Murder at the Magic Mirror Casino

My wife and I have completed our fair share of escape rooms over the years. We always said we would be good at murder mystery nights, but we hate other people. When the pandemic hit, the challenge became simply escaping from our own house. But this left us with a void in our puzzling and problem solving needs. It was around that time when I first started discovering 'online' escape rooms, and over the last few years they have really taken off. The premise is usually the same, you get a series of documents to review and gleam clues from to solve a murder. Sometimes in a predetermined time, sometimes at your leisure. I have purchased different iterations of these over the years, some come with a variety of physical clues to investigate such as dolls and other objects, some come with electronic timers you must enter correct combinations into, and some rely heavily on fictitious web sites made up solely for the purpose of the game. They can vary in price greatly but all start the same, with a large glass of wine, and end with a celebratory high five. This one by Cryptic Killers is exclusively document based, with a little internet usage to review mailboxes/photos. One thing I will say is that in every mystery box I have ever done there is always a 'lull', a period of time where you are simply stuck and pointlessly leafing through documents trying to find that one clue to progress. I can say with this pack that was not the case. From the outset you are given the overview of the story; someone has been murdered, and there are several potential suspects. It is then your job to sort through the evidence and find out who was responsible. Like any good detective, my best weapon is my notebook, and I always start with a blank page for each suspect detailing their relation to the victim and list any motives or alibis that we find during the investigation. Unlike other games I have tried, the pace here was excellent, no complex codes to decipher and slow you down, and we never felt truly stuck or in need of a hint. All of the documents were very authentic looking, and every one has at least one vital clue that may seem like nothing on its own but when combined with another piece of evidence helps to either provide an alibi to a suspect or substantiate their motive and we never felt like information was given just as a filler. One example of this is a small advert in a newspaper for a hotel opening that meant nothing on its own but when a latter piece of information was read I thumbed back through the pages to link the two together. It was extremely satisfying. Quite often these sets can just 'end' abruptly and you are left with little feeling of accomplishment, but here all the clues all worked together so seamlessly and the entire story intertwined with such forethought that I have to tip my hat to the developers of this. Whilst it didn't rely too heavily on the use of the internet, once you submit your suspect you are given a highly detailed explanation of not only how they did it but also why each of the other suspects could not of carried out the murder. It really seemed like everything had been thought of, and we even gasped at some of the obvious clues we missed that still managed to lead us to the correct killer. This game left us with a huge sense of achievement and in all honesty is one of the best murder mysteries we have ever done. It took us around 2 hours to complete and for the price the value is definitely there. We aren’t the smartest people alive but managed to correctly solve the murder first time. There are a number of other sets out there by Cryptic Killers and we will be sure to purchase each one!

Brilliant. 2 of us sat and did on a free day. 3.5 difficulty rating was nice, we had our suspicions but still had to piece together the evidence and though we had a few avenues to look like, it didnt cause any arguments or 'board game tension' some couples may get. Took about 4 hrs with breaks to start and tend to our fire and get nibbles in the middle. Would happily to another one, really enjoyable. Used a black and red pen and a spare paper pad to complete so we've been able to pack it up and will swap with my parents who got a different case 🙂 The online case files were a nice touch and we loved that when we went to the website to put in who had done it that it confirmed our theories on the other suspects albis.

Fun to read and work out.

It was a very enjoyable evening completing the investigation. The material was very good quality. We used the hints more to confirm what we thought rather than to guide us. We will definitely get more of these for future use

The entire storyline is dependent on how fast you come up with your perceptions of what happened or motives, but disregarding the timeline of when or how long it takes, the twists and the suspects' small backgrounds do make a change. I really liked this, so did my two friends who participated in being detectives for the evening. It wasn't too hard, although I can understand why people may check for hints on the URLs provided. The evidence, the functionality, the storyline, the value for money and the overall feel of this is so different from apps on your phone and significant from board games. And such a good time with friends, or even if you're playing on your own. Definitely recommending this case and buying another case soon!

My partner and I had the BEST night doing this!! Date night is always the same, drinks, restaurant or binge watching a series etc etc, we wanted something that we could do together and have a bit of a laugh with. We had no idea how into it we’d get! A couple hours, a bottle of wine and a few “cop duo” puns later we found the perp! We recommend getting a bunch of paper and markers to make notes throughout, it goes into a lot of detail! I would 1000% recommend it, all is not as it seems!!

Absolutely amazing, the attention to detail is so good and kept us on the edge of our seats. We did it with two of us and it took us around 3 hours. Challenging but easy to find your way into the flow of it. We will be doing again. Thank you :)

Great game and fun to play. A hint for all players- look at the back of the paper evidence. One or two pieces have evidence on the back that is easy to miss.

SO MUCH FUN!!!! I have played case solving games from other brands but this was my first Cryptic Killers game to play. I'm such a fan now!!! I loved the story line and had so much fun going through all the different types of evidence to piece all the clues together. Once I found the alibis for the different suspects I was able to eliminate it down to the killer. It was very entertaining and challenging. I will definitely solve more cases from Cryptic Killers!!!

This was our first one and we seem to have been slower than others, but we did it over 3 evenings and it took about 6 hours. It was well thought out, difficult enough, but not impossible to figure out. We missed 2 clues which was why it took us longer, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. We did it as a couple with our adult daughter helping occasionally. Would be a great thing to do as a group. We know to be more watchful for certain clues the next time. And there will be a next time.

Gave this as a Christmas gift and they loved the format, clues and the interactive nature of this mystery! It was a fun evening with lots of laughs! We will be buying this series again and try other mysteries as well!

Yes - buy it! :) Great fun for a different take on date night. Can’t wait to buy another one!

Fun fun fun!! Takes awhile to play because there is a bit of reading but it was so enjoyable to hash is out with my task force. Very well thought out with interesting props. Thanks, Luke!!