Thames & Kosmos EXIT: Kids - Riddles in Monsterville, Escape Room Card Game, Board Games for Game Night, Family Games for Adults and Kids, For 1 to 4 Players, Age 5+

My kids (7 and 5) enjoy playing this. It’s challenging enough that they are encouraged to keep going but not too much that they get frustrated and stop. They need a little help sometimes but mostly they can play independently.

Advertised age group is 5+. I’m sure many very bright, focused, or gifted kids can enjoy this at that age, but our 6-year-old found it too complex to handle. He is definitely delayed, but even when I consider normal kids he knows, this seems to require quite a bit of executive function and attention that isn’t trivial for kids age 5 or 6.All that said, it appears to be a really cute and neat game and I have hope I can play it with my other kid when she’s older, (and/or maybe the first kid when he’s older too). I’m only taking off the 1 star for the very optimistic age recommendation. I’d say 7+ is the age rating I’d give it, where I think a typical kid would be able to grasp it.

My 7 year old daughter absolutely loves this game. She loves puzzles and challenges and this was just perfect for her. We played first round together and then she was content to play on her own. The puzzles are engaging, all the pieces are colorful and everything fits back into original box.Now I must warn, this game is not for everyone. First, the advertised age group is 5 and up. Well, I don't think 5 year old kids can do these challenges. They would need a lot of adult help. Secondly, even if you have an older kid but someone who is not into challenges and has very little patience, they would loose their interest very quickly or get frustrated.So, my advice, think about the child you are planning to get this for and ask yourself if they like to solve riddles, create challenges for themselves, or occupy themselves for hours with activities that require patience. If so, they would absolutely love this type of game. If not, find something else.

This differs from the usual EXIT line in that:1) There's not a story, really, tying the puzzles together.2) You can do all the puzzles multiple times, because there are decks of cards with variations using combinations of components.So it's maybe a little less interesting, but also it's not a one-and-done deal.The monsters themselves are cute, the theme of them stealing cookies and you needing to solve their puzzles to get them back is adequate, and the puzzles themselves are mostly all pretty engaging and well-tuned for young kids.My precocious game-loving 5-year-old has been having a great time with it. She can do just about everything herself, though it's a little tough for her to keep the twine sufficiently taut in the puzzle that involves wrapping it around different colored indentations on a board. Even that she can do fine with, with just a little assistance.The little dial that you use to see whether you picked the correct three monsters in answer to each puzzle is a fun little gimmick, and it works fine. There aren't as many combos as you might think, and sometimes you end up with the monsters already dialed in, but mostly it requires at least some dialing, and it doesn't really matter that much if it's not a crytographically secure way of validating answer correctness -- it's a great approach for kids.The art is good, and even the gimmick of winning keys that you put on a subset of the locked cookie jar icons so that you can then see what spoils you got at the end, my kid finds very motivational. Though she's also not at all pleased when she ends up with the stinky socks.The components are perfectly fine quality in a practical sense, though they're far from luxurious. Really, really thin cardboard mostly. And yet it's plenty. Just don't expect this to be deluxe.

Riddles in Monsterville is a fun, colorful game for a younger audience that likes puzzles. Based on our experience, I’d say early elementary (6-8 years old) is the sweet spot for the interest level and complexity of the tasks.The game consists of six different challenges, all of which involve determining which lovable monster has stolen the contents of cookie jars. The challenges range from extremely easy to moderate for younger kids. Adult support would be required initially for some puzzles, especially the lasso puzzle, which you need to be accurate with or you’ll get the wrong answer. Older kids would likely find it too easy, but ours enjoyed helping their younger siblings. Unlike the adult EXIT games, this kids' version allows for differing combinations that mean you can replay the game multiple times, which is nice.The artwork is colorful and bright, and the storyline is appropriate for a young audience. The companion app adds some visual fun and has a relatively detailed walkthrough of how to play. The biggest annoyance with that is that the sections are unskippable, so you have to listen to the whole thing, even if it’s already very clear what you’re supposed to do. We ended up quitting it about halfway and just reading aloud from the rulebook.Play-through time was about 25 minutes for the first run. The next run was faster since we understood the tasks already. We played with a group of 8 and paired off the younger kids with an older one, and it still worked out well.This is a decent game but doesn’t have a ton of excitement and replay value. I’d likely wait for a sale before picking it up, but it does work as a nice introduction for younger kids to puzzle-oriented games.