Evidence: Hush Money

• Designer: Elliott Humphries, James Smith
• Publisher: Professor Puzzle Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 90 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4pzLUFe 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

An unidentified body is discovered in a dark Chicago alley. The only evidence at the crime scene is the victim’s wallet …  As the lead investigator, you’ll need to use the items inside the wallet to unlock clues on the Online Detective Portal and access further evidence – statements, photos, emails, social feeds, and more. Use both the physical and online evidence to identify the victim, discover the motive, and ultimately, reveal the killer.  Evidence: Hush Money is murder mystery crime-solving game, combining physical components and an online progression system. Answer questions on the Online Detective Portal to advance through the game and uncover the murderer.

So Professor Puzzle Games have released a number of escape room / detective games in recent years, and Evidence: Hush Money is one in a nice small format box.  The game will require you to use your phone to access the ODP: Online Detective Portal.

While much of the game is run on the website, you’ll need the physical bits that come in the box, namely a wallet filled with evidence/ephemera as well as a map of Chicago.

There is a nice interactive game here as you use the physical evidence in the wallet to answer questions which will in turn unlock digital evidence.  A word of warning – we found some of the questions to be a little vague, so don’t get frustrated if you think you know the answer but the ODP won’t take it… 

You have a number of resources including social media apps and emails to look through.

If you have one, I’d recommend playing the game on a tablet because otherwise only the person holding the phone will get to see all of the digital evidence.

The puzzles in the game are of average difficulty, though some of the vague questions are unintentionally harder than I think they are meant to be.

By the end of the case, you’ll identify all of the important facts of the crime and then input those into the ODP to win.

For an escape game, this was an enjoyable experience albeit one that mostly happens on your phone/tablet.  For that reason, I’d probably recommend this for solo play, or perhaps 2 people at most.   It’s a neat mix of physical and digital bits, and I look forward to trying more games from this series in the future.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it.
• Neutral. Dale Y
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4pzLUFe