The Marriage Mix-Up Preview

Another Holiday Hijinks? Sign me up! The 9th game in the series tackles one sort of ‘holiday’ that many people will experience only once in life – a wedding. Someone has sabotaged the plans for the big day, and it’s up to you to solve the puzzles to get everything back on track!

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. -L

As with the other Holiday Hijinks that we have (p)reviewed, I can’t go into too much detail at the risk of spoiling the game. But I’ll do the best that I can to be vague. One big difference with the Marriage Mix-Up is that in order to play, you need at least 2 players. All of the other games in the series are able to be played solo. So why does this one need more players? Because a new element in the Marriage Mix-Up is dividing into 2 teams to simultaneous solve puzzles! Each team receives half of the clues, and working together verbally (but not showing your cards to the other team), both teams must solve the puzzles. The game is still cooperative, but with this new aspect of hidden information, it adds a new twist to simple puzzle-solving.

The types of puzzles used in the Marriage Mix-Up are similar to those used in the other games of the series, so there is some familiarity there that can help you solve puzzles more quickly if you know what you’re looking for. As always, the app/website offers hints or useful information that comes in handy when you get stuck on a puzzle. A quick touch on components – the only component of the game is the deck of 18 cards. They are thick and sturdy, and well-produced. The artwork is thematic and cute. One thing I really like about the cards is that everything serves a purpose for the game. Rarely will you see a cute little picture just for the sake of having an illustration. It usually pertains to a puzzle in the game, you just might not know it yet! Excellent production quality once again from Grand Gamers Guild.

I’ve got to say, I have yet to play a Holiday Hijinks that I didn’t like, and the Marriage Mix-Up is no exception. It’s made up of some excellent puzzles that really put your brain to the test. At a difficulty level of 2/3, some of the puzzles require a bit of creative thinking, but there’s nothing that’s totally impossible. I really like the element of breaking the group into teams to solve puzzles together with limited information. It really heightened the engagement of the game, as it helps stop one player from just ‘quarterbacking’ every puzzle by themselves. If you’re already a fan of this series, definitely pick up this newest game. And if you’ve never played one of these, I’d recommend the Marriage Mix-Up, but maybe not as your first game of the series. It’s a good one, don’t get me wrong! But probably start with an easier difficulty so you can get the hang of how the gameplay works before diving into this one. It’s a great game, and I already can’t wait for the next one to come out!