As a family we really like escape rooms and puzzles. We’ve done various different physical escape rooms, as well as a couple of escape rooms in a box. We’ve even done one in an envelope! I saw an advert for Puzmat by The Great Game Treasure Hunts which intrigued me, and I knew I had to do a review. It’s described as an escape room on a mat, and an amazing looking mat at that!
I’m an affiliate for Puzmat so of course we had to review one for ourselves. However The Great Game Treasure Hunts didn’t see a copy of this review before publication and had no input into its contents.
Who is Puzmat suitable for?
It’s suitable for ages 8-108. Up to eight people can play per mat. You could possibly do it on your own if you wanted to, but it’s best with at least two people. If you wanted to, then you can buy multiple mats and race other teams. Because of the age of the boys (9 & 11) we decided to all work together rather than splitting up. Turns out I was the one who needed the most help! Oops.
It’s good fun to play as a family, but I also thinks it would be a great thing to do with a group of (grown-up) mates, a couple of bottles of wine and some snacks.
How long does Puzmat take?
This completely depends on the number of people who are completing the puzzle. Apparently it usually takes between two and four hours to complete, depending on the team sizes. We took a little over two hours between the four of us. One thing that’s really good is that you can stop and start if you need to. We didn’t start until relatively late and stupidly I hadn’t looked at the instructions before excitedly telling the kids what we were doing tonight. I had visions of us not finishing until midnight so knowing we could stop if needed was really reassuring.
Something that helps to speed Puzmat up, and make sure that everyone is kept entertained, is to separate into smaller teams and each tackle a zone. It can be a bit much if you’re all trying to huddle over the same small section of writing. We split into two teams – one adult with each child. Turns out Middle Child got the worst parent (aka me!).
What do you need to do Puzmat?
You’ll definitely need a pen, paper and scissors. A mobile phone is essential and this is definitely one to play at home. Thinking about it, you could do it on holiday as well – as long as you had scissors with you. As part of the activity you’ll end up running around the house collecting various household items. I’m 99.9999% sure you will have these items in your house though.
A roll of sellotape might come in handy – just in case of any mistakes that you might have made. Obviously I absolutely didn’t make a mistake. Nope. Not me.
Our Puzmat review
This is such a clever idea, and really well thought out. The fact it’s not just based on the mat itself – there will be plenty of stuff for you to do “off mat” was really good. It’s not particularly hard – it’s not trying to trick you or catch you out, but you will need to think about stuff. There are some escape rooms that we’ve done that are trying to be too clever for their own good. That’s certainly not the case with Puzmat. At the same time it’s not boring either.
BUT – I messed up. I’m still not 100% sure what I did wrong. In order to solve the puzzle you have to cut out a shape from each of the coloured zones. Don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away here, it’s in the instructions. I managed to cut the pink section incorrectly so none of it went together. Disaster! All of the kids went off to bed really dejected and it was completely my fault! It was getting late and we decided to leave it there and come back to it in the morning. However I’m stubborn and had massive mum guilt so I tried to fix it anyway. Within about 2 minutes I’d taped the pink section back together, corrected my mistake and called them all back downstairs again!
They actually give you a checking sheet for every other section so that you don’t cut it out until you’re sure that you’ve got the right answer. The pink section is the only one that doesn’t have that – and that’s where I came unstuck. Luckily it was easily fixed. As was my ego.
I was a little bit disappointed with the treasure. I’m honestly not even sure if it needed it – just a simple ta-da would have sufficed! It might even have been better to have skipped it all together, but you want the confirmation that you’ve actually got it right. If you’re doing it with kids you could actually have a physical prize to give to them.
The boys’ Puzmat review
“We really enjoyed doing the Puzmat. It was really exciting and we were both able to figure the puzzles out ourselves. Running around the house finding stuff made it really different from things we’ve done before.”
Where to buy Puzmat
You can buy Puzmat from the Great Game website (affiliate link). They’re £15.99 each or but two get one free if you want to race each other. You can save 10% on your first order if you sign up to their mailing list.
If you’re looking for other, similar activities, have a look at the Balthazar Snapdragon children’s adventure box or my reviews of Vire escape rooms and the Harry Potter escape rooms in High Wycombe.
I’m Vicky and I am a mum of three living in Aylesbury. I set up Free Time with the Kids to review free and cheap family days out in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire, mainly because I kept forgetting all the fabulous places that were recommended to me!! I love getting out and about with the kids (and hubby of course) and we have adventures all over the place. My reviews tell you all the things you need to know about the family days out and activities we’ve done such as how much it costs, if there’s parking, toilets and if there’s a cafe or if picnics are allowed. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook