Видео

Yes, and I didn’t even realise that on rewatching it either. I didn’t know the tin man has a funnel on his head in The Wizard of Oz (I just looked it up and I see he does!) so it didn’t mean anything to me when I read it. Seemed so unlikely I ignored it.

Haha - shame I couldn’t hear you! :) Although I did rather enjoy the moment of discovering the hat - and the slit beneath it that I hadn’t spotted previously! :)

Yes! Just currently watching it, and was getting frustrated because the hat was Right There next to his head! Lol!

Yes, it’s a curious ordering of the puzzles. But out of interest what’s the spoiler? I watched the start and can’t see it, so what am I missing? Maybe I can do something about it.

@@drgarethI think it’s more a reference to the ‘warning:spoilers’ text that pops up in the top left of the videos

@@philpottmatt Ya, and that warning is in all his videos afaik. I don't understand how someone could think they could watch a puzzle solve and not have it contain spoilers, and yet that category of people definitely exists.

I see what you mean! It will be interesting to find out. :)

Haha, so true! I didn’t understand what it meant so it didn’t register with me at all.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me! :)

That’s true on both counts! :)

I didn’t even realise that on re-watching, but clearly that’s true! I only paid attention to the missing apostrophe on that part of the sentence - oops. Still, I actually think I prefer the puzzle without knowing to look for it since you don’t need that clue, clearly. :)

@drgareth It's because of that Tin Hat that you were able to solve later, because, it was only with that Tin Hat that you were able to get the smile. And you weren't sure what the smile even meant during your solve. As far as I can tell, his mouth doesn't change because of an angle and position.

I still can’t see the smile! How does the hat make him smile? I assumed that was just whimsy.

Don't know that it does, but that was the argument you had in the recording as to why he goes there. The reason he goes there is precisely because it is the Tin Man's Tin Hat. Otherwise he could be located with the screws practically anywhere. The clue of his Tin Hat was supposed to be a requirement for placing him correctly, as the screws alone would not be enough.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me! :)

Oh that’s really kind of you! :) Ironically, when I play on my own I also nearly always gloss over stories. I want to get to the puzzles! :)

Hiya! Yay! Welcome back and I hope you enjoy the videos - and most importantly the calendar! I won’t comment in any real way so as not to spoil you, but it’s good!

It’s a fun game, isn’t it? And my pleasure - thanks so much for watching and commenting!

If it’s your birthday today, happy birthday! :)

@ yes 12/21 is my birthday. My mom and I are solving this very calendar, we’re having so much fun with it. We watch your videos after trying to solve it ourselves Oh yeah if you look on the door of day 10 you’ll see the tail of the cat

Is it just me or have the later days been notably easier than the earlier ones? :) Less mystery over what to do, at least.

@ Yes! I feel the same! Almost no puzzling, just going through the motions… Let’s hope it picks up a little for the last ones!

My pleasure! I think it's a lot easier using a camera because you don't have to deal with so many elements all at once - including staring through a small hole! :)

Haha - I'm scared every day of writing the wrong number, since I'm using permanent marker and there will be no hiding it away and pretending I didn't! :)

My thoughts too!!! :)

I think it was genuinely ambiguous - a shame both those two doors were still available!

Yes - I completely agree. It's surprising how so few cards work together to make something surprisingly complex!

I would have flipped it over like they did at first then they talked themselves out of it. Could have had a clearer clue though

Yes, my instinct was to open the left door, but then when I thought more about the clue I decided the other one actually made more sense.

I really enjoyed it too!

I particularly like the ones that couldn't exist without the physical calendar, so take full advantage of its form factor.

Ahhhh - another one I've never seen! Thank you! :)

The “tiki mask” is from Cast Away (Tom Hanks) - he named the volleyball after its brand name, Wilson. The “creepy” mask from the bottom left wall (under the clapperboard) is from V for Vendetta. The rocking horse might be from The Rocking-Horse Winner, but I’m not sure about that.

Oh, yeah, I think you are right! There was a part in the story where you were trying to turn off a boombox or something - and I believe it was playing Last Christmas!

Ah, thank you! I knew the V for Vendetta one since I've seen that, but I didn't get the other references at all.

Fun fact, these videos are recorded a day or two ahead of the time, you can see there are extra videos in the playlist that are hidden.

Only days 21, 22 and 23 have been recorded ahead of time, because I'm away this weekend. Every other Exit video without any exception has been recorded some time around midnight at the start of the day UK time, and published as soon as I have finished editing it - typically around 1am or 2am. So that's why day 21 was an hour or two earlier, since I scheduled it for exactly midnight. (But that's interesting about the playlist - I wondered whether they showed up as hidden or not if scheduled. Clearly they do!)

Ah, how interesting! Thank you for explaining - and for watching! :)

Yes, I was expecting to find three dancers too. It was only because I was so confused by the incongruity of the '10' that I twigged what was going on! :)

I love that idea but sadly I think it really is just a translation oversight. And the calendar was on sale again this year so there’ve been plenty of people watching this year again - thank you for commenting!

