I did the Laboratory Escape Puzzle. You can see a photo pf the finished puzzle here, but I won’t show it in the post. This time, there weren’t many differences betwee the box and the finished puzzle. Unlike most puzzles in the series, this isn’t too dark, which is nice. Since it was only 368 pieces it wasn’t that much of a challenge as a jigsaw puzzle.

The backstory in the booklet is different in English than in the other languages. In the English backstory, you’re working late trying to develop a vaccine against a deadly disease (very topical), and accidentally inject yourself with the disease. Now you really need to finalize the vaccine to use it on yourself.

Apart from the last bit where you want a vaccine although you’re already infected (I don’t think a vaccine helps at that point), this is a pretty good backstory, as Escape / Exit puzzle backstories go. The same can’t be said for the story provided in German, French and Italian, and probably all other languages except English. In this story, you’re seriously ill, but you don’t trust doctors (!). Except, there’s this one slightly weird doctor you knew years ago, who cooked up his own medicines. This is the only doctor you can imagine entrusting your life to. Unfortunately, his phone number is no longer active, so of course, you pop over to his laboratory, where the doctor is nowhere to be found. The only logical solution is to develop the medicine you need yourself (WTF!). There’s even a handy book to help you:

This is the kind of nonsensical backstory I’ve come to expect, but apparently, the English translator couldn’t handle the idiocy anymore, and decided to make up his own story :-D.

There were six puzzles to solve, and I couldn’t do any of them without the Ravensburger hints, and the last one I didn’t understand at all.

I started on my new Exit puzzles! The Unicorn in the middle is the ninth puzzle in the series, and so far the last with 759 pieces. The newest puzzles in the series have only 368 pieces, but the puzzles are as big as the ones with a larger piece count. The pieces must be huge, because the 759-piece puzzles already have pieces that are bigger than normal.

I finished the Unicorn, and there is now a dedicated spoiler page for it. I managed to lose a piece, but otherwise, it was perhaps more enjoyable than I had expected. The backstory is that in an enchanted forest in Ireland, I come across a sad unicorn that has lost its magic after fighting an evil wizard. So, of course, I have to help the unicorn.

I haven’t started on the “smaller” ones yet, but I’ll be very intersted to see if they work the same way as the earlier puzzles in the series, or if there is something new. I can’t really go into details without spoilers 🙂

Another instalment in the Exit / Escape-series, and my favourite so far! It was brilliant as a puzzle, and there were more differences between the box and the finished puzzle than usual, and I enjoyed that. The mysteries (7 in this puzzle) were definitely easier than in the other puzzles, I managed to identify and solve two of them without even looking at the clues, and for only one, did I need all the clues.

For the first time ever, the backstory does not put me in mortal danger. An eccentric relative has died, and this time, I’m just looking for his money 🙂 The level indicated on the box is the same as on the Wolves-puzzle, but this was much easier. I loved both the image and the mysteries.

There are further details and spoilers about the series on the dedicated page. There is also an individual spoiler page for this puzzle. Ravensburger has made some changes to their help page, and the links on my spoiler pages have now been updated to reflect those. This puzzle is actually called The Forbidding Basement on the help page, but I’m going with Forbidden, as that’s what it says on the box. On the new page, there’s also a new Exit puzzle, with a unicorn, but if you click on the unicorn, it takes you to the Forbidden Basement. The Unicorn is not available yet at any of my favourite stores, but I expect it will be soon 🙂

In this Exit/Escape-puzzle, I’m investigating why a group of settlers disappeared. Turns out, they’ve been turned into wolves!

The puzzle itself was quite challenging, only the sky was easy. The mysteries were a lot more difficult than in the previous puzzles, and I couldn’t solve any of them myself. The final solution was, however, quite easy. Since the finished puzzle is different from the image on the box I won’t show it here.  There are further details and spoilers about the series on the dedicated page. There is also an individual spoiler page for this puzzle.