The Clock Winder By Sultans of Solve

Inspectors' Reviews:

• Are we sure these are tools and not puzzles?

• I mean the envelope says tool kit but I'm suspicious.

• Note to self - clock winders like puzzles that make you tick :P

• Are we really going to trust that this killer is being fair?

• The answer is yes.

• I feel like a therapist might have a lot to say about this guy's tendency for cryptic riddles in relation to murder.

• He's quite dedicated, too.

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Boss' Review:

The Clocker Winder a is new puzzle experience that is the brain child of Jack from Sultans of Solve. This game was created initially as part of a Secret Santa experience within a Puzzle People Facebook group and from there Jack decided creating puzzles was a new passion for him. Now, initially I was a little hesitant because of the company name and logo being a little close to appropriation for my taste but I decided to still give them a try when a friend purchased the game.

The premise of the Clock Winder focuses on you being asked to assist the Oaks Hollow Police Department with a serial killer case. The killer, dubbed the Clock Winder, has victims stretching as far back as nine years and each crime scene is filled with riddles and clock motifs. In the most recent events, the killer has specifically asked for you to solve his kills and offers his name as the reward for you locating seven victims through a series of puzzles he has concocted. For the narrative I found it was pretty light and straight forward. There wasn’t a lot of plot development but I did find the ending was unique and definitely opens the company up for more games. The story has a slight repetitive quality as you continuously find dead bodies but all this means is this experience is definitely more puzzle focused than story focused.

In terms of puzzles, they included a variety of ciphers, pattern identification, tracking, logic, and more. I thought the puzzles were pretty solid. I will note the final solution wasn’t a true word and that did throw me off. I also appreciated that every piece is only used once so once I finished with one page I was able to set it aside. This experience heavily relies of logic elements in puzzles which challenges you to think outside of the box. It’s not about hiding things in plain sight but about applying skills outside (or using really good thesaurus and google if you need them). I wish there would have been a bit of a better payout with each solution. The way this game is set up is that you need to solve a puzzle to find a location on a map and then input the letter of the location into the correct victim QR code. While you get a little narrative locating the next body I didn’t feel there was any progression other than I found the body. Overall, the puzzles were solid and challenging for players. They have a more logic focus so bring your thinking caps!

In terms of customer service, my friend purchased the game so I had no direct experience. The game arrived promptly and there were no issues. We purchased the refill kit but found we didn’t really need it. This game is entirely paper based and you can easily photocopy or write lightly with pencil if you plan on regifting.

Overall, The Clock Winder is a good game if you’re looking to get your traditional puzzle fix. I place it in the category of escape room puzzles which are great to do with friends in an evening. I see this game has a lot of potential for the narrative but as it is it follows a pretty typical storyline that ends somewhat abruptly. That said, the puzzles are well constructed and challenging and kept me engaged for two hours.

Check out The Clock Winder here.