66% off

I’m an author looking for ideas to spin off my books so I’m constantly subjecting my family to game ideas. I selected Houdini’s Secret Room.

Notes: There were 8 of us. Definitely too large of a group. The guys sat back and watched. I’m don’t remember why I selected Houdini — my youngest is 17, so we are far outside the target age group. We solved the puzzle with no hints but did need to put on our thinking caps.

The storyline was fun. The puzzles matched the theme and, as I stated above, made us think. They would be excellent for the intended age group.

Our only problem was with the app. When we got to the final puzzle, it would not accept our answer. We selected the correct item and received the “are you sure” message, but could not, find a way to submit the answer. We tried for a good ten minutes, inadvertently selecting the wrong item twice. But those were accidents and we couldn’t figure out how we got it to accept the answer. We finally gave up and I verified our choice in the solutions guide. A bit anticlimactic, but it was a fun night.

I ordered this for my daughter’s 11 year old bday party and it was a hit! It wasn’t too hard or too easy. They needed the hints and loved that they could get them from the app. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I printed everything out on cardstock as suggested. We did have 7 girls and they didn’t want to be separated so they did it as one big group. It was slightly too large of a group as some would feel not involved at times. Up to 5 is recommended and I should have followed that guidance. I highly recommend it to anyone!

My family (with 2 boys: 9yo + 13yo) just completed ‘Professor Swen’s Lab’ as part of a holiday family activity. It was a lot of fun, and I appreciated the app, which allowed everyone to participate. Driving the mad mobile around the map for the first challenge was fun for my 9yo. I would say it’s more age appropriate for 8-11yo kids.