I totaled the rankings for each set. The numerical ranking of each game in each set is equal to the total points awarded. The lower the total point value, the higher overall ranking for the set (according to Tom). #1 = Timeless (19 points) #2 = Heroic (26 points) #3 = Epic (34 points) #4 = Mythic (43 points) #5 = Secret (44 points) #6 = Mystery (46 points) #7 = Star Wars (48 points) #8 = Escape (58 points) #9 = Exotic (60 points)

Set ranking based on Tom's list using a Borda count with 1 point bonuses for top 5 (Tom loved) and 1 point penalties for bottom 4 (Tom disliked). Set Score Timeless 63 Heroic 56 Epic 48 Secret 38 Mythic 37 Mystery 35 Star Wars 33 Escape 22 Exotic 20

Thanks so much for doing this Tom. We asked on a live stream and didn't know you'd go to such effort replying! Really appreciated

Now this is a list I needed. The OFFICIAL Unlock ranking. 😝 👍

Thanks Tom. I've got the first 9 Exit games in the series and have been working our way through that over the festive season, however we've now noticed there has been a distinct drop in the quality of puzzles as we have moved on and now I am looking at alternatives to the Exit games. I was looking at getting some Unlock games because I'd heard they were really good though didn't know which ones to play first. Your video has allowed me to confidently decide on the order; so much so that I'll be ordering the first 8 boxsets (each with three games) straight away.

Yes! This was exactly what I wanted.

haha Tom's ranking is VERY different from ours (as expected). But I enjoy the video. Thanks :)

These games can vary wildly in terms of theme and quality, making it tough which box to choose. I haven't played all of them but I agree that Timeless Adventures was really strong across the board.

I thought you'll go through this list with Eric as you discussed several times in the podcast. Great ranking! I had a chance to play all of them and while I mostly agree, I'd put Star Wars ones lower. The best one for me was the spy one as well and I enjoyed the jumping-between-animals, mainly because my daughter joined me :)

Dear Tom, thank you very much for the video. I have a very similar ranking for these games, with the same best and worst. Kind regards

My ranking of Unlock scenerios: Epic - Mission #07 Secret - Adventures of Oz Mythic - Clutches of Hades Mystery - Tonipal's Treasure Timeless - Noside Show Timeless - Arsene Lupin and Great White Diamond Epic - Seventh Screening Heroic - Sherlock Holmes Timeless - Lost in ChronoWarp Mythic - Around the world in 80 minutes Mythic - Noside's Animal-O-Matic Escape - Island of Doctor Goorse Heroic - Insert coin Star Wars - Secret mission on Jedha Epic - Dragon's Seven Tests Star Wars - Escape from Hoth Heroic - In Pursuit of the White Rabbit Star Wars - An unforseen delay Mystery - House on the Hill Secret - Noside Story Mystery - Nautilus' Traps Escape - Squeek & Sausage Escape - The Formula Secret - Tombstone Express This doesn't rank the following, as I have not played them: Exotic - Night of Boogeyman Exotic - Scheherazade's Last Tale Exotic - Expedition: Challenger

What a wonderful video! I've been looking forward to this ranking for a long time. Now, how about doing the same thing for all the EXIT games?

Just played Lost in the Timewarp. Holy moly it was awesome.

I bought a random Unlock! set the other day in a last minute ebay bid. I was aware of the series but had no inkling of which ones were better/worse. Quite satisfying that my random buy was Timeless!

Thanks for this! I have four of the original ones and often found one puzzle too obscure. The recorded sounds are all obscure and the pirate one required knowing a foreign language. Mostly a lot of fun, but some frustration when you least expect it.

Yes! Timeless is hands-down the best trio

I just finished playing The Nautilus’ Traps and even aside from the air tanks, quite a few of the puzzles are straight up impossible without hints. Plus, a really mean penalty right at the start.

also the last Puzzle in Mission #07 was really cool

I KNEW the Nautilus would be at or near the bottom. Played it with a partner and we both agreed that it was not very fun. I actually like the time aspect, and the theme and art style are great! The problem for us was that the puzzles simply did not seem very clear and were fiddly at times. One of them was so obscure we needed to look it up in the dictionary to find an incredibly out of use word that was needed to solve a puzzle. I had heard from my brother that it was a bit fiddly and after playing it I can definitely put it in the "would not recommend" category.

Can you do an updated one of these to include legendary adventures? Also I thought Star Wars was a special edition thus had its own app so I thought it wasn’t part of the main Unlock! Series.

Since when is Arsene Lupin a great detective 😆 Gentleman Thief, Tom. Played it last night and it was a blast. The other two I have still to play. Looking forward to it.

I did several Exit games before ever doing an Unlock. After Exit I couldn't imagine how Unlock could be good. Only cards and reusable? Didn't seem like it would work but I've had so much fun doing Unlocks!

