Escape puzzle - Astronomical Observatory

Puzzles are great! Escape rooms are even better!! For a parent of young children who cannot get out and about to try different escape room experiences, who needs to keep their mind agile and fully working, these puzzles are a perfect substitute. This is only the second one of these type of puzzles that I have tried and I love them, the only downside is that, at a leisurely pace, I can complete the puzzle (I am a very adept puzzler who completed the baked bean puzzle in 3.5hrs) in an evening. But I still love them!

Good value

I liked this puzzle but it is quite dark so many of the pieces look very similar. We found it too hard to do the edge first (and actually got some pieces wrong at the end when we came to solve the puzzles) and focussed on recognisable objects instead. It all came together in the end in 4 days. There are 6 number puzzles. I got 2 of them but they were too hard for me and I needed to Google for help. Even the QR code hints didn’t explain one of them enough and I needed further help. The Witches Kitchen was more my comfort level as I got 7 out of 8 of those. I will try another even though they are all harder from here (unless I do another kids one). I really enjoy the fact the picture changes slightly and a challenge to be solved.

We enjoyed this over several evenings during the Covid lockdown. It took the two of us two evenings to complete the jigsaw puzzle - which was a satisfying challenge due to the change in pictures, the dark colours and the way in which some pieces could go in multiple places. We then spent another evening solving the "escape" problems. This was the first of this series that we have done. I read online that this or the Witches Kitchen are the first you should do. We enjoyed it so much that we have purchased another and have recommended it to friends. We've suggested that they buy different ones then we can swap after the lockdown!

Test your skills well here! Your has a thorough workout. Mystery as well as piecing the puzzle.

As I see many others have mentioned, this picture is very dark making it really tricky to deferentiate different colours. We do quite a few jigsaws and I’d (modestly) say we’re pretty good at them - I didn’t expect this to be so difficult, although we managed it within a few days. My 13 year old quickly announced it was too hard and wandered off. Even the edge was hard - in fact I abandoned trying to complete the edge and started on the middle. It doesn’t help that many of the edge pieces are very similarly shaped, although I appreciate that if you’re trying to do something with the pieces later you may need to keep the shape quite generic. I quite like the picture on the box being slightly different, it adds an element of surprise! And so on to the riddles. For starters, it would have been great to be told you’re looking for 6 puzzle pieces; we initially assumed 4 from the guidance on the box. We had a fair bash at some of them, then gave up and opened the answers. This was actually not very helpful as they just give the answer rather than explain how to solve the clue. Sadly at this point we discovered only 1 piece of the 3 we thought we’d solved was correct! So, on to the website. This was MUCH more helpful, giving a few hints before revealing the answers for each riddle. A couple we solved easily once we’d been given a steer; others are to be honest are still a bit of a mystery! (though now I see the note about BODMAS below and wonder if that might have helped!) So would I recommend? No, not really. Left us feeling a bit cross and frustrated rather than elated at our escape.

I love these puzzles! They are sturdy and lovely. Putting them together is a delight, since they have lots of interesting detail. The illustrations are great, and the challenges add an interesting dimension to the experience. I would highly recommend! The only drawback is the large amount of puzzle dust and 'extra' wee pieces to sort through when putting it together, but honestly these puzzles are so good otherwise that I can't even bring myself to take a star for that minor inconvenience.

Fun puzzle

In tegenstelling tot de afbeelding is de puzzel veel te donker , ENKEL donkerbruin, donkerblauw en ontbrak er contrast in de afbeelding. Het leggen van de puzzel werd dooarom veelal een pijniging van de voor de ogen. Het raadselelement is een leuk gegeven aan de puzzel, maar opnieuw de lol werd weggezogen door het ontbreken van elk contrast in de prent.

Muy divertido

Top quality. When it comes to jigsaw puzzles, no company makes them better than Ravensburger!

Carino e divertente

Muy divertido y fácil de montar una vez entiendes que la imagen no tiene que parecerse al real en nada. Hay zonas que se hacen casi a ciegas pero las piezas son relativamente grandes. Los misterios a resolver una vez tienes una. Idea de por dónde empezar están muy bien y la solución absolutamente genial