The Deadbolt Mystery Society Monthly Box
by Deadbolt Mystery Society$23.67/ month
Buying OptionsReviews (1230)
Multiple QR codes make game confusing
Feb 15, 2022
Cindy S.
The materials were of good quality and well organized. The problem is with the QR codes. You scan a QR code and enter a password before you can access the next clue. That worked fine... until we opened another app on our phone to look something else up. When we went back to the new clue, it required us to re-enter the password before we could view the clue again. We quickly lost track of where we were in the game because we had many windows open (every QR code you scan opens a new window) and all were requesting a password, no way to know which clue is which. If you are very organized, close windows when you have all of the information you need from the new clue and maybe even take a screen shot of the new clue, you'll do fine. It was just really hard to keep everything straight.
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Trying to Cancel
Feb 04, 2022
Valerie P.
I’ve been trying to cancel this membership but keep getting send and charged. Will continue to try
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Hey Valerie, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. You mention that you have been trying to cancel your membership with us. Your membership was canceled on December 21 after you responded to our customer service team's email.
On December 16, you purchased a 3-month subscription with us. When you purchase a multi-month subscription like this, you pay for all 3 months worth of product and shipping for those 3 months up front. You had correspondence with our customer service team on Dec. 19 saying you would like to cancel your subscription. Our customer service team asked you if you would like to receive the boxes you had paid for and then cancel or get a refund and cancel....
Can't review
Jan 05, 2022
Carrie G.
I just received my first box 5 days ago. I haven't had a chance to do anything with it. So I really can't rate it.
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Good for beginners
Sep 03, 2021
Mads S.
Oh, how I wish I loved these boxes.
I'll start by saying that I really love puzzles and that I tend to be good at them.
If you find puzzles very challenging, but enjoy them anyway, then Deadbolt boxes are a great find! However, if you are good at puzzles, read on.
I have done MANY Deadbolt boxes now (The Cabin, Behind the Wall, The Collector, Catch Me if You can, Conspiracy, The Pretender, and The Dark and Stormy Night). I just finished "The Dark and Stormy Night." It was painfully easy (with a heavy emphasis on painful). Most of the puzzles were so obvious that it was like providing a word search with all of the words you need to find being in bold--you glance at the page and the answer just immediately jumps off the page at you before you can even read what is on the page. There were 2 that took me a moment longer (long enough to read what was on the page), but there would be another sentence on the same page as the puzzle that tells you very clearly and directly exactly how to solve the very simple puzzle (that I believe most people would be able to figure out in a few minutes even without the "knocking you over the head with the answer" clue). And the logic in the mystery itself was flawed. It has the logic of a young child who is in a room with two adults and a ball is...
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Hi Mads,
We are sorry you didn't find our boxes "fun, entertaining, or challenging on any level." We are a bit confused by the review since you have placed multiple orders with us in 2020 and 2021.
Your concellation message also indicates that you planned to renew in the future. None of that matches your feedback here. Obviously, it sounds like you are at the expert end of puzzle-solving. Kudos to you! Our boxes are written in a way that can be enjoyed by people of all skill proficiencies. The Dark and Stormy Night box that you mentioned is by far our most popular box and our highest rated (It was our 2020 box of the year as...
It’s okay
Jul 12, 2021
Ashley C.
If you get a dis punt then it’s an okay box. At full price however it’s a bit overpriced.
Verified Purchase
Hey Ashley, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review about your experience. Of course, we never want to hear that our products and experiences are "okay." We do see that you purchased your subscriptions in 3 month increments. That provides you with a discount for committing to 3 months but that also makes the price higher because you are paying for 3 months at one time, instead of a month-to-month plan where you can pay monthly. Our boxes with shipping on average cost around $30/month. Our members have said that boxes take 2.5-3 hours to complete. If we compare this to other entertainment activities - 1 escape room ticket for 1 person for 1 hour is...
Not the greatest
Mar 14, 2021
Ada G.
It did not have a clear path as to the order of how we should solve. We figured out the puzzles but had no idea what to do with the answers.
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Hi Ada, we are sorry you aren't happy with our boxes. With our mysteries you are tasked with becoming a detective and solving a crime. That means having to piece bits of information together and determine how to use some of the answers you get from solving puzzles. Just like with a real mystery there won't always be a clear path on how to solve the case. That's part of the challenge. However, if you find parts of it too difficult, we have hints and solutions for every box on our website. We have a Facebook Hint Group where help can be obtained. We can be contacted by email or social media to receive help. We provide...
Shipping disasterous, box content great!
Mar 05, 2021
Katie M.
This would be a great box, except it takes over a month to deliver each time, and tracking is terrible.
Please fix your shipping issues
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Hey Katie, thank you for taking the time to leave us your feedback. We are happy to hear that you think our actual mysteries are great. International shipping has greatly been impacted by Covid-19, but we have been working on improving in areas where possible. Some good news is that we have just finalized an agreement to shift our international shipping to a different carrier. This is something that has been in the works for many months now and we are finally able to use a new service.
Confused
Jan 15, 2021
Cynthia W.
Have not solved the mystery yet. Have not figured out the scan of bar code boxes. Very confusing.
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Hey Cynthia, we are sorry to hear that you are confused! Each box comes with a Start Here instruction sheet that explains how our mysteries work. This sheet also explains our QR codes and how they open. We also have hint files on our website and a hint group on our Facebook page, both of which are told to you on the Start Here sheet. We are also very willing to assist our members when they reach out to us for help. When we check, we don't see any email correspondence from you with regard to this issue.