You're probably right. It's a shame the text above tells you to treat the clipboard as a coded message - without that it would be easier to ignore.

Hiya! Yes, we have written over a dozen books together in 2024, some of which - such as The Official Cluedo Book of Puzzles - won't be released until 2025. We've also just completed Book 2 in The Murder Mystery Puzzle Club series, The Perfect Plot, which will be out in I think May 2024. We'll also continue to release weekly (or as weekly as we can manage) videos that are full solves of puzzle boxes, so will average an hour or so in length - to add to the more than 50 we've already done of this type. We recorded a couple just a few days ago so there are some already planned for January. Thanks for commenting, and for watching! :)

Agreed, but it's easy to go wrong - to start with I assumed the trail led TO the door of that day which confused me for a bit. The bit about going 'back' confused me.

The problem I have is that a pair of directions is not a set of movement instructions. If it said N1 or somehow communicated the idea that it was a step, it would have been clearer.

Oooooh that's interesting. However it's just the top part of some of the letters so I agree it's probably coincidence.

Oh, I COMPLETELY missed that! Ha - well that settles my last confusion, which was that without the cat being present the timeline on this was a bit arbitrary.

Thank you so much for your comment! You're absolutely spot-on on your first comment - and I have noticed I do this quite often! On SO many videos I either say something must be wrong but pursue it anyway; OR I have the right answer from the start but then move away from it. It's quite interesting to watch myself back! :) And on the dancer pattern, I suspected I could have solved it without the watermelon too (and indeed did identify the '10' dancer) so it's good to have confirmation!

I think that probably it's a lot easier using my camera than it is when you have to coordinate holding the calendar, a light source and the mirror all at once - plus I don't have to then get right next to the large calendar to see it! :) That's annoying about the hints, though - but I guess at least they confirmed you were doing the right thing!

I'm fascinated by the differences in translation. I suppose it's completely inevitable, and I don't envy the translators their work! :) Interesting though that even with a more subtle translation for this clue that it still was straightforward to solve.

How fascinating - I didn't think at all about translation issues with these letters. I wonder how many the original German edition used! To start with I was confused by the extra doors, but then decided they were deliberate distractors - but perhaps they were leftovers from the original version in fact. That's funny about Forrest though! :)

Those Crime Scene games look particularly interesting! :) And thanks so much for sending them (and in the process providing proof that these videos are recorded just-in-time for each calendar day! :) But yes, I didn't think of counting to start with either - I definitely thought I was looking to select three separate chocolates and then assign values to them somehow.

Haha - it's fun isn't it! I will have to try to find my Santa hat for the last day of the other calendar! :)

It looks a lot better in the graphic than it does in reality, where the colours are much more dull. But my problem with it is that it in absolutely no way tells you what's inside the book. It is supposed to make clear that it is a version of Wordle you can play yourself without needing to be online or use a screen - and yet it utterly fails to do so. In fact it doesn't contain ANY graphics that identify it even as a puzzle book. BUT what I didn't say is that I also don't like the UK cover very much, although at least you can sort of infer what's going on. It should have used bright colours to match the Wordle grids, which are not original to Wordle anyway. In fact, Wordle uses the EXACT appearance and game design of the 35-year old TV Show 'Lingo', right down to the precise colours (in the UK version, at least - in the US version of Lingo, one colour differs from Wordle). The only difference is that in Lingo the first letter is given. At the time Wordle was also not trademarked, AND it shared its name with at least two other already-existing word puzzles. Two weeks after my book was published, another UK publisher printed a book called "Wordle Challenge" with an unambiguous cover and title and went on to sell vast, vast numbers. (I have no idea if that other book was printed in the US or not)

I wasn't sure how accurately I had assembled them so did wonder if it would have been clearer if I'd done it more accurately - but it sounds like the answer is no! :)

Interesting! Well, I'm glad to have the excuse although I should have remembered to check the booklets too I suppose - I did earlier in the month, but clearly by now familiarity (or not!) had let me to be complacent! :)

@drgareth You got to the right answer without consulting the hint book, that is what counts. And it is interesting to see how you approach each puzzle, it's fun to see if my first impulse is completely wrong. I'm new to these escape room puzzles with an overarching narrative and had to look up the hints for my murder mystery light novel yesterday. 😅

I got the watermelon reference (the half confused me) but somehow still thought the dots in the circle were footprints of dancing steps. Still figured out what to do with them very quickly though, without help from the booklet. Only problem was that I had them mirrored so couldn't match them at first. Maybe I shouldn't do these first thing after waking up because it was clearly not my brightest moment

I would be very interested to know if the other identically sized circles are pure coincidence, or deliberate red herrings!

Yes, I've never heard of an alphanumeric take number, although I can't claim to be an expert. But even without the letter, I think it would be too misleading to include when you also say that the clipboard contains a hidden message. And I also thought each circle was a separate number too (until I didn't!) - it's a bit mean to give you 3 circles! :)