The Cursed Castle: An Escape Room in a Book: Use Your Wits to Survive and Decipher the Clues to Escape

I ordered this book for a twelve year old boy, but it looked like fun so I decided to try to solve the puzzle myself first. It's not as simple as it looks! Or maybe it is, and you just need to be a kid to figure it out. Every page is illustrated with scenes from a castle, either inside one of the rooms, or just outside the castle doors. There are clues everywhere, you just have to find them. If you really get stuck, you can check the back of the book, where there are pull tabs for each room. Open it up to reveal a clue. There isn't a lot of reading in this book, each room has about a paragraph to read for the clue, then you search that page for the answer. Very clever book.

I’ve wanted to explore an escape room ever since I first learned of their existence. The need has been even greater since I saw ‘Escape Room’ and watched the Roses navigate one in ‘Schitt’s Creek’. After reading this book it has become abundantly clear that I should never be allowed to enter one.That skeleton in the Alchemy Room? That’s me. It took a little longer than expected for me to solve the puzzles. Please say ‘hi’ to me on your way past.Make sure you pay attention to both the words and the details in the illustrations in each room. Although none of them will explicitly say, ‘Hey, you! This is how you solve this room!’, there are clues that will tell you what you need to do. Some are much harder than others and attention to detail is key. There are word, sudoku, counting and logic puzzles included, so it helps if you’re a bit of an all-rounder.Handy Hint: You’ll find clues for solving each room’s puzzle near the end of the book. It would have been super helpful had I known this earlier. In the print version, these will be hidden pull tabs.And if all else fails … there are answers at the very end of the book. If you’re really stuck please know you have the option to cheat your way to the next room. You don’t need to become a skeleton like me!Thank you so much to NetGalley and becker&mayer! kids, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group, for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

My son likes escape rooms, they are a bit hard for him, but this book he seemed to get through it with ease. He's 10 years old, I think an adult would go through the book very quickly and there would be no challenge. For my son there was a challenge, he even had to seek and find in the book. The book had nice illustrated pictures and a glossary in the back and the answer to the puzzle's in the back, so if you have a hard problem solving, look in the back for help. Keeps little one entertained for a while.

(1) The puzzles are fine, but for many of them, they are so vague you really need to check the hints just to make sure you are correct before proceeding to the next stop. (2) The book really does need an into to it that says "start on page x and, by the way, the green numbers are not part of the individual puzzles, nor are they page numbers you should turn to, but it would be a good idea to keep track of them on your way". (3) I'm sorry, but I see 7 differences in the Ballroom [hat, earring, necklace, sleeve stripe color, cuffs, ring, and blouse top color]. The book says there are only 6. The only thing I can think of is they are counting the sleeve stripe colors + blouse top color as a single item since they are, maybe, a single article of clothing with 2 changes.Would not recommend this book for children.

Escape rooms are supposed to be hard and really make your brain go for a workout. This book does that, it's all doable and it's really fun, if you have patience and use your brain in the right way. This one does it right, and it's a great mental workout, and although I think this would be great for the right kids (and it is kid level), it wouldn't be well received by some. Keep in mind, there is a section in the back that explains how the puzzles work, without spoiling anything, then a hint section, then a section that gives you the answers.

This is very creative.I think it's perfect for children about age seven to ten. Too much older and they will find it too easy and too childish. If they are much younger than about seven they might find it too difficult.The artwork is lovely. The puzzles range from challenging (Just give me the answer) to what? Surely that can't be it, that's too easy. There are a wide range of puzzles from sudoku to find the letters in the photo. You will have to read the clues text on the page and look at the photos in order to solve the puzzle on that page.The one negative that I figured is that it would be nice to be able to know if you went to the wrong place. If you solve the puzzle wrong or take a wild guess and go to the galley instead of the armory - you have no way of knowing. I'd have liked to see the text include that--- 'oh you came from the galley, good.' kind of thing.The other thing I think I would have liked was a bit more info on what the puzzle was. One page I spent some time on and then went back to the back glossary and went 'oh yeah... duh'. This would be frustrating for kids too young. But if an adult and a kid did it as a puzzle book together, it might be great fun.

This is such a fun book. Got this for my nephew who is 9-years old. He loves to solve puzzles and this was a great gift. We both tried to play this game and it was a nice hours-long experience. Highly recommend!

I gave this to my daughter and she enjoyed the challenges within the book and found it a good read.

A lot of heart was put into this book.Yes, there are no instructions or indication of what the puzzles are.Yes, there are no indication that you solved a puzzle correctly (unless you want to look up the answers at the end).Yes, this is what makes this book great.Like Maze by Christopher Manson, the entire book is a maze that you have to navigate without having confirmation that you chose the right direction.It's a much less abstract version of Maze, which I actually prefer, because it's solvable with some effort.Basically, each pair of pages contains a hidden puzzle.Find the puzzle and solve it to get to the number of the next page you are supposed to go to.There is no confirmation that you chose right, until you managed to reach the end of the maze in the right order. Some people are turned off by that, but I really like it. It creates the feeling of being lost in maze!The puzzles vary between easy and hard, but kids could get through most of the book, and they will really love this, as will adults.There are also enough hints in the text to point you to both to the puzzles and the solutions, although a couple puzzles could have been better (but really only a couple.)If you feel stuck, take a step back. Sometimes you need to think logically, sometimes laterally, but you don't need the solutions at the end of the book to make it.Great experience, looking forward to what this team delivers next!!

This is quite a basic set of puzzles. I bought it because my sons really enjoyed the ‘escape this book’ series but this is nowhere near as entertaining, no real storyline running through it. Quite expensive for what it is.