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Deadbolt Mystery Society is a monthly puzzle subscription box. Each package contains everything you need to solve a stand alone mystery each month. These immersive stories and scenarios include interactive online incorporation in addition to traditional puzzles. Subscriptions are $24.99 monthly and with code minustwenty you’ll receive 20% off any subscription. NAT received this package at no cost for review purposes.
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Our first glimpse inside the Deadbolt Mystery Society “Backstage Pass” package.
Everything that I received in my Deadbolt Mystery Society package. There is so much stuff in here. And this month’s box involves live music which both me and my husband thought was awesome – we love live music.
So what is all this stuff?
First up is our intro page that tells us how to use this box and where to go in the event that we need help. Our mystery for the month involves the manager for the band Voodoo Mary. He is murdered and someone in the band did it. We have to figure it out.
Many of the sheets include QR codes – these tell us answers but are typically password protected. For instance this one needed a three digit code to open the trunk.
This sheet is a face to face interview with someone that works at the bar.
On the back there’s a puzzle that we have to solve – there’s a hidden code in the wine bottles.
When we are ready to solve our puzzle we’ll click on the back of this card and use the QR code to find out if our estimation is correct (we totally solved it this month).
This coaster will be used in conjunction with one of the puzzles for this month.
And this sheet (spoiler) will be used with that very same coaster. The playlist below will also be integral to one of this month’s puzzles.
Even though this is just an interview card it ended up holding some very important information that helped us with this month’s mystery. This guy is the bouncer for the club that the incident happened at and he’s reluctant to speak with anyone about what happened.
This card is where we start. I think this is really cool, it makes it really easy to tell where you’ll begin and where you’ll end.
In fact the first thing that happens when you snap that QR code is you listen to a transmission of someone at the club – explaining what happened that someone was murdered. It was honestly kind of eerie especially since we were doing this at night.
This VIP pass has a series of numbers on the side that will be used in one of our puzzles.
We also received an entire cast of character / suspect cards. In our deck are Buzz Miles who is the bands tour bus driver, Mary Kershaw or Voodoo Mary who is the lead singer of the band, Riley Parks who is the keyboardist for the band, Chase Culver who is one of the guitarists, Garrett Barlow who is another guitarist, Rich Mulvaney who is the drummer for the band, Sidney Reagan who owns the club the murder happened at, Paul Cameron who is the bassist, and Reginald Kennedy who is the victim and the bands manager.
I like that they include these fun novelty items. There was a Voodoo Mary guitar pick included in our box.
And of course on the back there was a puzzle!
This page lists each of the cities on their Pins & Needles tour (the tour the murder happens on)
This page is one of our puzzles and gives us insight into each of the members of the band’s fingerprints. This puzzle will also help us figure out one of the suspects innocence.
This sound board is another puzzle included in this box. As you can see there is so much going on. We had a solid two hours of fun with this box!
This band Itinerary has crucial clues to this month’s mystery!
These lyrics written by Mary have a secret message hidden in them, how do we figure it out? You’ll have to keep scrolling to see!
We’ll use this setlist to decipher another cryptic message.
This double sided page has lots of little tidbits of information and at the bottom a puzzle that we will have to complete.
The reverse side has not one but two puzzles we’ll need to complete. The first is where each of the band sits at the bar, this will be used in conjunction with the fingerprint puzzle. The second is a music scale and will be used in conjunction with the guitar pick you saw earlier. It reveals a hidden message!
Each package from Deadbolt Mystery Society includes a collector’s card. This month it was a card of “Dolly” a voodoo doll carried by Voodoo Mary that she considered a good luck symbol.
This puzzle will be used in conjunction with the first puzzle on our double sided page.
This QR code is accessed with info you’ll get from the bouncer and the playlist.
The thumbprint here matches one of the band members. Because of it, someone has an alibi, but who is it?
Next we have a hotel key card that you’ll use to find out another member of the band’s alibi.
This QR code is solved with information you’ll get from the band’s tour bus driver.
And this final sheet is another puzzle you’ll use in conjunction with information that you receive from one of the band members.
Alright, that’s what we received but SPOILERS!
Okay so we solved this box in about two hours. It was challenging yet still fun. Each small puzzle leads you to the next and there isn’t really a place that you have to start…
After we listened to the transmission we read the character cards and then moved on to this puzzle. There is a hidden puzzle that says, “One of the LOA is in love with Mary”.
After reading Sidney the club owners information we talked to the bouncer who had some interesting information. Particularly the bands that have played at this exclusive venue, the Carbon Underground.
The backs of each of the cards show which instrument the members of the band play which will be important later on.
Our first puzzle is the tour bus which we’ll need to find out about one of the band members alibis. We get this information from Buzz and have to enter a sequence of symbols.
Here’s the sheet we’ll use to figure this out.
Rich Mulvaney the drummer was with this chick and so .. he has an alibi and thus cannot be the killer.
Next we solved the dressing room code. This we used in conjunction with the information from the bouncer. He told us bands that played at the club and on the playlist that was included there were songs by those bands that each included a number that we’ll enter to gain access.
One of our puzzles leads us to this document. Signed by the members of the band forming a new band called the LOA. Ah, the plot thickens and the band was already moving on before the manager was murdered. Did I mention he was firing everyone but Mary and that him and Mary had a romantic relationship?
Next we solved where each member was sitting at the bar – From left to right there was Rich, Chase, Paul, Garrett, Riley and Buzz. The puzzle with the musical scale revealed a hidden message that told us a nickname, Decaf which is Garrett’s.
Then we flipped that page over and solved the puzzle on the other side. We used the sheet with the soundboard to come up with a special word FREED.
And yes we totally feasted on some blackberries while solving these puzzles.
Forgive me for not remembering which puzzles led to which clues… I should have done a better job recording but we eventually get this with one of the QR codes. It shows us what was used to kill the manager and the time his watch stopped which will be very important in determining who does and doesn’t have an alibi.
Next up we will use both the setlist and the VIP pass to get a secret message. IFIREDEVERYONENOTREG – this is a message from Mary saying that she fired the band and not the manager… but why?
Then we use the lyrics to determine that Mary has cancer and that is why the band was dismantled. And at this point we’ve figured out who the killer is.
Boomsauce. We got it right! It was the keyboardist Riley that murdered Reg. Because he was in love with Mary!
So in summary
Presentation: Everything is well laid out and arrived to us perfectly in our Deadbolt Mystery Society package
Quality: The quality of the items particularly the novelty items that they include is awesome.
Curation: This puzzle was extremely well thought through and the way that they bring us to the conclusions is fun and inventive. This is great for a couples night in or for a game night with friends. We had a blast!
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