Game Review: Deckscape: Dracula's Castle by dV Games

Deckscape: Dracula's Castle (2021) designed by Martino Chiacchiera and Silvano Sorrentino and published by dV Games

Deckscape is a series of games that imitate escape rooms but only use a deck of cards, not a room full of gadgets, gizmos, and gear. Each card is either a puzzle with a solution on the back or an item that can be used to solve puzzles. Unlike Unlock!, there is no app supporting game play, so only when players are sure they've solved the problem should they check the back of a puzzle card to see if they got it right. If the player is right, they just discard the puzzle card. If they are wrong, they put the card in the box to keep track of their score. At the end, fewer cards mean a better performance. 

This game has Count Vlad D. inviting the players to his castle in Transylvania to deliver a secret tome that he claims is his. The game starts with the invitation delivery and proceeds to the castle and all the surprises inside. Naturally, players don't want to give the book to the Count and must evade all his traps and fight all his minions. Escape from the castle requires a lot of creative thinking and problem solving.

Non-spoiler look at some cards

The puzzles were the typical assortment of easy, fun, difficult, creative, and inexplicable. Using only cards to run the game is okay but limited. Sometimes we were unsure of solving the puzzle but just went ahead and flipped the card anyway because we didn't want to spend more time coming up with new ideas that seemed more off-base than our current solution. So we had a lot of unsatisfying moments. One card does have hints on it but we never used it.

Compared to Exit: The Game or Unlock!, this was lacking. The app in Unlock! is often used creatively and the frustration isn't as bad with tough puzzles. Exit uses a lot of different types of puzzles, with physical manipulation of components in addition to using the cards. The Dracula theme was interesting and well-used but the execution was not our favorite.

Mildly recommended--this wasn't terrible but it didn't sell us on the Deckscape system either.

Game Review: Holiday Hijinks Master Detective Collection Part I

Holiday Hijinks Master Detective Collection published by Grand Gamers Guild and designed by Jonathan Chaffer

The Holiday Hijinks Collection gathers a dozen 18-card escape room games designed over the past several years by Jonathan Chaffer. Each game comes in a small tuck box and contains a mystery centered on a holiday theme. The games use a website to confirm correct solutions and provide hints if players find a puzzle too difficult. The website also provides some codes and other information that might be used in the puzzles (like Morse Code or ASCII, things like that). The designs are compact and meant to take an hour or so for one or more players to solve.

The Kringle Caper (2020)

Christmas morning starts with an invitation from Santa to come to the North Pole to help investigate a crime! Though the crime is not immediately obvious, you follow clues and solve puzzles involving the Christmas theme, using popular songs and Santa's workshop to discover the culprit.

The mystery is fun even if the solution does not quite make sense. Not every card had a puzzle on it, some just provided more clues or information to make other solutions. Like other escape room games, some clues are scattered about, showing up before they are needed, though it was always clear what was relevant to the current puzzle. We enjoyed solving this one.

The Independence Incident (2021)

Visiting a museum for Fourth of July, players are drawn into a mystery trying to defeat the Culper Ring, a group bent on hiding secrets from the rest of America. Players examine a lot of museum exhibits for anomalies to solve problems and get to the next stage of the conspiracy.

The storyline is interesting and the puzzles are fun. Each puzzle is built around some aspect of American history or politics, making it a fun little civics review in addition to the creative puzzle-solving. This was easier and more enjoyable than the first one. 

The Pumpkin Problem (2021)

The most horrible Halloween discovery ever--someone has substituted the contents of candy bar wrappers with raw vegetables!!! To find the culprit (and the hidden stash of authentic candy), players have to hunt down the trick-or-treaters and get information from them about the suspicious house on the street, solving other puzzles along the way.

This had a nice variety of puzzles and used the fronts of the cards in creative ways. We only had two challenging puzzles that needed hints (or the bonus information on the web site). The whole thing was very satisfactory and took less than an hour. Nice design job (except for the genuinely horrifying theme)!

The Cupid Crisis (2022)

You have an awesome Valentine's Day date planned at a fancy restaurant. The restaurant also has an awesome plan. You show up early and get locked in by yourself. The door has a keypad lock to get out, but you'll have to go through a lot of puzzles to find the right combination.

This was the most satisfying yet. The puzzles are thematically tied to Valentine's Day and to fancy restaurant stuff (like the reservation book, menus, dance floors, etc.). We only needed hints once or twice and relied on the sets of codes a few times. The humor is good and the creativity of using the cards is very enjoyable. We also liked that we could solve puzzles in different orders since we didn't immediately get what some of them were going for.

