Chaos & Confetti

Scarlet Envelope’s Christmas Puzzle Cards are winter-themed cards stuffed with puzzles.  They can be used as functional greeting cards to send to others or simply be used as a puzzle experience.  

Everything needed to solve the puzzles are on the physical cards.  However, there is an online progressive hint system for those who might need one.

Though it may be helpful to mark the cards as you solve the puzzles, this is not necessary and the cards can remain unblemished for replayability if desired. 

The cards are advertised as taking about 30-45 minutes each.  As a duo, Santa’s Wish took us about 40 minutes, and Rookie Reindeer took us about twenty.   

OUR THOUGHTS:

Puzzles: Well-Clued Christmas Challenges

Each card comes with several puzzles that will work in conjunction for one final answer.  The Santa’s Wish card contains four primary puzzles and the Rookie Reindeer card has six primary puzzles.

The puzzles for each card are challenging yet doable.  Between the two we found Santa’s Wish to be more challenging (we may have needed a hint), but the puzzles themselves all made sense and worked well.  The Rookie Reindeer puzzles fell more in line with how our brains work, so we were able to breeze through them more easily.

Overall, the puzzles are well-clued and crafted.  We had no problem telling which elements of the cards we had to use, even on the puzzles that took us a little while to figure out.  The puzzle design is well incorporated into the format, without sacrificing the artistic design of the cards. Expect a great marriage of brain teasers and cute cards

Narrative: Light Holiday Fun

Each card comes with a little story written inside in order to give a reason for the puzzles.  The narratives are simpier and can be summed up in a sentence.  Since the experiences are contained completely in greeting card form, players shouldn’t expect a deep narrative, more a delivery system for the puzzles.  

A lot of the theming and story really comes from the holiday aspects of the cards.  The holiday card theming allows for Santa, Christmas decorations, reindeer, and more to make their way into the puzzles.

Overall Fun: An End of Year Dose of Cheer

We really enjoyed what the Scarlet Envelope’s Holiday Cards had to offer.  Whether the buyer decides to solve the card themselves or send it as a greeting card, someone will enjoy a fun puzzle challenge.  Excellent for spreading holiday magic or as a gift to yourself.

We enjoyed the holiday theming of the puzzles, and found them all to be a good challenge. These are a contained peek into the level of difficulty and types of puzzles Scarlet Envelope offers in their traditional adventure games, which we have always enjoyed.

THOUGHTS Wrap Up:

Puzzles: Well Clued Challenges

Narrative: Light Holiday Fun

Overall Fun: An End of Year Dose of Cheer

Recommended For:  We would recommend these holiday cards to those who like quick puzzles, the holidays, or self-contained puzzle experiences.

The Product: Holiday Cards by Scarlet Envelope

Website Link – http://kck.st/3KNFbVI 

Price – ​​CA$ 29 for a set of 3 cards ( ~$22 USD)

Disclaimer: while we were very kindly provided with a free copy of the cards to review, all thoughts are our own.