Given the holiday we celebrated a month ago, it makes sense that the newest game in the Holiday Hijinks series centers around Easter! Another pocket-sized escape room? Yes please!
| The Easter Escapade (2024) | Grand Gamers Guild |
| 1-4 Players | 60 Minutes |
| Ages 13+ | BGG Weight – Not yet available |
Disclaimer: We were provided with a copy of this game for the purposes of this preview. What you see pictured below is a finalized production copy of the game. -L
As with the other games in the series, The Easter Escapade is an 18-card escape room game in which players will be working together to solve riddles, piece together puzzles, and crack codes in order to help the local Easter Egg Hunt go off without a hitch. To setup for the game, open up the deck but don’t look at any of the cards yet! On a smartphone, tablet, or computer, open up the companion app/website that will be used during the game, and select The Easter Escapade from the list. Grab some paper and a pencil, and you’re ready to begin! Flip over card #1 and get to crackin’!
I don’t want to go too much into detail here, to avoid spoilers, but what I can say is that this newest Holiday Hijinks meets the mark for the series! Each Holiday Hijinks tells a story as you progress through the deck of cards, and the one told here is immersive and engaging. Many of the puzzles and riddles use similar mechanics and codes as some of the other Holiday Hijinks, so that familiarity is welcome when it comes to getting started on the Easter Escapade. That being said, if this is your first Holiday Hijinks, fear not! The app is super helpful with providing information that you may or may not need to use for various puzzles, like Morse Code, Braille, etc. It’s ultimately up to you to figure out what you need to solve each puzzle, but the provided information helps you narrow down your options. The Easter Escapade did include a couple of new puzzles that I haven’t seen in the other Holiday Hijinks, and it was neat to see the innovation between games. Yes, some puzzle types and riddles are similar, but it seems that with every new game in the series, a new mechanic or puzzle type is introduced.
Stuck on a puzzle? The app can give you hints for some of the cards, and these hints can really come in handy! A few times during my play-through, I found myself utterly confused. But with one cleverly-worded clue, I was able to figure out what I needed to do! And if, even with the clues, you are still stuck, you can see what the answer is. I like that for two reasons. The first of which is that it allows you to keep going with the game – you’re not forced to stop just because a puzzle stumped you. I recently played through a different puzzle book that didn’t give any answers at all. On the second-to-last puzzle, I found myself stuck with absolutely no way to move forward without the correct answer. So that was a huge bummer. That’s all a round-about way to say that I’m glad Holiday Hijinks will tell you the answer if you really need it. Another reason I like being able to see the answer is that it will explain why that’s the answer. It can help you see how a certain code was cracked or solved, which can then help you on future cards in case you see something similar pop up again.
The Easter Escapade is rated a 2/3 in terms of difficulty, and I would say that’s appropriate. The puzzles aren’t necessarily obvious to solve, but they are also mostly pretty intuitive to figure out. I found myself asking for a couple of hints, but not needing to go all the way to the answer reveal. The listed gameplay is an hour, and I found that to be pretty accurate too. Obviously, some puzzles may take more time than others, but for most of the Holiday Hijinks I find it takes about an hour. When it comes to components, it’s a deck of 18 cards in a little tuck box. The box and cards are nice and sturdy, and the artwork is colorful and thematic. No complaints when it comes to components!
Overall, I really enjoyed playing The Easter Escapade. It really had me engaged and thinking the entire time, and when I was finally done, I was surprised that an entire hour had passed! Whenever I see a new Holiday Hijinks in my mailbox, I get super excited. Puzzles/riddles/etc. are my jam, so I may be a bit biased. But these games are just plain fun! If you’re a fan of the series already, then definitely pick up The Easter Escapade. It’s thematic, light, and is a great addition to the series. And if you’ve never played a Holiday Hijinks before, pick it up anyway! I think it’s simple enough, yet still offers a challenge, and that makes it a great game to be your first foray into the series. Yes, Easter already happened this year, but there’s no reason you can’t celebrate it with this game whenever you want!
