The Deadbolt Mystery Society is a mystery-in-a-box subscription service. This review is based on the January 2021 box - The Old and Hidden Secret. Each box is a standalone mystery that the player solves by reading documents and examining physical clues and photographs. If you love puzzles, escape rooms, or whodunnits, you’re sure to love The Deadbolt Mystery Society. If you (like us) found that the quality of Mystery Experiences Company was declining, this would be an excellent substitute and an upgrade.
Like other subscriptions, the box contains a variety of objects, puzzles, and documents that ultimately allow the player to determine the culprit. Many items also featured QR codes that led to web pages with additional clues, some of which required a password to access. Throughout the mystery, the player reads documents and solves puzzles to eliminate suspects and reveal passwords for online information. The standalone mystery model for this type of subscription service feels far superior than the more gradual model of comparable services like Hunt a Killer. (Though this is also dependent on personal preference.) Because each box is its own mystery, there’s no need to preserve notes or remember clues from weeks or months prior.
The contents of this particular box included: “Start Here” instructions, suspect photos, puzzles, game pieces, clue photos with QR codes, letters, newspaper excerpts, a complete miniature deck of cards, and more. As an example of how the “gameplay” works: the player might find a photo of a safe with a QR code. Upon scanning the QR code, the player is asked for a password. The player must then review the other items to determine the password and “open” the safe. If the correct passcode is provided on the webpage, the site reveals the contents of the safe. When you think you know the answer, there is another password-protected webpage that requires the user to provide the correct solution to read the conclusion to the mystery. This allows the player to go back and re-examine the evidence if they don’t get it right, instead of revealing the true culprit right away.
Unlike other subscriptions we’ve tried, this mystery had several packages within the main box that were labelled “Do not open until instructed.” Rather than having immediate access to everything, the player can only see some objects once they’ve solved the puzzles in the first “phase.” This has two primary effects - first, the mystery-solving experience is a bit more linear or structured than some others; second, the mystery has elements of exploration that we haven’t seen in other mystery box subscriptions. The open-when-instructed envelopes does mean that the player has to solve puzzles in a more specific order than if all puzzles are available from the start. However, this structure allowed the narrative to include discovering a hidden passageway! It also means that there were fewer opportunities to get stuck - there was always clear direction on what puzzle to do next, the challenge lay more in actually solving it. The suspense added by these packets and the excitement of “exploring” the next area was similar to opening secret packages in a Legacy board game, and it really puts this mystery box far above the others we’ve tried.
Overall, this was our favorite mystery box subscription so far. The difficulty was right in the sweet spot of challenging but not too frustrating. The mystery was compelling. The components were excellent. The narrative was constructed in a way that allowed the player to "explore” the environment. Previous boxes are also available for purchase from their website so players don’t need to commit to a subscription to try them out. 5/5 - We will be solving more mysteries from The Deadbolt Mystery Society.
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