Thames & Kosmos – EXIT: The Abandoned Cabin – Level: 2.5/5
Thames & Kosmos – EXIT: The Abandoned Cabin – Level: 2.5/5 – Unique Escape Room Game – 1-4 Players – Puzzle Solving Strategy Board Games for Adults & Kids, Ages 12+ – 692681
Get the book and the decoder disk ready on the table. Leave the ‘strange items’ in the box until you’ve explicitly been told that you found them. Sort the cards in ascending order in 3 stacks – Riddle cards, answer cards and help cards but don’t look at the front sides yet. The goal is to escape together from the abandoned cabin as quickly as you can.
Every lock in the cabin is secured with a riddle with a 3-digit code or code of 3 colours answer. Can you crack the code? Every lock corresponds to a puzzle and each puzzle is marked with a symbol. Take the first riddle card and let the games begin! Pay attention to every detail.
Enter each code solved into the decoder disk. Then, look through the viewing window on the smallest wheel to see a number. This number indicates the number of the answer card that you are allowed to look at. If the code is correct the answer card will tell you how to proceed.
The game ends when you have solved the last riddle and escaped from the abandoned cabin. Use the Exit Game Certificate to see how well you did! When calculating the number of Help Cards used, only the ones that gave you new hints or solutions should be counted.
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| Description | Do you have what it takes to exit the game? You’re stranded in a Cabin with no way out! Escape the deranged Cabin owner by working together and solving the riddles to unlock the doors. | Escape to an iconic fantasy realm. Middle-earth is in grave danger and needs your help! Help Frodo and The Fellowship destroy the One Ring by completing Gandalf’s secret assignments. | Its time to embark on a quest to find your missing friend! Solve a series of riddles and piece together four jigsaw puzzles to uncover the mystery of Nightfall Manor and save Gaston! |
| Ages | 12+ | 10+ | 10+ |
| Level | 2.5 | 2 | 2 |
| Number of Players | 1-4 Players | 1-4 Players | 1-4 Players |
| Game Series | ✓ | ||
| Includes | 86 Cards – 23 riddles, 30 answer cards, 33 help cards, 3 strange items, 1 rule book, 1 story book, & 1 decoder disk | 87 Cards – 30 help cards, 30 answer cards, 1 riddle booklet, 1 decorder disk, 26 strange items, & 1 strange parchment | 4 Puzzle bags with 88 pieces each – 14 riddle documents, 10 strange items, 4 decoder disks, 1 two-piece snap fastener, 1 rule book |
| Dimensions: | 12.95 x 4.32 x 18.03 cm; 204.12 Grams |
| Model: | 692681 |
| Material: | Cardboard |
| Colour: | Multicolor |
| Pack Quantity: | 120 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Age: | 12 years and up |
| Assembly: | No |
| Dimensions: | 12.95 x 4.32 x 18.03 cm; 204.12 Grams |
| Material: | Cardboard |
| Quantity: | 120 |
This was so much fun. We’ve only ever done escape rooms, no at home ones before and it was so well thought out and cleverly done.
We did not manage to get out in the hour but we weren’t far behind. Thank goodness for the clues. Will def be buying anothe
Our team of four have completed many real life escape rooms. We all like board games and we’re used to puzzles and riddles. This was our first ‘home’ escape room.
The rules are easy to understand and well explained, with good examples. We downloaded the free app for the timer and background music and it worked well.
This was a great introduction to this range. It was challenging without being difficult, with a nice variety of riddles to solve.
We took 95mins and used 2 help cards. If one of our group knew what a hexagon was we’d have been quicker and not needed the second help card!
Great puzzle experience
Got lots of these now. Really good puzzles. The format can take some getting used to so read everything carefully before you start. Puzzle hardness I think is great all the puzzles have a satisfying answer. Hint cards to help along as required. It’s a good hour or two of fun. I would recommend and have bought for friends.
Clever game and great customer service
I haven’t played a table top escape room before this one but it was really good: there are lots of elements of clues floating around at the same time and you have to work out what goes together. Just the right level of demanding to keep us hooked. I also had to speak with Thames & Kosmos and found their customer service to be outstanding too.
