There are dozens of EXIT boxes. They cost about the same, they are the same size, and on a shelf they look interchangeable.
They are not. Picking the wrong one as your first is a quick way to decide you do not like escape room games, when what actually happened is that you started several levels too high.
The Number on the Box Is the Whole Decision
Every EXIT box has a difficulty scale printed on the front. It runs from NOVICE to EXPERT across five dots, and the filled dots tell you where that particular game sits.
It is the most useful thing on the packaging and it is easy to walk past. The artwork tells you the theme, and the theme rarely tells you much about whether you will finish.
Two things worth understanding about that scale:
- It is relative to the series, not to board games in general. A level 2 EXIT is a comfortable evening. A level 4 is where groups without a few boxes behind them tend to struggle.
- Difficulty is not tied to theme. A fairytale forest can be harder than a haunted house. Do not judge by the cover.
Everything below is level 2 or 3. That is deliberate. Those are the boxes that produce a good first experience, and once you have finished one you will know whether to climb.
The Part People Miss: You Destroy the Game
EXIT games are played once. You write on the components, fold them, cut them and tear them. That is not a side effect, it is how several of the puzzles work.
The publisher is upfront about it. One of the bullet points on the Circus Mystery listing reads, in their own words, rip, cut and destroy the game components to solve the mystery.
People still get caught out, because a box you use up feels different from a box you keep, even at the same price. Three things worth knowing before you decide that bothers you:
- It is not a board game, it is an evening. The fairer comparison is a night out for two, not something that sits on a shelf for years.
- What you are throwing away is paper and card. There is no plastic tray and no miniatures. The leftovers go in the recycling, which is not true of most games this price.
- You can pass it on if you are careful. Some people photocopy the components first. It works, it takes effort, and the game is not built for it.
If the idea still bothers you, buy one rather than five and find out.
Quick Comparison
| Game | Difficulty | Players | Age | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The House of Riddles | 2 of 5 | 1 to 4 | 10+ | Your first one, and the youngest players |
| The Enchanted Forest | 2 of 5 | 1 to 4 | 12+ on the listing, 10+ elsewhere | A gentler theme without a gentler puzzle |
| The Abandoned Cabin | 2.5 of 5 | 1 to 4 | 12+ | The classic starting point for adults |
| The Forgotten Island | 3 of 5 | 1 to 4 | 12+ | Your second or third box |
| The Circus Mystery | 3 of 5 | 1 to 4 | 12+ | A longer evening with a crime to solve |
The Quick Answer
- Never played one, and there is a ten or eleven year old at the table? The House of Riddles.
- Never played one, and want the classic escape room feel? The Abandoned Cabin.
- Want something the whole family will enjoy the look of? The Enchanted Forest.
- Already finished one and want a step up? The Forgotten Island or The Circus Mystery.
1. EXIT: The House of Riddles
Difficulty 2 of 5 | 1 to 4 players | Ages 10+ | Up to 2 hours
The publisher labels this one Beginner Level, and sells it as part of an entry level bundle. When the company that makes the series designs a box as the way in, that is worth more than any list.
Why start here: it is rated 10+ across every listing we could find, which is not true of the others. If there is a younger player at the table, this is the box that includes them without any ambiguity. The puzzles teach you how EXIT thinks without punishing you for not knowing yet.
Best if: nobody at the table has done one of these before, or the group includes someone under twelve.
Worth knowing: experienced puzzle solvers will find it straightforward. That is the trade, and it is deliberate. It is built so that a first group finishes and wants another, not so that a veteran group is tested.
One oddity worth flagging: the Amazon listing gives this beginner box a longer estimate than some of the harder ones. Take that as a reminder that beginner does not mean quick. A first group is learning the format as it goes, and that takes time no matter how gentle the puzzles are.
Check the current price on Amazon
2. EXIT: The Enchanted Forest
Difficulty 2 of 5 | 1 to 4 players | Ages 12+ on the Amazon listing | 45 to 90 minutes
A walk in the woods that stops being a walk in the woods. The bridge disappears behind you, the fairytale creatures are not friendly, and the puzzles borrow from the storybook logic of the setting.
Why it works: it is the same difficulty as the House of Riddles with a theme that pulls in a wider group. Fairytale artwork gets people to the table who would walk past a box with a corpse on it.
Best if: you want an easy entry point but the horror themed boxes are a hard sell at your table.
Worth knowing: the artwork reads younger than the game is. The fairytale cover fools people into expecting something for small children, and the puzzles are the same difficulty as the beginner box rather than easier.
The age rating is also worth checking on the listing you buy from. Amazon shows this one as 12+, while the manufacturer code and several other retailers list it as 10+. If you are buying specifically for a ten year old, that difference matters, and the safest choice is the House of Riddles.
Check the current price on Amazon
3. EXIT: The Abandoned Cabin
Difficulty 2.5 of 5 | 1 to 4 players | Ages 12+ | 45 to 90 minutes
You wake in a locked cabin in the woods and work your way out. This was one of the first three EXIT boxes, and those three together won the Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2017, the German award for the more demanding end of family gaming. It was the first time the award had gone to a series rather than a single game.