Would you ever do the same for the Exit games? I was thinking about it and the Unlock games do all stand-out as individual games to me, I've forgotten some of them but mostly I remember them, they're very thematic. Whereas the Exit games just all blur in to one to me. That's not necessarily a bad thing - I think they're actually more consistently good than Unlock, but the highs aren't as high either.

phonetically, Tom, - Cher - ruh - Zod. Love the video! ordering your top 5 now!

I've only played 5 of them so far but I actually like the Exit ones better. Can we get a ranking for them? And even the Escape Room: The Game ones if you play those.

Can someone list which games can be played with only 1 player, and which need 2 or more to play?

A small note regarding Arsène Lupin. He is actually a very well known fictional character, at least, amongst many French-speaking people, because of a series of novels that were written around the same time as the Sherlock Holmes books. Arsène Lupin is a gentleman-thief, not a detective, sort of a cross between Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes. Lupin has also been used in lots of other things beyond the books, including a popular manga/anime Lupin 3, one of the demons helper in Persona 5, and most recently a Netflix show Lupin which makes lots of references to the books. I’ve read and re-read the books many times over the years (and recently my 12 yo daughter read them too). I assume they’ve been translated in English but I’ve only read them in French so can’t talk about the translated version. Me and my daughter will be getting the Unlock game with Arsène Lupin in it - we’re very curious to see what they have in it that might relate to the novels, if anything. It’s good to see that you really enjoyed that particular game. Thanks for this great review of the Unlock games. Very useful.

can you have a spoiler version of this list? would be interesting to hear what exactly you liked and disliked about each of them

Played 26, I have promos too,🕵️I love Tombstone :) and the theme with Nautilus, loved the story of Unforeseen Delay too, played all the Undos too,12 exits, decktective and 7 deckscapes still to play Mythic. There's a secret thing in Coin Up which is in my top 5too. If you posted gods you'll get the Easter egg reference. Extra ending to tonipal? The Meta of bit? The Oz one was broken. Didn't here to haunted mansion mentioned You have incredible memory recall though! Well studied :)

Could anyone tell me if this would be something good to use in an ESL class (intermediate or higher) for one to one classes or small groups? I haven't played any unlock games yet but the idea of getting my stundets invested in reading cards and practicing speaking through solving games sounds very promising! Do the clues include riddles or word games that would make it difficult for non-natives to solve? Thanks in advance!

We've only played the Oz one and we HAAAAATED it, so I'm sure this is just not our type of escape room game. I've done 4 real Escape Rooms and loved them all, so I guess Oz just didn't feel enough like that experience.

What are the orange stickers on the boxes?

I agree for the top ones. I disagree for Nautilus and the Island of Dr Goose: It is probably the most difficult ones, but with a great group it is good. I like very much the concept of Dr Goose to begin in 2 teams (so you need to play it with 4 players, because it is too difficult to be alone in one team). I would put at the bottom, the formula and the house on the hill and the stars wars, because they are too easy.

The nautulis trap was sooo bad, I didn't understand most of the puzzels..

The Animal-o-Matic is phenomenal. We have played many Unlock Adventures but this Adventure is so quirky and fun. An absolute highlight. We only dislike one case and that is Nautilus. The quality of all the Unlock adventures is shockingly high. There are no really bad ones. Except Nautilus. Our Top 3 Animal-o-Matic The Wizard of Oz Tonipal Island For us Unlock is much better than the Exit games. Exit is getting more and more boring and repetitive. Innovations are searched for in vain. Unlock & Deckscape are the best. Here in Germany "Echoes" has just been released by Ravensburger. That is also really great. A mystery thriller like a high-quality audio book.

Shhh...Hair...Uh...Zod :D

I thout that the star wars one was just straight up bad because it was so confusing

Played 93% of the unlocks including the star wars: Top 10: 1) Animal O Matic 2) Mission 07 3) Lost in the time warp 4) Dragon 7 test 5) Wizard of Oz 6) The 7th Screening 7) Sherlock Holmes 8) Insert Coin 9) Arsene Lupin 10) The night of the Boogeyman

Scary to hear "In Pursuit of the White Rabbit" wasn't #27 or so. For us it was absolutely terrible, and now we don't have interest in playing the others. 😢

I don't get all dicetower notifications. It's annoying as I keep misding videos, including this one.

No top 10 today?

Disappointed that Nautilus didn't get the rock bottom spot. That one was pure garbage, and has almost made me quit the series for good.

Boogeyman is indeed lame for the exact reasons Tom listed -- the restriction cards are silly (in a bad way). In addition (slight spoilers), it requires you to "damage" components to solve the game, which is highly atypical for the series.

third comment!!!