Really good fun!!
I bought this game for my wife for part of her Christmas presents. We played it tonight and really enjoyed it.
It took us just over an hour to complete.
It pains me to have to cut up cards and draw in the book but it is all part of the fun and to be fair you wouldn’t play it a second time as you would know the answers to all the riddles.
We will be buying more if these in the future and try some of a harder difficulty!!
Great game
Daughter got this for Xmas and we played it last night. Two adults and two kids (15 and 12) and it took us two and half hours to solve. We did use a few hint cards but only the first (occasionally the second) hint card was actually needed and we found it was a case of almost being there but just missing a tiny bit. Once we got the hang of it (realising we could look through the book rather than the clue just being on page one) we found it quite easy to understand and was quite pleased with ourselves when we finally got a tricky one.
Be prepared to cut things up and fold things so it is only a once only game but we enjoyed it and will be buying more in the series. Highly recommend for an evening of fun.
Escaped from the deranged man.. just took me 3 hours
Very enjoyable! Please allow up to 3hours unless you’re super fast at solving riddles! Having the app soundtrack in the background gives it a nice touch! It’s not easy so you have to think hard and also use the clues to help. Seen some ridiculous reviews about people with degrees not being able to solve the riddles. It’s a riddle… open your mind!
The only annoying thing about the Abandoned Cabin was a clue to do with a barcode which was not even part of the game and something to do with the actual game box itself. That was a bit silly and threw us off for a while.
So Much Fun!
I played this with my friend and we loved it. The puzzles are of medium difficulty, and there were a few riddles that stumped us for 10 minutes or so. But you have the clue cards that point you in the right direction if you get a bit stuck. We used 3 clue cards on 2 riddles and managed to complete the game in 1 hr 45 mins, so not too bad! I’ve bought a few more, can’t wait to play!
I bought these to play with my sisters to cheer them up when our dog went to heaven. My younger sister seemed to be doing badly so I was hoping a good quality time together would cheer her Up. She managed to solve some puzzles and she told me she found it entertaining. My older sister loved it… After playing this together, she literally bought the whole game for herself to play alone. When I open her room I see piles and piles of “the exit game”. And she plays them alone…
but she did buy us another exit game for us to play together which is nice. This was my first exit game and me and my sisters really enjoyed it.
Stick with it before you chea
I got this for my wife’s birthday. We finished it in about two hours, but did resort to the odd cheat here and there. My recommendation, though, is to stick with it, because there were groans each time we cheated, and if we’d stuck with the train of thought we were heading down, or looked at the clues a little more closely, we’d have completed the ‘exit’ without needing them.
The other thing to mention is that there’s very little cutting of folding that’s essential, and by using simple drawing skills and using tracing/grease-proof paper in places, the game can be re-used by family/friends.
No spoilers in my review
Me and my wife played tonight, this is our 2nd type of ‘escape game’ from kosmos.
After setting up and completing it was close to 3hrs (with a mini break)
If you download the kosmos app you can have instructions read to you and have the timer too in the background
It does say on the box a one play but we done it where we didnt cut, write or damage any pieces so it can passed on easily
We did use a couple of hint cards which really helped
Overall a good buy and have a game night now set up every week with ‘exit games’
Difficult to start but clever puzzles
It took of us an hour and theee quarters time get to the end of this game. We enjoyed it and there were some really clever puzzles to solve. We found it difficult to know where to start but once we had it was much clearer (I’ve knocked off a star for this as it was pretty frustrating). There are help cards you can use at each stage-one cryptic clue, one more straightforward clue, and then the answer-and we needed a few of these in order to progress. We’ll be buying another of these.
An escape room in your living room. Bought agai
As a family we love attending the escape rooms , they are fantastic and bring the family together solving clues and puzzles . However, they are very expensive at 100 a time for a family of 5. We have seen these games for sale in the rooms but just didnt bother buying them.However in the current lockdown situation we thought we would buy one for the family to do, I’m glad we did its brilliant. We bought the abandoned cabin. Its tricky but brilliant. I would highly recommend downloading the app as the tutorial is brilliant. The couple that created these are absolute geniuses.
