Escape The Crate is a monthly subscription service that delivers a box filled with puzzle games and challenges to your doorstep. Each box is themed around a different mystery or adventure, and it’s up to you and your team to use the clues and challenges provided to “escape the crate” and solve the mystery.
Escape The Crate: An Overview
About This Box: Find the clues, crack the codes, unravel the riddles, solve the mysteries, and Escape the Crate! Escape The Crate brings the escape room experience into your own living room. Every other month, you’ll get a different time-traveling adventure delivered right to your doorstep. Each box contains a 1-hour long game and includes items like ciphers, letters, sleuthing tools, puzzles, and more. You’ll have so much fun working with your friends to solve riddles and conquer puzzles.
Frequency: Every other month
Cost: $29.99 per box, additional savings if you prepay for a longer membership.
Ships to: Shipping costs extra. Ships to US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries.
Click here to subscribe.
How Does An Escape The Crate Subscription Work?
So, how does it work? When you sign up for Escape The Crate, you’ll start by choosing your subscription plan. You can choose from options like a single box, a three-month subscription, or a six-month subscription. Once you’ve chosen your plan, you’ll receive a box each month filled with puzzles and challenges that are designed to be fun and engaging.
Each box is themed around a different mystery or adventure, and it includes everything you need to solve the puzzles and escape the crate. This might include clues, puzzles, riddles, and even videos that you have to access online related to the storyline.
The puzzles are designed to be challenging, but not impossible, so you’ll have to use your problem-solving skills and teamwork to figure out the answers.
And if you get stuck somewhere, you get to use hints!
You can check out this fun and informative intro video that we were linked to in order to get more familiar with how an Escape The Crate game works:
They also provide you with a few recommendations on gameplay based on how competitive you want to get with it.
You can set the clock and time yourself, only if you want of course! For the High Seas box, here were the recommendations:
- Play for fun: MOST subscribers tend to just play the game without watching the clock. This is what they recommend. It isn’t as stressful and allows you to take breaks.
- Expert/Experienced Escape Artists: Set a timer for 30 minutes.
- Regular/Casual Escape Artists: Set a timer for 40 minutes.
- Easy/New Escape Artists: Set a timer for 60 minutes.
How Much Does Escape The Crate Cost?
In terms of cost, Escape The Crate is competitive with other monthly subscription services. Prices start at around $30 per box, depending on the specific subscription plan that you choose.
Escape the Crate boxes ship bi-monthly (every other month), and start at $29.99 for a month’s subscription. If you prepay for more than one month at a time, you’re going to get a small discount on each box. For example, for a 6-box commitment over 12 months, the total cost is $159, or $26.50 per box.
It’s important to note that shipping is not included and does cost extra. Crates are shipped during the first week of each month.
Escape The Crate: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Fun and engaging way to spend time with friends or family.
- Can be played individually or with others.
- Puzzles are challenging and not overly easy like other subscriptions
- Offers a unique and different theme with every box
- Takes longer than an actual escape room, and can be played at your own pace
- Customer service is amazing
Cons
- Not for everyone: If you’re not particularly interested in puzzles or mysteries, or if you’re on a tight budget, you might want to consider other options.
- Limited replay value: Once you’ve solved the puzzles and escaped the crate, you might not want to do it again.
- Cost: Escape The Crate can be a bit more expensive than some other types of entertainment. While many people find that it’s worth the money, it might not be the best option for everyone.
- Shipping is not free.
What We Like About Escape The Crate
Our experience with the “Escape On The High Seas”-themed box was actually quite entertaining!
In this month’s box, there were 3 chapters that made up the whole experience. Each of these chapters took about 40 to 55 minutes to play.
It was quicker if we didn’t get stumped on any of the puzzles, however, in each of the chapters, there were at least 1-2 puzzles that were quite challenging to figure out without some sort of hint!
We really liked the fact that the game was broken up this way, because it allowed us to take breaks naturally without the fear of losing our spot or forgetting any crucial clues or information.
Another thing that really surprised us was how interactive it was. In order to access the instructions on how to play, you have to go to the website for that month’s game, listen to the audio, and follow the prompts to get the puzzles set up.
This made it way more interactive than what we’d originally imagined! It’s as if we had a gamemaster alongside us the whole time.
One of the great things about Escape The Crate is that it’s a fun and unique way to spend time with friends or family. You can work together to solve the puzzles and escape the crate, or you can even compete against each other to see who can solve the challenges the fastest. Either way, it’s a great way to bond and have fun.
Another thing that stood out about this box over other escape room subscriptions was how long it took to complete the puzzles and escape.
The length of time it takes to play the game will depend on your team’s puzzle-solving skills and how quickly you are able to solve the challenges. On average, it takes about 1-2 hours to complete a crate, but some people may take longer or shorter depending on their approach. It is recommended to set aside a few hours to play the game in order to fully enjoy the experience.
During our gameplay, it actually took us closer to 2.5 hours to finish. We had done other escape room subscriptions which took just over an hour (a bit too fast for our liking), so this was a welcome surprise! We found the challenging puzzles to be a great way to kill time, especially as we were stuck indoors due to the rain!
Surprisingly, we found this experience to be better than an actual escape room. You have more time to solve puzzles and you’re allowed to go at your own pace! This meant less stress and the ability to actually complete ALL the puzzles.
In an in-person escape game experience, you’re shooed out after the 60-minute mark regardless if you’ve completed all the puzzles or not! All in all, we thought it was more worth it to buy this box than to pay for admission to an actual escape room.
