2023 Gift Guide by The Other Tales
The winter holiday season is almost here and we prepared our 2023 holiday gift guide. We hope it will help you find unique fun gifts for everybody in your family.
The Other Tales team has many different interests and hobbies, but we all share the love for fun puzzles, unusual gadgets and board games. We spent quite some time going through all the things that we recently enjoyed and selected the best gifts for those who love escape rooms and related things.
Enjoy this gift guide, and if you try anything let us know how you like it.
Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies
Tabletop Game – $29.00 (Thorny Games)
Dialect is one of the most unique and unusual games we’ve seen in a long time. This tabletop RPG makes the players invent their own words to explore the relationship between the fates of a language and a community. Weird, emotional and thought-provoking, this game might not be for everybody; but for those who like the strange adventures in social and linguistic fantasies, this will be the most unique and memorable gift.
Unlock! Game Adventures
Escape Room Board Game – $36.67 (Amazon)
We love escape rooms. We also love board games. So, when we stumbled upon an escape room board game, based on the famous board games (yes, this is a twisted concept), we knew immediately that this is a game we would really want to play; and we weren’t disappointed.
The game includes three separate scenarios for you to explore, each set in a different well-known board games universe: Mysterium, Ticket to Ride, and Pandemic.
Murder Mystery Party, The Night Hunter
Murder Mystery Board Game – $21.99 (Amazon)
Do you know someone who loves a good mystery? Surprise them with a mystery party game. “The Night Hunger” is presented as an investigation rather than a series of puzzles. It consists of four parts and can be played over several days or during one big murder mystery party. If you know someone who loves digging deep into all the evidence or loves to pause a mystery to ponder what actually happened, this game is a perfect gift.
The 7th Guest VR remake
Video Game $25.49 – (The7thGuest-VR)
30 years ago Trilobyte Games released the original “The 7th Guest” game. Featuring revolutionary graphics, complex plot and a whole array of difficult and diverse puzzles, the game brought computer puzzle games to a new level and got more than 2 million copies sold. Now the classic title was remastered and rebuilt specially for the VR platforms. For the puzzle lovers who own PlayStation VR2, Meta Quest or Steam VR devices this game is a must.
Chants of Sennaar
Video Game – $15.99 (Steam)
We seldom come across computer games as unique and unusual as the Chants of Senaar. The entire game rotates around an idea of deciphering unknown languages by observing the strange world and its inhabitants. Inspired by a myth about Tower of Babel, this game follows the travels of the protagonist through a towering maze-like city populated with groups of people who can’t communicate because different groups speak different languages. The game provides a huge variety of very creative language-based puzzles together with a strange and complex story.
iDventure Cluebox – Cambridge Labyrinth
Puzzle – $46.74 (Amazon)
This intricate clever puzzle-box is a great gift by itself; but it also can be used as a gift box for cash gifts. It will take about an hour or so to solve all the puzzles and open the box (your mileage might vary, of course). The box is fully resettable, so you can do it again, or use it afterwards to entertain your puzzle-loving friends (it is really cool-looking, a perfect conversation starter for your home).
GeoLogic by Think Fun
Puzzle – $17.98 (Amazon)
ThinkFun is famous for producing great puzzles for kids. Their puzzles are always fun, clever, inventive and visually attractive; this one is no exception. For each of the 60 puzzles in the game, you will get a planetoid sphere covered partially with different biomes, and you will need to cover the rest of it. The puzzles range from very simple to quite challenging, providing a nice learning curve for young puzzle lovers.
Murdle: Volume 1
Book – $13.60 (Barnes & Noble)
Murdle is a game about solving logical whodunit puzzles. While the online version offers one puzzle a day, this book has a collection of 100 such puzzles. Examine all the suspects, statements and evidence cards, and use logic to arrive to a conclusion: who, where and how they have committed the murder.
Sherlocked! The Official Escape Room Puzzle Book
Book – $22.95 (BarnesAndNoble)
A Sherlock Holmes-themed escape room, in the form of a book. It’s pick your own path type of book. You assist Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they investigate several mysteries and find yourself solving puzzles that you might normally find in an escape room.
Do we need to say more? The game is afoot!
Pierre The Maze Detective: The Mystery of the Empire Maze Tower
Book – $19.99 (BarnesAndNoble)
This book, a new installment in the Pierre the Maze Detective series, is a great gift for younger puzzle lovers – but the adults might enjoy it as well. Filled with gorgeous detailed graphics, the book offers a plethora of various puzzles; mazes, hidden objects, extra challenges will keep the young detective entertained for many hours.
The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book
Book – $19.99 (Amazon)
This book is a collection of 100 brainteasers, all about languages and cultures. The author, Alex Bellos, covers in this book a huge variety of alphabets and languages – old and new, well-known and obscure, real and invented. The puzzles deal not only with linguistics, but also with the way people in other cultures measure time, name kids and count objects. This is a unique collection, a must for anyone who is interested in solving puzzles while simultaneously expanding his knowledge about the world.
Flipper Zero
Multi-tool – $169 (Flipperzero.one)
Is it a Tamagotchi? Is it a hacker’s multi tool? Well, it is a mixture of both. Flipper Zero is a little device that can interact with… well, almost anything. Any kind of access control system, infrared, RFID, NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth – with this cute thingie you can explore and experiment with numerous devices. Having this tool makes you feel like you are playing a futuristic cyberpunk game – but in real life.
Telescopic magnetic flashlight
Magnetic Flashlight – $19.99 (Amazon)
If you have ever found yourself looking into a dark crevice (or under a couch) and thinking how you can get the darned screw (or a key) out of there when you can’t even see it, you will immediately realize that this device is quite priceless. This is one of those things that you’ve always dreamed about without realizing that they actually exist.
Escape and evasion tool kit
Tool kit – $19.95 (GrimWorkshop)
If escaping is your game, this credit card-sized kit is just what you need. A slick set of 10 tools to escape from all sorts of restraints – locks, ropes and even handcuffs! Harry Houdini and James Bond would definitely appreciate it. A perfect stocking stuffer and a great thing to have in your wallet (just please, don’t use it in the Escape Rooms!)
Rechargeable keychain light
Work light – $18.86 (Amazon)
Having a separate lighting device might seem so old-fashioned: after all, everyone now carries a phone in their pocket. Well, yes – but can you clip the phone to your hat? Can your phone produce an emergency red strobe? And, finally, does it have an integrated bottle opener? This nifty little keychain light has all of those useful features, making it an ideal gift for those who like to be prepared for everything.
RC paper plane
Toy – $59.99 (Amazon)
An amazing fusion of extremes in low- and high-tech. What will happen if you take something as simple as a paper plane, and add to it the power of modern remote control technology? The result will be a super-cool flying toy, capable of doing complex maneuvers like loops and barrel rolls, controllable with a smartphone. Kids will love it – and parents might want one, too.
Gift vouchers to escape room
Escape room tickets – $39.95 (The Other Tales Escape Rooms)
Do you have friends or family in North Jersey? Send them our way, we’ll be happy to have them play any of our 5 star games. Amazing Adventure Society is about adventuring in the early 1900’s, The Anomaly is perfect for anyone who loves science fiction, and Once Upon a Winter is a fairy tale. Escape Room tickets are also a perfect last minute gift. You can buy online, personalize them, and print at home.
We hope this gift guide will help you find unique and fun presents and save you some time when looking for gifts for your friends and family.
Thanks Aleksey! Right in time for the holidays, and an amazing geeky review for those who enjoy training their brain. Will be buying several items from the list!