We’ve played a lot of “escape room” board games and card games over the years. They’re full of riddles and puzzles to solve as you cooperatively try to get out of whatever predicament the story has you caught up in.

But rarely do these types of games include actual puzzles to put together!

However, that’s exactly the case with Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple.

In this EXIT game by Kosmos, in addition to the riddles and challenges along the way, you’ll put together 4 actual puzzles!

Then you’ll look for more riddles/puzzles within those puzzles to progress further on your journey.

If you like puzzles within your puzzles, then read on…

 

How to Play Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple

EXIT games are easy to explain how to play because all you have to do is start solving riddles and puzzles!

The cover of the booklet will tell you not to look at anything until you find a clue or are expressly told to do so from something you discover along the way. It also tells a story and gives you the setting of what you’re trying to accomplish.

In Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple, you’re making your way through a small jungle island in the Indian Ocean, trying to save the professor and find the Sacred Temple before the treasure hunters do.

The game comes with 4 puzzles, 12 riddle documents, 3 strange items, and a decoder disk. The puzzles are each in sealed bags and have different designs on the back of them so it’s easy to keep them separated – and know which puzzle bag to open next.

The first thing you do is read the introduction to the story and assemble the first puzzle to look for clues.

Since the physical puzzles contain the clues, there aren’t any photos or images to go off of for putting the puzzles together. Each puzzle has 88 pieces and you just have to start plugging away to assemble them in the right way. (You’ll just have to discover what that right way is.)

Once assembled, look closely at the elements in the puzzle to find clues and figure out a 3-digit code to plug in to the decoder disk.

In Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple, there are images of colored locks on different objects. You enter the 3-digit code (from outside in) below the color lock you’re trying to solve. Then turn over the decoder disk and look at the window. If you see the same colored lock in the window, you got the code right. Now turn the disk back over and see the 3 shapes in the windows on the front. From the outer ring inward, take the riddle document with the matching symbols and read it. It will lead you to your next riddle or challenge.

If you get stuck along the way, the instruction booklet also includes hints to help out. And if you get super stuck, you can read both hints as well as the solution to each riddle or challenge.

Once you’ve progress through all the puzzles and riddles, you’ll get to the final solution and celebrate your success. You can consult the chart in the booklet to see how well you did (which depends on how many hints you needed to use).

 

Can the whole family enjoy Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple?

Since Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple is a cooperative game, it’s great to play together as a family. The riddles and challenges can be tricky, so younger kids may not enjoy the game as much. However, if they really want to join in, you can probably find ways for them to participate.

For example, putting together the physical puzzles may be something they really enjoy helping with.

Speaking of which, we really like those physical puzzles!

Even though there isn’t a visual reference to go off of, the artwork on the puzzles are such that they aren’t too difficult to assemble. Using color, shading, and various shape elements, you can figure your way through the sections of the puzzle until it’s complete.

The riddles and mental puzzles along the way are varied and challenging. We were left scratching our heads a few times and turned to the hints in the booklet to move along.

We also decided to work through the whole game in one sitting. It took us 2 and a half hours to get through it all and had a great time the whole time.

The only downside of the EXIT games are that they’re a once-and-done proposition. That’s because once you’d played through the game, you know the solutions. And secondly because the game components get used up. For example, you’ll need scissors to cut up one of the documents to find the solution to one of the puzzles.

That being said, most escape rooms you go to aren’t ones you’ll do multiple times either because you’ll remember the solutions. And you still enjoy your time while there.

The same holds true here. We enjoyed talking through all the riddles and puzzles together. And we really enjoyed the tactile nature of manipulating things and putting physical puzzles together to find clues and solutions.

 

How does Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Our standard finishing question to our reviews feels a little out of place here since we just mentioned that the Exit games are limited to a one-time play through.

While that may be the case, we’d gladly dive into other Exit: The Game + Puzzle games available. Mainly because we enjoy both physical puzzles and mental puzzles / challenges.

If you like puzzles within your puzzles, grab one of the Exit: The Game + Puzzle games for your family!

The Board Game Family would like to thank Kosmos for a review copy of Exit: The Game + Puzzle – The Sacred Temple.