Exit the Game Advent Calendar: The Intergalactic Race!
The fifth Exit the Game advent calendar is out of this world. Literally! In The Intergalactic Race, a chance encounter at your favorite bar takes you on an intergalactic race. Your local has some strange faces hanging around and the bartender tells you that they’re competitors in the annual 24-day Le Monde race. There’s a new course this year, with some areas completely unknown to the contestants who will have to puzzle it out as they go. One of the strangers, a gaunt man, who seems to be from earth (unlike the pink lady, the well-dressed rabbit, and the hairy giant) asks you to be his helping hand as he navigates the race. Of course, you say yes.
Before we get to The Intergalactic Race Advent Calendar review, here’s some background on Exit the Game. Exit the Game puzzles are escape room puzzles that come in a box. You have to work your way through the puzzles to complete the overall puzzle and Exit the Game. They’re about the size of a paperback book. My family think they’re best solved together, because we have not yet solved one where every single person didn’t make a significant contribution to discovering the solution to a puzzle. You can probably do it on your own, but it would take a lot longer and it really is gratifying to see the light bulb go off when someone realizes the way to solve the puzzle, especially when the solver is a child.
What’s in the box?
This is a very big box, much bigger than the average advent calendar. There is a small compartment for each day, each of which contains one or more puzzle cards and, in some cases, props. There is a decoder board, which you need to translate the solution into usable information, and two booklets: the Story Book, which guides you through the puzzles; and the Help Book and Game Instructions booklet, which is where you begin. If you read when you’re supposed to and follow the instructions, you will make it through the story and claim your prize.
How to solve an Exit the Game Advent Calendar
First, read the marked section in the Help Book and Game Instructions booklet. Not only does it provide you with the instructions for successfully getting through the story, it also gives tips, so read everything you can. It is important to follow the instructions so you can correctly get from day to day, making it possible to correctly solve the overall puzzle and win your prize.
Only the door for the first day of the advent calendar is numbered. In order to move on to the next day, you have to solve the current day’s puzzle. Solving the puzzles only takes 10 or 15 minutes, so it’s a perfect little break in the day, at whatever time you open the doors. The Help Book and Game Instructions booklet includes hints and solutions to each puzzle, too, so don’t worry if you don’t understand one. The hints are very well done, too. They’re in three stages: two hints, then the solution. Each hint’s page has dotted lines to show you where to fold the paper up to you can see each hint, without accidentally seeing the other hint or solution. The only improvement I’d make to the hints page is to have the day marked at the bottom of the front of the page and the top of the actual hint page, so you can easily see it without having to open the book fully to make sure you’re on the right hint page:
There are two ways to determine whether or not you have solved the puzzle correctly. After you put your solution in the decoder, you flip it over and the translation of the solution will show three squares, each of which has an arrow and a symbol. If you have solved the puzzle correctly, when you follow the arrows, the symbols will appear on the door you end up at.
TOP TIP: I always double-check the solutions part of the hint page to make sure I’ve got the right solution.
When you’re sure you have the right window for the next day, note the date in the blank space and, then, if you’re patient, you wait until the next day. If you’re impatient, you solve as many puzzles as you want. It’s your advent calendar – you do you.
The story takes you from planet to planet as you navigate the race. Each of the day compartment’s is individually-themed for that day’s puzzle and, sometimes, contains information you need to solve the puzzle. Every bit of this advent calendar is important and beautifully designed.
With Thames & Kosmos’s The Intergalactic Race advent calendar, you get 24 days of fun, challenging puzzles that lead you through time and space to the ultimate prize. No spoilers so I won’t tell you what it is, but, as I always say, the journey IS the destination with Exit the Game Advent Calendars!
The Intergalactic Race Advent Calendar is a beginner level Exit the Game puzzle for ages 10 and up. The whole family can join in, but there are small pieces and scissors are required, so if the littles want to be involved, make sure there is plenty of adult supervision. This is a once-and-done puzzle, so you can recycle all of the paper and cardboard pieces when you’ve completed the calendar.
TOP TIP: I keep everything in a Ziploc bag, including the writing utensils, game booklets, and the pieces that have already been used. You never know when/what you will need to solve the puzzles, so keep everything handy.
As always, there’s a prize when you get to the end of the puzzle. This just might be my favorite prize yet, though my magnet still takes pride of place on my chocolate fridge. The winner of the Intergalactic Race takes charge of Christmas celebrations for the entire galaxy. No spoilers, but I can tell you that the rabbit has an amazing spacecraft!
٭٭٭٭٭Highly recommended
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