Another thing worth mentioning is the quality of the items included in the box. They’re definitely reusable! In the chance that you wanted to make a copy of the pages so that you could play again at a later date, you totally could. I mean, who remembers puzzles from a whole year ago?
This is a great way to get multiple plays out of each game.
What We Didn’t Like About Escape The Crate
I’ll start by saying that this subscription box was quite challenging, even from the start!
While this might not be for everyone, we certainly enjoyed the aspect of discussing and looking around at all the cards to find which ones would help us solve certain puzzles. However, I could see how the level of difficulty of the puzzles could be frustrating, especially if you’re trying to play alone or as a couple.
To get around that, we’d recommend playing with more people so that you have multiple brains wracking over the same puzzle. Teamwork really makes the dream work here!
One of the things that we didn’t particularly like about this subscription is its limited replay value: Once you’ve solved the puzzles and escaped the crate, you might not want to do it again because it’ll be the same puzzles you’ve previously solved.
While this can certainly limit the replay value of the box, it would still be a good purchase if you’re able to pass this along to another group of friends or another household who have never played this before. As long it continues to be passed along to new players, the value of the box will live on!
On the sheets that you have to write on, you would just make a copy of it before starting your game. That way, you can pass the box along to others so they can play without any of your previous answers tempting them to cheat!
Obviously, cost is also going to come up here. Escape The Crate can be a bit more expensive than some other types of entertainment, such as board games with unlimited replay value. While many people find that it’s worth the money, it might not be the best option for everyone, especially if you’re the type looking to play multiple games in a week or month.
Another thing is the fact that currently, shipping costs extra. Who likes to pay for shipping these days?
Having said that, Cratejoy (where we purchased this box) does oftentimes offer coupons and promos that either give you a sweet discount off your first box/overall subscription or give you free shipping!
Read More: 7 Fun Mystery Board Games Like Clue
Is Escape The Crate Worth The Money?
So, is Escape The Crate worth the money? Ultimately, that decision will be up to you and your personal preferences for an escape room type of game.
If you enjoy puzzles and mysteries and are looking for a unique and engaging way to spend time with friends or family, then Escape The Crate could be a great option for you. We found that the boxes were slightly more doable without hints when we played in larger groups.
This also made it a lot more fun, and our brains were working nonstop!
On the other hand, if you’re not particularly interested in one-time-play puzzles or mysteries, or if you get frustrated easily from not being able to figure out answers, you might want to consider other options.
Ultimately, we think Escape The Crate can be a good buy if you can find a group of friends/family members to hand this off to once you’re done solving the puzzles. Even though you wouldn’t necessarily be getting value from it, the box’s value would continue to live on as it’s played by others.
We think it would also make a good gift for people in your life who like “experiences” over “things”.
Overall, Escape The Crate is a fun and unique monthly subscription service that delivers a box filled with puzzle games and challenges to your doorstep. Whether you’re looking for a brain-stumping, wholesome way to spend time with friends or family, or you just enjoy solving puzzles and mysteries, Escape The Crate is definitely worth checking out.
If you’re still on the fence about whether to commit to this subscription or not, why not just sign up for the “every two months” option or the “2 boxes over 4 months” option and see how you like it? These are pretty low commitment and will allow you to try out the game for yourself. From there, you can either choose to keep the subscription or cancel it.
Curious about what other subscribers think about this game? You can read more reviews here.
Escape The Crate Subscription Alternatives
If for some reason you’re not feeling this particular “escape room”-style subscription, there are a few other options on the market that are worthy alternatives worth checking out. Below are a few of our favorites:
Finders Seekers Subscription Box
Finders Seekers is a monthly “escape room” style subscription box, ideal for anyone who loves puzzles, escape rooms, solving mysteries, or anything requiring a little brainpower. With Finders Seekers, you will experience a mystery puzzle box featuring a new destination theme each month.
In addition to the puzzle/escape room experience, you’ll get a mini travel experience, too, learning about different regions of the world while you solve riddles and puzzles! This is one of the best alternatives to Escape The Crate. It’s great for those who want to tease their brains a bit while they’re fully immersed in a travel mystery storyline.
Frequency: Monthly
Cost: $30 per month, additional savings when you prepay for 3, 6, or 12 months
Ships to: Free shipping, only ships within United States
Skip a month feature: Yes.
Read More: Finders Seekers Review: An Immersive Escape Room Experience In A Box
Hunt A Killer
For an escape room experience with a hint of true crime, Hunt A Killer could be the perfect subscription you’re looking for. The game taps into the True Crime phenomenon that’s been sweeping the nation and existing customers absolutely love the storylines that Hunt A Killer produces.
Hunt A Killer is a murder mystery subscription box where you essentially get to be a detective tasked with solving a murder. Each month, a ‘detective’ will send you a box with letters, documents, clues, and evidence you need to solve the crime. With each box, you’ll be able to eliminate a suspect and get one step closer to cracking the case. With this box, you will be able to put your detective skills to the test to piece together the story and catch the killer!
Catching a killer not the right theme for you? They also have a game in the Blair WItch Cinematic Universe, various “premium” experiences that are family-friendly, as well as games in other genres.
Frequency: Monthly
Cost: $28 per month, additional savings when you prepay for 6 or 12 months
Ships to: $3.95 for the month-to-month plan; Free shipping for 6+ month commitment, additional int’l rates may apply
Skip a month feature: Yes.
DEAL ALERT: Get 20% off your first Hunt A Killer box with code FLASH20
Looking for more fun subscription services? You may like the following:
- 22 Best Experience Gifts For Couples In 2023
- Finders Seekers Review: An Immersive Escape Room Experience In A Box
- 17 Best Subscription Boxes For Arts and Crafts and DIY Projects