The Mystery Agency: The Balthazar Stone

This was an amazing debut by The Mystery Agency, founded by Henry Lewis of the wonderful Mischief Theatre (for even more fun check out their plays, DVDs and TV shows!)

We kickstarted the full set of three, so they worked out cheaper than they are now available for, but I feel that as long as you fully immerse yourself in the story and take the puzzles and adventure slowly, then this is great value for money.

There were some known issues with the inside of the chest for earlier adopters, such as our box structure mentioned earlier, with broken internal walls or locks that had come away from their shackles. Be sure to take your exploration of the physical elements slowly and don’t use these as an opportunity to cheat! There are also some logistics issues for the deliveries but considering this is a new venture for a small team new to the market, its initial popularity and what with Brexit, Covid and other barriers to deal with, this is not surprising and some patience may be needed, but it is very much worth the wait.

We can’t wait to see what other mischief we get up to in the other two titles from this group, and from the website, it looks like a fourth is already in the planning!

You are sent the box by The Mystery Agency, hoping your puzzling skills might be able to help in uncovering the mystery that surrounds the Balthazar Stone. After all, the professor who had it last went crazy trying to decipher the riddles and open the case. He even tried *whispering* brute forcing the lock, but alas! The Balthazar’s Stone keeps it’s secrets.

I loved The Balthazar Stone. It had all the right elements of mystery and discovery that I want in a good at-home escape game. The game materials are great quality and feel like real artifacts.

The puzzles are really well designed, making me feel like a real armchair treasure hunter. The seamless attention to detail that I’ve come to love about Mischief Theatre is clearly evident here.

I’d recommend this game for anyone who’s a fan of Society of Curiosities and is hungry for more. It’s less challenging than the Society of Curiosities games, so I’d say it lends itself more towards a casual or family game night.