Great for an evening's entertainme
There is an accompany app which you can download to walk you through the rules but I find this to be quite long winded for a group. Instead, have one of you learn it and then teach it to everybody else. That said, the app isn’t all bad as it’ll track your time and play some ambient music as well.
This game in particular had a few neat surprises which I won’t spoil, but I was surprised at how creative they were. I haven’t played any of the others to compare them with, but if they’re anything like this then I will likely be trying them!
tricky but so cleve
First time trying a n escape room board game but being a fan of actual escape rooms i was keen to give it a try. Without giving too much away we found the game a lot of fun, we were stuck in places but the help cards helped, we manged to escape the room after 2 hours of head scratching. will definitely get more of these
Fun game for people who like to think hard
We played this at Christmas with 5 people aged 14 – 78. I don’t know why it says up to 4 players on the box, we were perfectly fine with 5 or even more players. We discussed everything anyway. It took us 1.5 hours and in fact we didn’t cut up or damage the materials in the box so we could use it again if we wanted to. I would recommend that one person does thoroughly read the instruction book (not the game book! that would be cheating) before starting as some of our group wanted to dive in and not read a 4-page book… if one person had spent some time understanding how the game would unfold then we would have escaped more quickly. For example some clues are to be put aside and used later. Very cleverly thought out and fun to play in a group.
Great Escape Room Game
Two of us played this finishing in about 2 hours so overall I think it’s good value for money (an escape room is tytpically 20-25 per person).
It’s not supposed to have replayability as you end up having to cut up and mark the pieces as you go but you can easily avoid this so it can be gifted on (or replayed with you as GM — that’d be a big improvement).
It was a bit tricky but we didn’t use any hint cards (so we couldn’t comment on how helpful they were).
It was mostly clear what to do next and the puzzles were reasonable difficulty. Not too fustrating even though we got stuck a few times and had to think about them.
Brilliant, mind-boggling and you don't need to cut anything up!
We’ve played three in this series now and have thoroughly enjoyed them all, but Abandoned Cabin has been our favourite. The initial feeling of ‘what do we do now?’ is finally replaced with an ‘oh, that’s it!’. Where others have commented on the frustration of finding that you don’t have all the necessary clues to solve a puzzle, we found this was part of the process of discovery. The whole game is creatively made and very clever. And we have also managed to play them all without cutting anything up: this has meant we can swap games with friends. Fab way of passing an evening once the kids are in bed!
Good for the marriage
This was the first time we’ve played this sort of game, and I only found it while browsing Amazon for interesting games that can be played by 2 (an effort to spend more quality time together). It made for a very enjoyable 90 minutes for my husband and I. We used one clue card. I’d previously played The Room series of games on iPhone, and he’d previously done a real escape room experience. Both of us really enjoyed this game. The puzzles were not terribly hard in general, but rewarding to solve, and a couple of them were surprisingly ingenious. A nice evening in with a bottle of wine.
Surprisingly Fun, The Right Level Of Difficulty. Worth The Money BUT...
It’s a shame that it’s only one use and done. Not for the group that completed the game but you can’t pass this on to anyone afterwards, which is a shame.
Not just from a wanting to share this with other people perspective, but also it’s a bit of a waste of materials that you can’t reuse them.
Anyway! The puzzles were great, just the right side of fiendish. There weren’t any moment within the game where crazy leaps of logic were required in order to progress. Had a wonderful afternoon in the pub crafting out a cheeky little escape room story.
I’ll definitely be purchasing another one of these but this time I’ll make sure to bring a pencil for writing on things instead of a pen, or take photos of the puzzles and take them apart on my phone instead!
The abandoned cabin - Loved it!
The reviews on these are mixed but I chanced it. We have done a few escape rooms and love them. 5 of us did this over Christmas. It was difficult but possible (which is how it should be). It took us about 2 hours. Advice: 1. YOU ARE NOT MISSING ANYTHING! Look more closely at EVERYTHING!
2. When you have solved a particular puzzle always look at the clues and solution card for that puzzle just to check you haven’t missed anything. It isn’t cheating and if you don’t you can easily get confused.
