Solve Riddles in the Old West in Exit: Kidnapped in Fortune City (Spoiler-Free Review)

Your friend Sheriff Grimes has gone missing from Fortune City while on the trail of gold thieves. Can you catch the criminals and save the Sheriff, while solving a series of fiendish riddles?

Like Dead Man on the Orient Express and Theft on the Mississippi, Kidnapped in Fortune City is another Exit game with a mystery that players must solve in addition to the riddles and puzzles in the game.

Gameplay

At the start of the game, you place the town map, the folded sheets, and the special items to the side. You only access these when the game tells you that you may. You start the game with a booklet, which you are not allowed to open, and the decoder. There is a stack of riddle cards. You may only draw a riddle card when the game directly tells you that you may. Riddle cards will provide you with the riddle you are trying to solve. Additionally there is a stack of answer cards and help cards. During the game you make look at a help card to get hints if you're ever stuck on a riddle.

The decoder is used to input your answers to riddles. All riddles have a unique icon associated with them. When trying to solve one, you choose the corresponding riddle icon on the decoder and input the three digit code that you believe is the answer to the riddle. If the window in the center of the ring displays a number, you draw the answer card with that number. It may outright tell you that you are incorrect, or it may direct you to a second answer card which will then tell you if the answer is right or wrong. Typically, you need to solve puzzles to move on with the story and draw more riddle cards. Sometimes you will be given some of the items included in the game to help you solve a riddle.

In Kidnapped in Fortune City, players will need to explore the town, solving puzzles at different locations. However, they may choose the order in which they visit these locations.

Players time themselves to see how long it takes them to complete the game. Your speed and the number of hints you used determine your final score.

Review

We’re big fans of the Exit game line, and Kidnapped in Fortune City does not disappoint. It’s a very enjoyable game with a fun western theme and a town to explore. The designers continue to provide great and unique puzzles that feel fresh and different, and all of them are intuitive, feel fair, and are satisfying to solve.

The fact that the gameplay is not linear, but rather allows players to pick their path through the town is clever and different and gives you a nice sense of freedom. At the same time, there is still only ever one puzzle to solve at a time (in addition to a larger puzzle that you receive bits and pieces of as you work through the story), which ensures that while the game is more open than previous entries, it never becomes confusing or frustrating. You always know exactly what you’re trying to solve at any given moment.

Since players are working to solve a mystery, there is also a deductive reasoning element to the game, with players finding alibis to eliminate different suspects from their list of culprits. Because of this element, some regular fans of the series might not enjoy this one as much as those that are straight puzzles all the way through.

Our group thoroughly enjoyed Exit: Kidnapped in Fortune City, and this series of games continues to surprise, delight, and challenge us.

Pros: Non-linear gameplay, setting, quality of puzzles

Cons: Not all players will enjoy the deductive reasoning portion of the game

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.