The Birthday Burglary (2022)

A birthday party for you is a bit spoiled by the fact that no one is there. A bunch of stuff has been left around, including presents and party games. As you look through all the stuff, you slowly uncover the secret that is waiting for you not too far away.

Players have to interact a lot more with the website. Found items become tools to use with other items or devices. For example, there's a cotton candy machine that needs a little maintenance before you can get yourself some flossy goodness. One object will fix the machine, another will let you get cotton candy from the machine. But don't try the lollipop, because it's too short and that would be too much sugar (or so the website said when we tried it). The puzzles are fairly intuitive and move along at a good pace. We were stumped by one because we made a wrong assumption on how to solve it. Other than that, it was a fine time.

The Groundhog Gambit (2022)

You are trapped in an inventor's mansion where the code pad to open the front door is locked, alarmed, and frozen over. As you explore the inventor's home you solve various puzzles that all lead back to the front door. Again, and again, and again. Just like that movie where Bill Murray has to relive the same day over and over and over.

The game goes through a lot of loops varying the puzzles as it goes. At first, the set-up was frustrating for us. Then we got into the rhythm of the repeats and things felt like they were moving faster. About half-way through we got the option to take a break and come back later, not realizing this was a double-length mystery. The box says 120 minutes and highest difficulty but we didn't look at that till afterward. With so many puzzles, we did use some hints, especially when we reiterated through one that needed a hint on the previous run. 

In retrospect, the design is very clever, using the same elements with one or two shifts to force the players to find different answers. The intricacy and variety were amazing, especially toward the end when we were able to use solutions to puzzles that didn't work earlier. Ultimately, this was a very satisfying experience.

So far, the last one has been the best one. More reviews in the future as we work our way through the back half of the box!

Cute Kid Pix December 2025

More photos that did not make their own post...

We had our first snow storm early in the month. The schools had a two-hour delay three days before for a non-event so they didn't panic this time and our kids went to school in the inch of snow. Everything went fine. The snow was gone in two days, alas. Even worse, there was not enough for sledding!

Actually, we did have snow ten months ago...

I won a contest months and months ago and the prize finally made it to me! The Holiday Hijinks series is a set of 18-card escape-room games, so that box has a dozen games in it. I am looking forward to trying them out!

Thanks, The Family Gamers!

My youngest went on a Scout outing to Urban Air, a fun indoor adventure land. I was a chaperone so I was able to take pictures.

The Leap of Faith

High ropes adventures

You're being followed

Spider-Man routine

Wall-crawling, also like Spider-Man

He made it to the top

They also had laser tag, a VR game, go-karts (indoors!), and a Ninja Warrior-style course. It was big fun.

We had a second snow storm in the middle of the month which was on a Sunday so only Sunday school was canceled.

We had our lights up by then!

The middle of December is also the time for the Winter Showcase at That's Dancing, our ballroom dance studio. We had a fun time with the theme, Country Christmas, and danced to two George Straight songs (videos to come later). The gift from the studio was a glass perfect for a pour of Guinness!

Commemorative glass (beer not included)

We did our traditional Christmas cookie decorating with an aunt.

Working hard

Making faces

Results

Getting plates ready for neighbors

My son spent some time hanging out by the computer.

Okay?!?

We went to Savage Mill for a "flash mob swing dance," which means that some dancers showed up and played music and danced while people shopped. We did not get pictures of ourselves or the dancers, but did get a shot of the long line for visiting with Santa (and the fabulous decorations).

View from the upper level

Christmas was a lot of fun if a bit melancholy. We miss our oldest son but had a good time celebrating with family at home and visiting in Phoenix. More on that in future posts!

Random Bits of Eastern Shore 2025

Some bits from our Thanksgiving 2025 trip that didn't make their own post...

Local J M Clayton Company is the longest running crab packing company in the world. They have a mural on the back of their building that is sort of thematic--a bird eating a crab. My son found a crab shell on the ground and checked it out for a bit.

Clayton Company mural

What's this?

A caboose next to the Powell Real Estate office in town (which is a former train station) has a fun mural of Canada geese breaking out of the car.

Goose on the caboose!

"Shine Your Light" is a mural complete in August 2025 by Miriam Moran representing various Latin peoples and accomplishments.

"Shine Your Light"

"Dorchester Women's Mural" by Bridget Cimino shows local famous women from Dorchester history, including Harriet Tubman, Annie Oakley, and Bea Arthur.

"Dorchester Women's Mural"

The most famous mural is "Take My Hand," the trump l'oeil depiction of the famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman. The associated museum was closed on our visit.

"Take My Hand"

I thought this was an interesting house. The decorations are seasonal, though the most interesting feature is the fence around the driveway that doesn't go around the house. 

Are the cars more important?

