REVIEW - Spy Code Operation: Escape Room #Spycode

Escape Room’s have become a bit of a craze recently, and many of my friends have recently headed to real life escape room events, completing a range of puzzles, physical challenges and riddles in order to escape (or not) from a hidden lair. It reminds me a little of my childhood and the days of The Crystal Maze; something which I watched religiously every weekend, where teams worked together to achieve the ultimate goal. When I was asked by Smyths Toys to review a new game which bought the escape room challenge to children, I have to admit I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. The concept sounded a little bit complex to be aimed at children as young as six, but with the Spy Code Operation Escape Room from Yulu Games promising a fast paced high energy game that incorporated tests of knowledge, dexterity and deduction, I was keen to put it to the test.

About the Game

Children can bring home the thrill of the escape room with Spy Code – Operation: Escape Room. Children select a teammate to wear the escape belt timer and work together to free them by collecting three keys in challenges of skill, strategy and luck, before time runs out.

The strategy challenge has players complete mathematical puzzles, find patterns and solve problems to crack the code. The skill challenge tests their ability to navigate a maze, while the luck challenge leaves it all up to chance. By successfully solving all three challenges, they can press the stop button and unclip the escape belt, freeing their team mate. By keeping a record of their challenge time, children can compete to get a new personal best, or move challenges further apart around the room to increase the difficulty. Spy Code – Operation: Escape Room also lets players choose from different levels of difficulty in the strategy section to ramp up the challenge, or adapt game play to suit both younger and older children.

Set up and Assembly

Spy Code Operation: Escape Room does require a bit of initial assembly, however despite looking a bit daunting, is actually very straight forward and only takes around 5 minutes to do. The pieces simply slot together without the need for any tools with the exception of a screwdriver to insert the two AAA batteries required for the main escape belt.

I would recommend that adults or an older child read the in pack instructions before you start playing, as the game play is quite specific, and as such it is likely that an adult would need to supervise and assist, particularly if children as young as 6 are playing.

The game is aimed at children 6 and above, however the difficulty of the strategy section of the game can vary with three different levels of challenge cards.

Game Play

One player takes on the role of being trapped, and applies the Escape belt to their waist using the clip belt attached. The timer can be set as high or as low as you like, but the suggested time of 180 seconds is recommended. (There is a small catch to unclip the belt on the inside should you wish to remove before the timer has run out).

Round 1 – The Skill Key Cage – children spin the arrow on the top of the cage in order to determine which side the key needs to come out of. There are four sides and four different difficulty levels 1-4 with side 1 being the easiest (having the largest holes from which the key can be removed). Using the two sticks to balance or hook the key, they must remove the key from the cage without using their hands to touch it. This is much easier said than done, particularly with the tick of the escape belt adding to the tension!

Erin did find this a little on the tricky side, particularly if she got sides 3 or 4, and obviously which side your child gets is luck of the draw. She did want to give up a few times, but with a bit of determination did manage to retrieve it. This element of the game is something that children could improve upon with practice.

Round 2 – Strategy Quiz Master

Once the key has been retrieved from the Skill Key Cage, this is plugged into the Strategy Quiz Master and turned 90 degrees clockwise to unlock the device. To retrieve the key inside the Quiz Master device, children must answer 3 strategy cards correctly to pop out a hidden drawer. For every correct answer the draw pops out a third of the way, but get one wrong before 3 in a row, and the entire drawer sucks back in and you have to start from scratch.

There are 3 different levels of strategy cards to enable the difficulty level to be determined, with green being beginner, yellow being intermediate and red being advanced.

Round 3 – Lucky Spinner

When the key has been removed from the Strategy Quiz Master, it is then inserted into the top of the Lucky Spinner, the final challenge of the game. Children should spin the dial and then insert the key into the lid, turning it clockwise until it clicks into place. They must then raise three of the black doors one by one to try and locate the third key. Each door will either have a cross, an arrow (pointing in the direction of the key) or if they’re lucky the key itself. If they do not find the key within the third door, they must close all the doors, remove the key from the top and spin again – all of which obviously adds to the time pressure whilst the clock is ticking!

Once the final key is revealed it is inserted into the escape belt which enables the cover to be lifted and the stop button pressed – ideally before the timer has run out. The timer can be set as high or as low as you like with repeated game play being used to try and beat their time.

What did we think?

Pros:

Fast paced and fun, the ticking down of the escape belt really creates some tension – it’s quite unnerving even for adults, and it does make you a little flustered, particularly on the cage part of the game when you are really trying to concentrate!
I loved watching the determination on Erin’s face as she tried to solve the puzzles, and the excitement when she solved the challenge and found the key.
The strategy elements can be played with a mixed group of ages as questions are in three levels of difficulty.
Children can play again and again and try and beat their personal best score

Cons:

Some of the questions were a little on the tricky side as they don’t come with actual written instructions just visual – on some cards it was clear very quickly what needed to be done (e.g. maze cards where you had to say which letter lead to the exit) but with others, I had to step in and help Erin understand what it was she was being asked to do. Sometimes even I was a bit perplexed at first!
The Cage part of the game can be really tricky (with four different levels of difficulty), but as this is determined by the spin of a wheel, there is no way of tailoring this to the age of the player, and if Erin landed on No.4, she found it virtually impossible to do this unassisted, and she did get a little frustrated.
In the Lucky Spinner section, we did find that some of the lids did come off (maybe Erin was a bit heavy handed).
Initially, we couldn’t get the Strategy device to work, but realised we had turned the key a bit too far (it has to be turned 90 degrees in order to kick start the process.) I did think that older children may be astute enough to realise the sneaky buttons that you can press in order to release the slot (in other words cheat!) but Erin hadn’t spotted this.
There is also no getting away from the fact that strapping the escape belt to a child feels a bit odd as it has a somewhat bomb look about it! I much preferred it when we played it with the belt around a possession rather than a person, as this felt a little more acceptable!

Overall, Spy Code Operation Escape Room is a fun game that is different to the kind of games me normally play, and one that does require brain power to complete.

Spy Code Operation Escape Room is available to purchase from Smyths Toy Superstores and retails at £19.99.

*Disclaimer – I was sent this game free of charge from Smyths Toys in exchange for my honest review and compensated for my time. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own*