Designer: Inka Brand and Markus Brand

Artist: Silvia Christoph, Fiore GmbH, Michaela Kienle

Publisher: KOSMOS

SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THE GAME.

There are plenty of reviews of this game out there that are spoiler free. This is not it. I am going to directly discuss about the game and the puzzles. You have been warned!!

This is the 8th game in the series we have played, mostly with 2 players. This is the second back-to-back “2-star” rated EXIT game I played after the Haunted Roller Coaster. We tried to get our 7 year old involved as she has been clamoring to play the game with her folks.

The narrative in A Stormy Flight sounds boring, really. The plane is in trouble and the pilot needs your help in landing the plane. The captain is trapped in the cockpit and it is up to us to solve the puzzles, open the door and help land the plane safely. Honestly, the topic sounds ho-hum. I was focused on the puzzles and less about the narrative for this one. The good thing is that the theme is a little more kid friendly and not scary. Even then, my kiddo was a little worried about crash landing planes and had at least one nightmare about it.

Overall, this EXIT puzzle was also really straightforward and easy. Clearly, the 2-star difficulty was right on. There was at least one puzzle that was really poorly constructed and I was not the only one who complained about this on the BGG website. In fact, this is likely the worst puzzle I have come across in all the 8 games I have played. So, I would advise to just read the solution and move on.

Among some of the notable puzzles:

“Circle”: The puzzle is pretty straight forward. You must be aware that the clues given are very specific and if you have seen other EXIT games, this one specifically tells you that the Riddle card “O” is not available and the only way to do this is to cut up C and D and put the two halves together. I mean they even have dotted lines on C and D to help you out. You should be able to find the new code on the reassembled ticket.

“Plus”: This one involves the box. You tear off a piece of the flap and place the piece on the box top to the “on” position to reveal the new code. Nothing new here, but I enjoyed the narrative of switching the level from off to one by placing the piece on the box top.

“hexagon”: Another one of those you fold and cut out like an origami. The revealed cutout had the letters clearly written out. A bit bland, but not the game’s fault.

“Y” : OK, this is the one where I said is the worst puzzle. You put a piece of reflective material on the map which then reflects the 3 digit code. Problem is, the reflected numbers looks more like shapes. You need to strain your imagination to pick out “7” and “4”. But the “2” is just egregious. Take the damn solution and move on. Poor design, this one.

“Moon”: Straight forward circuit tracing puzzle. Just put the pieces together to trace out a pattern that will reveal the code at the end of the connected pieces.

“Diamond”: Another straightforward puzzle where you fill in the blanks based on a set of instructions. Here, the boxes are shaded and eventually reveal the 3 digit code. A bit boring.

“Star”: This one is easy. You take the template, punch out the holes and align it on the map. After that, it’s just a matter of reading out the code. Nothing special.

“L” : This is probably the most challenging puzzle in the deck, barring the “Y” puzzle which is poorly designed. Here, players are given a set of plane destinations and the corresponding coordinates. After tracing the flight patterns on the map, you will draw out shapes and symbols. You know these shapes are somehow meant to match the planes, but don’t know the link. Turns out, the clue comes from the back of the “help and solution” cards. Pretty clear after you have done this before. This will be a challenge for newbies. Again, this type of puzzle is not new as there are other previous iterations. You just need to consider every single thing in the box.

“square”: Look at the decoder wheel, spot the differences and the corresponding code on the wheel. Nothing new, move on.

“Triangle”: OK, this is the final puzzle and I don’t particularly like it. At the start of the puzzle, players spot a single print out sheet inside the game where the EXIT team said that the “20” riddle card was left out during production and a new card needs to be inserted into the deck as replacement. Off the bat, I was already suspicious. True enough, the “20” card is slightly larger in dimensions. Barely so. Such that when you slide your hands up the side of the entire riddle card deck, “20” will slide up. This is what the Brands wanted you to do. This part is gimmicky. But I was fine with it. What got me annoyed was the next part of the puzzle. The clue on the riddle card showed 3 frequency numbers that appear on the riddle card 20. One needs to trace the 3 frequencies that appear on the card to outline the number 7. That is lame because it was so inelegant. Just trace the 3 numbers? They tell you that it is a one digit code which has nothing to do with the wheel. So after you trace the number, you pull out the riddle card to end the game. Yuck.

Overall, a Stormy Flight was easy. Really easy. I did not feel the challenge and I think we finished the game in under an hour. Some of the puzzles also felt half-baked. The triangle puzzle and the “Y” puzzle in particular. I don’t think this is a game I would introduce to newbies even though there is a 2-star rating. I would steer clear of this one, actually.

Updated rankings:

1. Kidnapped in Fortune City

2. Dead Man in Orient Express

3. Abandoned Cabin

4. The Haunted Roller Coaster

5. The Mysterious Museum

6. The Pharaoh’s Tomb

7. The Polar Express

8. The Stormy Flight

Final Word: Average