This residence has a lovely color scheme.

Great for the summer

Cambridge has a lighthouse brought in closer as a tourist attraction. The Choptank River Lighthouse is a screwpile lighthouse that was position about 4 miles away at the Tred Avon River, warning boats about shoals and other troublesome hazards. Since we were there off season, tours were not available.

The sign

The lighthouse with Christmas decor

View from the lighthouse

Map of the original location

The local movie theater has a cool mural right next to it.

They're off to see something, maybe Wicked: For Good?

Across the Choptank from Cambridge is Bill Burton Fishing Pier State Park with some nice trails and geocaches. Well, not all of the trails are nice...

This trail by the Choptank is great

Uh, the tree fell down...will that happen to me?

Very permanent "Trail Closed" sign (should be moved to the tree fall area)

We did an escape room called "Area 51 Resurrection" at Escape Time Maryland. The theme was fun, working our way into a lab to try and revive "Bob" who was in pretty bad shape...at least it looked like bad shape for a little grey man. We finished with about 15 minutes left, so a good job by us.

Waiting around for our turn

Happy escapees (at least, happier than "Bob")

Trip to Minnesota Summer 2025

We took a while driving to the grandparents house in Minnesota this past summer (2025 if you are reading this in the far future). 

We left on a Sunday morning, driving 1.5 hours to Hancock, Maryland, where we found a geocache and, more importantly, went to Mass at Saint Peter's. We arrived about ten minutes early to church and ran into the priest as he was going in. He immediately recognized that he didn't recognize us and asked us where we were from. I told him we left Laurel and were headed over to Minnesota. We went into the charming little church and sat down. When Mass started, the priest welcomed us and other guests before starting the liturgy. Then he mention traveling and Laurel and Minnesota a bunch of times during his homily! They did have a hospitality table outside after Mass, so we had some donuts and things as we chatted again with the priest. We also met the parish dog and cat.

Then we did a lot of driving, ending the day in Strongsville, Ohio, where my wife had dinner with a college friend. The rest of us ate elsewhere and then we got together again at Escape Room Strongville. My wife's friend's husband and daughter came so we had a group of seven. The room's theme (and name) was Chocolate Factory. It was definitely based on Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory though they did enough that they probably didn't violate any copyrights. The room was a lot of fun and we finished with 12:34 left on the clock, so a good run. 

What I ate elsewhere--smashburger from 1928 Public House

Afterward, we went to Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream for a final treat. It was awesome. We ate so fast, no pictures!

The next day, we did a massive amount of driving, going from Ohio to Wisconsin. We stopped off in Michigan briefly for lunch and to snag some geocaches since we have never cached there before. My kids were happy because the parks with the caches had playgrounds too, including a zip line! At Wisconsin, we were wiped out and did some swimming at the hotel's pool and got a pizza for dinner. I bought a local beer from the front desk, New Glarus Brewing Company's Spotted Cow Ale. The flavor is light and summery, with a tiny bit of fruit sweetness to make it refreshing, like a shandy.

Zipline!

Riding down

Helping out

Stalled out

The cow jumped over what now?

The next day, we continued the trip by driving to the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The main draw was the agricultural school, which features its own ice cream! The shop also has a trivia game and an observation deck. Even though it was the middle of the summer, some workers were still working on a flavor.

Quiz time!

I guess he didn't like that answer

Ice cream packing

Enjoying a ice cream sandwich

You may notice that the ice cream in the sandwich above is blue. The flavor was Fruit Loops, which was good since we were eating it around 9 a.m. We went on to the buildings with cows and plants.

With a milk cow at the Dairy Cattle Center

At the green house

Spider-plants!

The Stock Pavilion

We were amazed how many buildings were visitor friendly, even without guides. Wandering the campus was fun.

We drove on to Wisconsin Dells where we went on the Original Wisconsin Ducks, a duck-boat tour of the Wisconsin River and the nearby areas, an experience that got its own blog post. After the tour, we went to Pals, a brew pub in the Dells that offers pretzel bites, a cheese curd burger, and of course beer. I had the Bourbon Bent Barrel-Aged Mexican Imperial Stout that was delightful.

Sign on the road

The delightful beer

Also delightful pretzel sticks

Cheese curds on a burger, a natural for Wisconsin

After lunch we went to Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf, a multi-course on a hillside. We played the Blackbeard course, which had "educational" signs about the career and personality of Blackbeard as we went from hole to hole. It was fun, though we had a lot of staircases and sunlight to deal with.

Prirate's Cove is on a hillside?

By the waterfall

A bit of action

Playing by another waterfall

Looking professional

After that, we drove on to Granny and Grandpa's house for more adventures.