The Spider
Dec 13, 2020
Mat S.
I worked on The Spider for a few hours. The portion concerning the musical notes made no sense. (I scored all the notes in treble, bass, and violin clef) We cheated on that clue. Also the library section left a gap in logic that made no sense. I don't understand how they got numbers for a certain password. We had to cheat on that as well. Weird. Could be better. I believe we should be slapping our heads with "A-ha!" moments, rather than scratching our heads, struggling to connect the lines for some clues. Most are good, but not all.
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Hey Mat, thanks for taking the time to leave us your thoughts about The Spider. You mentioned you scored all the notes in treble, bass and violin clef. These boxes aren't created to where you need external knowledge such as knowing how to read music. There was a business card within the mystery that gives you letter values for each of the notes. This business card is the key to solving that particular puzzle. We have hint files on our website, a Facebook hint group, Facebook private messenger and email and will be more than happy to try and help clear up any aspects that didn't make sense to you.
Seller ruined the surprise
Dec 07, 2020
Carly M.
*Disclaimer* I am leaving this review prior to actually playing the game.
We are really excited for our first upcoming Deadbolt Mystery Society box, but I am upset with something the seller did and wanted to warn others- when you order as a gift for other people, you have the option to choose to notify them immediately, or you can set a future date to notify them. I set December 25th as my notify date, since it is a Christmas gift, but Deadbolt Mystery Society went ahead and notified the gift recipient on 12/7, a full 2 1/2 weeks early. The email they received was not the email I set to send out on 12/25, it was a completely separate email thanking them for joining and it completely ruined my Christmas surprise for my partner. Something to be aware of if you are ordering this as a gift for someone else- Deadbolt Mystery may email your gift recipient BEFORE you choose to, ruining the surprise. Maybe don't order it until you are ready to share the gift with someone. Pretty disappointed that this happened, as it was my main Christmas gift to my partner, and 2020 was a lousy enough year without having my surprise Christmas gift spoiled early.
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Gave away the gift before he could open
Dec 06, 2019
Hannah S.
I haven't seen the box, it was a Christmas present for my brother and I think he'll like it, but on the "give as a gift" option there is a suggestion to include the email of the person you're sending it to. I was afraid that if I didn't it would be something they'd need to send him clues as he worked the puzzle or something like that, so I put my brother's email, and they immediately started emailing him so now he knows what his gift is. Not a huge deal, but I'm a little disappointed that I specified it was a gift and they gave it away before he got to open it, so just be aware that if you're sending it as a gift DO NOT put the recipient's email address.
Verified Purchase
Hi Hannah, we're sorry that the gift email didn't work as you'd hoped. The gift email goes out when the package is shipped. We post in every place our box is sold what our shipping schedule is. That shipping schedule is plainly shown on our Cratejoy listing, and the email you received when signing up also tells you this. We shipped according to the schedule we have posted. The gift email is sent at the time the box is shipped to let the recipient know what is coming and who it's coming from. I apologize if this was unclear to you.
too tricky for me
Nov 12, 2019
Jill N.
I've only done one box so far, so maybe the next will go differently. I was able to complete only part of the box without going to the help file. Three of us were working on it, and we were completely stumped. After reading the hints, there was no way any of us was making the connections we needed to. Without the help file we never would have figured it out. I'm OK with a little struggle, but this puzzle was impossible.
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Hi Jill, thanks for giving our boxes a try. We're sorry you found the box you did to be so difficult. What seems hard and unmanageable for some clicks more easily for others. All of our boxes are different so maybe you will find the next one easier and more to your liking.
Terminal, Little too Escape roomy...
Feb 10, 2019
Lakeida S.
Just finished Terminal and I was a little disappointed. It felt too much like an escape room game, than a murder mystery. It was all puzzles, and many made no sense as far as detective work goes. I mean having to solve a logic puzzle to determine where passengers were seated, doesn't make since, because the information was provided by the airline, in which case they could have just told you were everyone was seated. Or why would an airline have a secret coded napkin?
So far this is my second box, hopefully future boxes will have real detective work involved, such as working through timelines, motives, and opportunities, not just anagrams and ciphers.
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Thank you for taking time to leave a review and share your thoughts, Lakeida. We appreciate it.
Jul 02, 2018
Bernadette C.
I am an inveterate puzzle solver, and a huge fan of break-out-of-the-room puzzles, scavenger hunts, and paper puzzles of all kind. This is the fourth puzzle-box subscription that I've tried.
The box has a few very positive features compared to the others I've tried.
First, there's no need for an internet connection, which allows the family to unplug from electronic gadgets while solving the puzzles. It also allows the box to be played if you're out on vacation or in a place with spotty Wi-fi.
Second, there were a lot of independent pieces to the puzzle and all of them were available from the beginning of the game. Other puzzle boxes we've played in the past were much more linear, forcing us to work on just a few puzzles at once. This one gave us all the puzzles in one shot, so we could all grab papers and work on puzzles simultaneously without having to fight to read the two or three clues available. There were four of us working the puzzles, and the first 20 minutes of solving were really fun, as we poured over clues and swapped suggestions.
The big problem with this box for us were the poorly-clued puzzles. We did the Nero box, and found several alternative solutions to the puzzles that seemed equally valid. With no real clues to help us determine which solution was correct, we ultimately turned to the online hints and solution, only to discover that even after...
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience, Bernadette. We appreciate it!