Review – Taco TWOsday by Trapped Puzzle Rooms

Review – Taco TWOsday by Trapped Puzzle Rooms

Website Link – https://www.trappedpuzzlerooms.com, under Remote Experiences 

Price – $35.90 (for both halves)

Disclaimer: we purchased the game with our own money, this review is not sponsored. All thoughts are our own.

The Product:

Taco TWOsday by Trapped Puzzle Rooms is a creative series of communication puzzles, designed to be played by two separate players or two teams, who may discuss their separate clues but can never actually show each other their materials. Prior to starting the game, players choose to be either the FBI (Flour Bureau of Investigations) or the CIA (Corn Intelligence Agency). The mission of both agencies is to stop the thief known as the Guaca-mole and doing that requires both agencies to -gasp- collaborate! Note: You do need both team packets to play the game.  While there is an option to purchase individual FBI or CIA packets on the website if you are splitting the cost amongst a group or are playing remotely and need the packets to go to different addresses, you must still be sure that both packets have been purchased.

In total, the game consists of a series of eight puzzles (depending on how you count them). The puzzles vary in difficulty and play to a variety of different strengths. Once you’ve completed a puzzle, you get an answer that you can enter into an online system. The system will let you know whether your answer is correct or incorrect. Once all answers to a puzzle series are correct, you are able to move on the next part of the investigation.

There is a hint system present on the online system where you enter your answers, making it convenient to get a hint while playing if one is needed. 

Do you and your team have what it takes to stop the devious Guac-a-mole?  Beware, this avocado has already gone bad!

Our Thoughts:

We broke this game out for the ultimate Taco TWOsday on 2/22/2022 and ate delicious homemade (by Chaos’ mom) enchiladas to celebrate. Chaos bought the game as a Valentine’s Day present for Confetti, so it felt right to treat it as a special date night experience… and the game didn’t disappoint!

Taco TWOsday looks plain at first glance – just two unassuming manila envelopes – but it is chocked full of creative, puzzle-y goodness. The names of the agencies had us giggling from the onset and it only got better as we dived into our envelopes.  Hope you like puns as much as we do! The game’s theme is wonderfully silly and the narrative plays into that silliness throughout, which is a treat. We looked forward to reading each and every single part of the story.

The puzzles were hard enough to make you think, but not hard enough to be overly frustrating. There was a nice balance of “hmm” and “ah-ha!” moments. The division of information was also well balanced.  Both of us felt like we had key intel and were able to take the lead at different points.  Most of the time though we felt like we were working together as a solid team. 

There were also puzzle elements that we hadn’t seen before. One in particular, Chaos solved before Confetti and he kept exclaiming how cool it was to watch the solution come together. We didn’t end up needing any hints for Taco TWOsday, so we can’t comment on our experience with the hint system in real time. We did check it out after the fact though and found it to be easy to use. It was a progressive hint system, which helps players decide the level of “nudge” they need which we always personally appreciate. 

There was one puzzle in Taco TWOsday that required a significant amount of spatial reasoning, which is a major weakness for Confetti. However, even this was well done enough to be enjoyable instead of frustrating (although, that is definitely not a suit of armor no matter what Chaos says). 

We’re both looking forward to trying another Trapped Takeout adventure in the future.  Here is where we disagree though.  Chaos is drawn most to Retro Rad Pizza Adventure, while Confetti can’t help eyeing the Reelburger Boxset.  Oh no!  We just might have to get both down the line.  

Official C&C Rating:

Narrative – 4/5 stars

Puzzles – 5/5 stars

Overall fun – 5/5 stars

Final Averaged Rating – 4.7 Stars

If you’re looking for a treat, Taco Twosday is hard to beat!