Why it works: it is a common recommendation as a first EXIT, and half a step harder than the two above. That is enough to feel like a real escape room without being the kind of hard that ends in reading the solutions. The award did not create the series, but it is what put it on the map.
Best if: your table is all adults and you want the classic, the one everyone else has played.
Worth knowing: it is the oldest box here, and reviewers who have played across the series note that later releases refined the presentation. The puzzles are still sound. What changed since is the packaging around them.
Check the current price on Amazon
4. EXIT: The Forgotten Island
Difficulty 3 of 5 | 1 to 4 players | Ages 12+ | 60 to 120 minutes
The publisher calls this one Intermediate. Your boat capsizes, you wake on a black sand beach, and there is no boat.
Why it works: this is the natural second purchase. Players report that around this level the puzzles start requiring you to combine several findings rather than solve them one at a time, and that is a satisfying step once you have a box behind you.
Best if: you have finished one and the group wants to be properly stuck at least once.
Worth knowing: buying this as a first box is a quick route to a disappointing first evening, and it is why it sits fourth on a list of five rather than first on a list of best. The difficulty is the reason, not the running time.
Check the current price on Amazon
5. EXIT: The Circus Mystery
Difficulty 3 of 5 | 1 to 4 players | Ages 12+ | 1 to 2 hours
A string of burglaries follows a circus from city to city. You are working out who, rather than working out how to get through a door, and the structure follows that: this one is an investigation rather than an escape.
Why it works: the investigation framing is genuinely different from the rest of the list. Instead of asking how to get out of a room, it asks who did it, and the puzzles are arranged around gathering evidence rather than opening a door.
Best if: you liked the puzzles but the locked room framing never grabbed you.
Worth knowing: same difficulty as the Forgotten Island but a longer session, one to two hours. It is a full evening rather than something you fit in after dinner.
Check the current price on Amazon
What Happens If You Start Too High
It is worth being specific, because this is the whole reason the list is ordered this way.
Every EXIT box includes a hint system, a stack of cards that give you progressively more help before finally giving the answer. Used occasionally it keeps the evening moving. Used constantly it stops being a game and becomes reading.
A group that starts too high tends to reach for the hint cards early and stay there. They get to the end, technically, and the evening is much less satisfying than it should have been. A group that starts at the right level finishes with something left in the tank and usually wants another box soon after.
Same series, same price, completely different outcome, decided by a number on the front of the box.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you only play an EXIT game once?
Yes. Solving the puzzles involves writing on, folding, cutting and tearing the components, so the box cannot be reset. Think of it as an evening out rather than something for the shelf.
Which EXIT game should I buy first?
The House of Riddles if there is anyone under twelve at the table, since it is rated 10+ consistently and the publisher labels it as beginner level. The Abandoned Cabin if your group is all adults and you want the classic, one of the three original boxes that won the Kennerspiel des Jahres together.
What do the difficulty numbers actually mean?
They are relative to the rest of the series, shown as filled dots on a scale from Novice to Expert. A 2 is a comfortable first evening. A 3 is where most groups expect to get stuck somewhere along the way. A 4 or 5 assumes you have played several already.
Can we play with five or six people?
The boxes are built for one to four. More people can sit around the table, but there is a practical limit: everyone needs to see the same card at the same time, and past four or five the people at the back stop participating. If your group is regularly six, expect to split into two teams with two boxes rather than crowd around one.
Can you stop halfway and come back to it?
Yes. Nothing is timed by the game itself, so you can leave the table and pick it up later. The tension drops when you do, and you will spend the first ten minutes remembering where you were, but nothing breaks.
Do you need an app or internet connection?
No. Everything is in the box, including the hint system. Some other escape room game lines use an app, EXIT does not.
Can one person play alone?
Yes, all five are one to four players. Solo works, though the games are more fun when there is someone to argue with about what a symbol means.
How long do they actually take?
Between about 45 minutes and two hours depending on the box and the group. The higher the difficulty number, the more time you should set aside, and it is worth starting one when you have the evening rather than the last hour of it.
Are they worth it if you already do real escape rooms?
They are a different thing at a fraction of the price. You lose the physical set and the locked doors, and you gain puzzles you can take your time over. Most people who like one like the other.
Where to Start
If there is a ten or eleven year old at the table, buy The House of Riddles. Its 10+ rating is consistent everywhere, and the publisher points to it as the beginner box.
If your group is all adults and has never done one, buy The Abandoned Cabin. One of the three originals that took the Kennerspiel des Jahres, and half a step up from the beginner tier.
If the horror themes are a hard sell at your table, buy The Enchanted Forest. Same difficulty, friendlier cover.
If you have already finished one, buy The Forgotten Island or The Circus Mystery. Both are level 3, and the difference is whether you want to escape something or solve a crime.
The thing to take away is smaller than a list of five games: before you buy any EXIT box, find the dots on the front. That number decides whether the evening works, and it is the one piece of information the cover art will never give you.
Which EXIT did you start with, and did you finish it without the hint cards? Tell us in the comments.
For more games in the same price range, see our list of board games under $20 that adults enjoy too. If you like the idea of everyone working together, our review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars covers a bigger cooperative box, and our Christmas board game gift guide has more ideas.
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