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A number pyramid beside the cover of Escape the Crystal Mine, a puzzle adventure gamebook.

Field Notes

Escape the Crystal Mine: The Story and a Look Inside

2 min read
  • Book story
  • Escape gamebooks
  • Paperback

Escape the Crystal Mine is a puzzle adventure gamebook, so do not read it in order. You solve a puzzle, and the answer in the door brick is the page you turn to next.

The story

A rockfall seals the way in to an old crystal mine under a mountain, and the only way out is down. You descend nine levels of five chambers each, joined by a zigzag of shafts that makes up the mine map.

The doors get harder level by level. One lock groups the bricks into crystal clusters, where a lone crystal shows its number and a bigger cluster shows only its total weight.

How it plays

Every chamber is one page: a short story beat, a puzzle, and a Next Door box. Solve the puzzle, find the number in the door brick, and turn to that page. A wrong answer sends you to a dead end that tells you which brick to recheck, so a slip costs you a minute and not the whole game.

A look inside

The front cover of Escape the Crystal Mine.
The cover.
The first chamber page of Escape the Crystal Mine: story text, an empty number pyramid and a Next Door box.
The first chamber, as printed. Nothing is solved.

At a glance

  • 45 chambers down nine levels
  • Crystal Clusters, a lock where bricks are glued into weighed groups
  • Hints and full answers in the back
  • Ages 10 to adult; paperback, 138 pages

Books mentioned

Escape the Crystal Mine cover

Escape the Crystal Mine

A puzzle adventure gamebook, paperback, 138 pages. 45 chambers down nine levels.

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