I think if you haven’t done escape rooms maybe choose one of the games with the easiest star rating as you won’t be in escape room mode. If you do do escape rooms – buy this product!
We are doing another one together next weekend and I can’t wait! But we will be checking the solutions this time! As for the reusability – you don’t fold or cut the cards, only the booklet. We will hand the game over to our daughter and her partner with a bit of explanation. The folds etc will help them a little but won’t spoil it for them. But obviously we can’t use it again ourselves.
Throughly enjoyed - Seems a waste to throw in the bi
Thoroughly enjoyed playing the EXiT escape room games.
Played as a team of 4 and took an hour to complete. We all had fun and liked it so much we have already played 2 of the other EXiT games.
The game does warn you that it can be only played once and certain elements are marked, cut up or folded. This means when the game has been played once it becomes useless and therefore ends up in the bin. It seems a waste to throw it out but being all cardboard least it is recyclable.
The puzzles could be designed a bit differently to avoid the cutting up etc but it seems this is done intentionally so you can not re sell or pass on the game.
Of the 3 played The Abandoned Cabin was the ‘easiest’ although not easy so suggest it is a good starting point to try these games and get the idea of how they work.
There can’t be many (if any) board games you can play where you cut up a booklet, some of the playing cards and even draw on them! Probably wrong to call this a ‘board game’ as there is no board. Someone reads out the scenario and you are given your first clue. Then off you go! We downloaded the app so we could keep an eye on the time. There is no limit on how long you can take but your final score is partly based on it. There are clue cards if you get stuck and the number read is also used to determine your final score. We played with four adults and found it great fun. It actually took us an hour and a half to finally escape! It is a one off…you can’t play it again. But then, what would be the point as you would know all the answers? We will certainly try one of the others in the series.
After having played ‘The Pharaoh’s Tomb’ we found this one more fun (and you can quite easily find some creepy musics as background on youtube); and the main theme (an abandoned cabin) also seemed less ‘artificial’.
The various riddles are interesting but not really hard: it took my friend and I 50 minutes to fully solve the game without any clue – so if you’re used to escape rooms you may not want to play this game with a large group, because you’d finish it really quick.
Good thing is, you DON’T have to destroy any of the game material: one or two sheets of tracing paper will perfectly do the job 😉
We had great fun. 2 sixty year olds plus a 14 & 10 year old. It took us an hour and 50 minutes – but the time moved quickly. We all had input into solutions and we slowly took on roles as part of ‘our team’. The game allows you some leeway with clues when you are stuck which we needed a couple of times.
The instructions are fairly good but there were a couple of times when the wording was rather confusing – that lost the package one star.
Would we do it again? You bet!!!!
Brilliant fun and great value for money
Brilliant fun and great value for money!
There were 6 adults and it took us theb2 hours – with the help of 3 or 4 clues.
The riddles are tricky enough yet achievable – you kick yourself when you do use a clue!
6 players is a maximum as the information booklet, riddle, clue and answer cards are all a bit small so it’s hard for all to see at times. However as long as you hand them round so everyone can read and see them for themselves theb it’s ok.
We recently played the Escape the Room – The secrets of Dr Gravely’s retreat game and is say the standard of challenge is the same between the two games, however the Escape the Room brand game equipment was probably a little more user friendly sue to its size and variety in terms of what it is – I.e. letters, poems, images, mazes, colour charts etc.
However, is strongly recommend both games and we have brought the rest in the series for both brands to entertain us on many more family nights to come.
I had been prepared for a “one-shot” game and decided to try and play the game in a non destructive manner. It took 90 minutes and the difficulty was excellent. I needed a couple of help cards but that’s part of the game. It has now been passed to a family member to try their luck.
Yes you can easily play Abandoned Cabin without destroying anything. You can’t play it again yourself as you know the solution, but by passing it on you get better value for money, though to be fair it’s not bad anyway.
The mechanics of the game are very good with help available if you need it. Part of the fun is trying to resist the help cards when you get stuck and trying different avenues. Overall a great game.