My Puzzle Adventure

On the 11th day of Christmas, my children played with me… Eleven jigsaw pieces, Ten Farting Canines, Nine Naming Words, Eight Hamster Homes, Seven Toiling Train Lines, Six locking safe keys… FIVE CARLSBERG CHIPS!, Four Sad Snowmen, Three Magnetic Mazes, Two “Unmatched: Witcher” sets, and a reaction game I played with all three!

“My Puzzle Adventure: Dragon” is a wonderful storytelling game that is perfect for playing with relatively young children. I’m only going to do a relatively quick review today because there have been some excellent reviews on here already, and the review from Nicola Asker over on the group from a week or so ago is definitely worth reading.

Essentially, the game works by first building a jigsaw. It’s a relatively manageable jigsaw, even for young children, and Henry (3), who is a big jigsaw fan, managed it with no problem.

Once you’ve done that, you choose which character you’re going to play. Then, you find the piece on the puzzle that features that character, turn it over, and there’s some sort of clue. You then, “Where’s Wally” style, search the map to find the answer to that clue, turn the piece over, and, assuming you’ve got it correct, there’s your next bit of the story.

You take this piece out and continue playing until you’re left with just a few pieces, which form the end of the story.

It’s a lovely idea and a really nice storytelling experience. You can play as different characters, which gives you a slightly different plot and slightly different things to do, adding a little bit of replay value.

Now, I have to look at this a little differently to how I usually look at my games. This is a cooperative game, a solo game, and not really a traditional game at all. It’s a cool, jigsaw-based storytelling experience, and I think it needs to be judged as such. If I were to assess it as a game, I’d say there’s not a lot of replay value because it’s essentially the same each time.

In reality, though, I read storybooks to my children all the time—ones I’ve read over and over again—and this is no different. Think of it as a bedtime storybook with a bit more interactivity, something you can really enjoy with your children.

The older two thought it was cool, but Henry absolutely loved it, and we’ve done it a couple of times over Christmas since. I would 100% recommend it for those with younger kids. You’ll know if your kids are going to like this.

Disclaimer: “My Puzzle Adventure: Dragon” was kindly provided by “Hachette Games” for the purpose of review.