Do you enjoy Indian Jones, magic, and H.P. Lovecraft? If so, you’ll want to try CU Adventures The Lost Temple with your friends. It a print and play escape room that is well crafted and super affordable too.
The story takes place in the 1930s. You are tracking down your professor (H.P. Knightly), who has gone missing. Following his research on the mysterious Lost Temple, you need to track him down before it is too late.
CU Adventures
CU Adventures is based in Urbana, Illinois and offers multiple escape rooms and a single print and play game that can be played from anywhere in the world.
How To Play
To start CU Adventures, you’ll need to print a pdf booklet and break out your pencil case as you’ll need some supplies like scissors, a pencil and a tape.
While it is possible to view the pdf on your computer, it would add an extra challenge. There are several times where you’d need to cut out cyphers or assemble a 3D shape.
For those of you without a printer, CU Adventures also sells a printed copy that they will mail to you.
To play, you’ll also need access to the internet. If your team isn’t in one location, everyone will need a printed copy and a voice chat program like Discord.
One important thing to note, you only need to purchase one copy of the game for the entire team.
After buying The Lost Temple, you’ll get sent a URL, PDF and password to start playing. The team leader will need to log in first, then everyone else can log in using the same password.
The Lost Temple Review (Spoiler-Free Review)
The Lost Temple blends a digital escape room with printed papers that will have you cutting, folding and assembling puzzle pieces.
According to CU Adventures, the game is for 1 to 6 players and will take between 60-120 minutes.
In the story, you’ll need to dig through your missing professor’s photographs and journals to follow after him as you suspect he is in danger. But things quickly escalate, and you find yourself in charge of saving the world.
When it comes to unlocking areas to progress the story, it is up to the team leader to input the password. This mechanic works well as once the leader opens a room, everyone else can access it. There is no need for every player to input the password.
The puzzles in this game are diverse and an intermediate level of challenge. You’ll need to cooperate in deciphering strange ruins or piecing together clues.
Things quickly escalate, and you find yourself in charge of saving the world.
The game itself is well designed, with many features I was thrilled to see. For example, all the text is voiced if you wish. That means you can have automatically read everything on the screen, or opt-out entirely.
It is also easy to navigate. Despite having 24 printed pages, and an online mechanic, it isn’t overwhelming.
Each step will tell you what printed page you’ll need to look at. While at the bottom of the website, you can also see all the unlocked printed pages. It is handy, as anything that is greyed out, you know you don’t need to look at yet.
Also, at the bottom of the screen, you can click to jump to any closed locks. There is no need to search for how to return to the locked area. In one click, you can automatically test if you figured out the password.
Final Thoughts
Our playthrough took us nearly 2 hours without any clues. It certainly would go faster if your group is all together, but playing remotely, we waited for our group to have time to cut and assemble the various puzzles.
For the price, you can’t go wrong with CU Adventures The Lost Temple. The price is “pay what you want”, with a minimum of $10. Considering that it is 1-2 hours of entertainment for 1-6 people, it is an extraordinary value.
Buy CU Adventures The Lost Temple now.