puzzle or by reading another card) which left us wondering if we really understood the rules at the time. Those are little things that could have been easily cleared up. As for the conflicting information, there were 3 puzzles that had some contradictory information that threw us off. I do understand the answers, but that contradictory information should have been cleared up. Like other escape room games, once you solve it, you've solved it. But it is very easy to return the game back to its original state, more than most games of this nature, so you can give it to other friends. And I'll keep it to play again once I forget it. Though the shape and size of the box is annoying.

I would have given 5 stars except this game did seems as though some puzzles were a little bit of a stretch. That said loved the concept and gameplay with the game board. Would give another escape game like this a try.

My spouse and I play all sorts of mystery games- even those made for far more advanced players. This game is so convoluted that we couldn’t even get the gameplay instructions straight. For each segment, you need to find a completely unrelated color, Number, and symbol. These 3 items have very little to do with the story and are simply found by comparing found clues to other materials included. Such as 3rd floor = blue (etc.) The instructions are terrible and the lack of a cohesive narrative are appalling. For the price I paid, I did not expect much, but I expected some semblance of a playable game. We’ve never had to return a game for unplayability before but we just did. The concept is very cool, but If you look up advice online, you’ll find a load of confused gamers not able to understand the gameplay either. There’s a “objective” location in the second half that simply doesn’t exist. It’s fairly bad that the game recommends you use numerous hint cards right off the bat just to understand gameplay dynamics (or lack thereof). Unfortunately, this is a poor excuse for a game. Not worth the frustration.

First off, the design of the game is excellent. I really enjoyed opening the layers and discovering what was underneath. It added an extra layer (pardon the pun) to the sense of discovery these puzzle box type games evoke. Having said all that, I must say that the puzzles left a lot to be desired. Don't get me wrong, there was a nice variety of puzzles to work through. My complaint is that the writing which introduces each puzzle did not always make it clear what you're supposed to be doing, and even after consulting all the hints and sometimes solution to each puzzle, it wasn't always clear how the player was supposed to get there on their own. By the end of the box, I had used hints for every single puzzle and had to look up the solution for a good chunk of them. This left me not feeling like I accomplished anything and like I didn't get my money's worth. For reference, I consider myself an average puzzler and feel like it was an issue of writing and not difficulty. I would give the puzzles a 1 star, but the box 4 stars for originality and inventiveness. The publisher is releasing 2 more products in this line and I'm willing to give them a shot purely because I enjoyed the box design and feel like the writing can easily be improved. Hopefully they will play test them more than they did with Alcatraz.

This game is very fun and engaging for my family of four (kids are 11 and 13). We had a blast playing it as soon as we received it, although I'd give it more of 3-4 out of 5 for difficulty. We had to use the hint cards a few times. The best part of the game was this new concept of breaking in, as opposed to escaping. I loved that it's a new style, and I'm glad to hear that there are follow-ups that stay in this vein. I saw that others had a hard time with the puzzles, and we did have to focus on the clues the whole time--about 3 hours--even to answer some of the later puzzles. That's probably why I'd say it's more of a 3-4 out of 5 for difficulty. Overall though, a very immersive and fun take on the escape room genre!

This was so much fun! I consider myself a casual puzzler and this was just the right amount of challenge. There are a good variety of puzzles, with only two that I thought were a bit nonsensical (with one of them being the very first puzzle). I played solo, averaging about one hint per puzzle. The story is great and the board is an absolute delight! And once you understand how to use the solution sticks (hint: the symbol is upright at the top, and the color line is how far you should insert the stick so it's level), you'll have a blast. Their website also has detailed solutions. It's a steal for $8!

Good concept, but too hard. If the puzzles are too hard, it’s not any fun.