Jigsaw – Starry Night
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted about a new jigsaw puzzle. This time we took on Van Gogh’s masterpiece, Starry Night. And man, it was brutal!
Articles by Brian Gondek
Back to Denver Pt 3: Smooth Start, Rough Finish
Back in IL after a final, exciting day in Denver. The day started off wonderfully and ended on a bad luck streak that continued to this morning, but we’re thankful we got home safely!
Back to Denver Pt 2: Nightmare at 14,000 Feet
Today’s update is going to be relatively short since I want to get out there and make the most of my last day in the Denver area. I’ll have to add photos on Monday!
Back to Denver, Pt 1
Denver holds a special place in our hearts. It was the first leg of our final segment of the 50 state challenge in 2018 (Colorado->Wyoming->Montana->Idaho), and we immediately fell in love with the area. Open roads with high speed limits, great scenery, and fantastic escape rooms.
Travel Restored
Travel is back on the menu! I’ve completed one (very safe) trip, got another (very safe) trip I’m on right now (more on that later!), and I have a bigger trip on the calendar for August, followed by the Red Bull Discovery Lab in September. Indianapolis, Denver, Miami cruise, and Boston, respectively.
Bellevue, WA (Online): Reality Break – Seattle Freeze
As an avid traveler who loves learning more about the places I visit, I really enjoy when escape rooms tie a bit of local lore into their games. I had written off experiencing anything like that during the pandemic lockdowns, but Reality Break Escapes in Bellevue, WA has made a very neat game that scratches the itch for both solving puzzles and getting to see some less common landmarks in a major US city – Seattle, in this case.
Jigsaw – Forbidden Basement
These Ravensburger escape room puzzles have been a good source of entertainment during the lockdowns. I’ve done enough of them now to put together a ranking based on a few key elements.
Minneapolis, MN (Online): Trapped Puzzle Rooms – Herbert’s Laboratory
When I got an email from Trapped describing their new “audio escape room” adventure, my interest was immediately piqued. In 2019, Christina and I had previously had one big adventure involving Trapped, driving to Minneapolis during a blizzard to catch the final day of their Legend of Lyndale House game (a 90 minute escape room using a full multi-story house as the set). That game left a lasting memory for us, so the idea of playing one of Trapped’s games from home sounded almost too good to be true.
Jigsaw- Indoors, Dreaming of Outdoors
I’ve got a lot of meaty updates to share- my first trip since lockdowns began, a few more trips scheduled in the upcoming months, and a few new types of online and home experiences I’ve played. But I want to give those stories the well thought out updates they deserve, which means today is just a jigsaw update.
Home Game: Sherlock Holmes Escape Book
I’ve played a few dozen escape room home games and slowly been working through a stockpile I purchased before the lockdowns started. I’ve enjoyed many of them quite a bit, but the Sherlock Holmes Escape Book is the first one that blew my socks off.