ClueQuest: Operation E.G.G.
As any hard-boiled detective knows, it’s important to keep your sleuthing skills at the top of their game. Luckily, the egg-heads over at clueQuest HQ have developed this training course for all our agents. So scramble together a team and get ready to foil the villainous Professor Blacksheep as he attempts to poach our latest technological marvel – the Elastic Gateway Generator.
Rating: Eggs-cellent!
Completion Time: 26:59
Date Played: 2nd April 2021
Party Size: 1
Recommended For: Family Easter Fun!
So… Many… Egg… Puns… And that’s no eggs-aggeration!
*crickets*
I’ll show myself out.
No, but seriously I was really impressed with Operation E.G.G.! It’s got everything you want in a light hearted Easter escape room game and, as usual, ClueQuest have hit the mark with their target audience. Whilst I played this one as a solo escapist (my partner sat next room, backseat escaping with his hilarious Mr Q impression), this would be such a perfect game for a family setting, a couple, flatmates, new escapers and ‘veterans’ alike! What I mean is, the puzzles felt somehow really accessible and solvable. So let’s get into it:
The Story
We’re once again joined by MM7, the plucky robot you may recognise from Mechanics of the Heart and it’s time for your first day of Secret Agent Training. Mr. Q has simulated various secret agent scenarios to see if you’re up to the job. You, the mastermind in Mission Control and MM7, the boots on the ground (actually err, he kinda floats above the ground but yeah, you get the idea). Was I up for the task of taking on the nefarious Professor Blacksheep? Sure, I’ll give it my best shot. It’s not my first rodeo with Blacksheep.
The Experience
As with every Print + Cut + Escape game there’s a fair bit of printing out. No printer? No problem – ClueQuest also offer a home delivery service which is pretty cool. After a long lockdown of playing ‘at home’ escape rooms my printer is on it’s last legs but it managed the 20 pages required by Operation E.G.G… Phew!
I think it’s technically possible to get away with printing less than 20 pages. In this game there was a lot less cutting out as usual – possibly only 4 or 5 pages in total? Although other pages had folding puzzles, some you needed to assemble things, and in others it’s very helpful to write on the paper – so you should aim to print as much as possible.
For the full experience, I just went for it and printed everything though and that worked for me! From here, you pre-cut everything out, lay it all out into it’s various chapters, and hit ‘play’ on an online web portal ClueQuest have set up. You get your intro video, you jump into the game and at each stage, enter a password to proceed to the next ‘level’. Some levels require only the printed material, others a combination of video + print, or click and drag digital interface.
The Puzzles
USUALLY with a ClueQuest game I struggle with the puzzles but nope not this one, which is why I highlight it as being especially accessible for a family audience. I smashed through the whole game in just under half an hour – fuelled by elderflower cordial, the sun, and chocolate Easter eggs… HEY! I see you looking at the date and judging me for eating my Easter eggs early!
Players can expect to encounter a big range of puzzles including (but of course, not limited to), a folding puzzle, a puzzle akin to a jigsaw, puzzles with moving cogs and dials, puzzles where you have to watch a sequence and repeat it back on your paper, puzzles where you have to search and find symbols, puzzles where you have to match up very abstract shapes… The list goes on!
In particular, my favourite involved a lock and the wildest looking set of lockpicks I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously, I laughed! No spoilers here – but just light warning to look out for that one, it’s fun!
Overall
So how did I do? Well I’ve eaten a whole Easter egg and a box of Quality Streets oh- you meant the game? Yep, you bet I saved the world! I think that deserves some more chocolate? No? Okay.
In any case, if you’re reading this and wondering what to do this Easter honestly this is a pretty fun game. We’re not quite out of lockdown here in the UK and annoyingly there’s snow warnings for this weekend so heck, looks like another Easter indoors. But with a fun game like this to look forward to, it’s a real silver lining and I can’t recommend it enough.
I also recommend it if you enjoy any of the following: puns about eggs, anthropomorphic mice, secret agent stuff, saving the world, wacky puzzles, or great illustrations.
Operation E.G.G. can be purchased for £15 on ClueQuest’s website here.
