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A number pyramid beside the cover of Escape Through Time, a puzzle adventure gamebook.

Field Notes

Escape Through Time: The Story and a Look Inside

2 min read
  • Book story
  • Escape gamebooks
  • Paperback

Escape Through Time 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

Mira and her cat Zero travel through five wings in time order: Egypt about 2600 BCE, Mesopotamia about 2000 BCE, China about 200 BCE, the Maya about 700 CE and the House of Wisdom in Baghdad about 830 CE.

Each age carved its numbers differently, so the door seals are written in hieroglyphs, cuneiform, counting rods, Maya dots and bars, and the numerals of Baghdad's House of Wisdom. A chamber tells you the next seal in words, for example "sixty-eight", and the next door shows it carved. You do your sums in ordinary numbers; the old numerals are for reading doors.

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

At a glance

  • 45 chambers across five ancient ages
  • Read the number systems of Egypt, Babylon, China, the Maya and Baghdad
  • Hints and full answers in the back
  • Ages 10 to adult; paperback, 136 pages

Books mentioned

Escape Through Time cover

Escape Through Time

A puzzle adventure gamebook, paperback, 136 pages. 45 chambers across five ancient ages.

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