Customer Reviews

Sacred Myths and Legends Series Puzzle 6 - Carta Blanca

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This is the sixth in a series of seven themed puzzles from the "Sacred Myths and Legends" line put out by Family Games, Inc. Each puzzle can be solved alone, but each one also provides clues to the solution of the next puzzle in the series, leading up the seventh puzzle (to be released in late 2009) which incorporates elements from all the previous ones.

This series of puzzles is great for adventure-loving, intellectuals who want to escape into a Robert Langdon/Indiana Jones motif for a while. Each package includes a beautiful, high-quality, wooden puzzle which requires solving to reveal a secret scroll, which will then provide clues to a password which needs to be entered on the companies website to unlock an extra clue for the next puzzle. Each of these clues takes the form of a riddle.

Each puzzle in the series has it's own theme (Da Vinci is one, Atlantis is another, King Arthur, etc.) and the clues all pertain to the theme of the puzzle you are on. The incorporation of the internet slightly removes you from the role-playing element of these puzzles, but once you see how difficult these passwords are to figure out, you will most likely be spending hours on the internet anyway - trying to decipher the clues. The passwords are actually much more difficult than the wooden puzzles (as a general rule) and will sustain you LONG after you have already solved the physical puzzle. However, the difficulty level of these riddles is EXTREME (in most cases), so be prepared to educate yourself thoroughly regarding the mythological or historical theme at hand.

That is not to say that the PUZZLES are easy, however. Most of them require a great deal of effort to finish, even after you know what the solution is supposed to be. And there are no instructions with these puzzles. There is usually one clue per puzzle and it is left up to the player to figure out what needs to be done. As I said, these are definitely aimed at an intellectual audience.

The sixth puzzle in the set is called "Carta Blanca" and is one of the stranger puzzles in the series. It is a box with a lid locked in place and you must figure out how to open it. This one could be over very quickly, if you are an astute puzzle solver, but it could potentially take a long time to solve. It is hard to explain in words, but wits are required to open it. ONE WORD OF CAUTION: There are tiny holes on the back of this box. These holes are NOT for sticking things into (such as a coat hanger). Doing so could easily damage the puzzle itself.

Some of the puzzles in this set will take you less time than others (most can be solved in a day or two, sometimes much less...but some of them took me weeks), but the passwords will keep you going for quite a while, regardless of how fast you solve the puzzle. Another great thing about these puzzles is the fact that they look great on a display shelf ...and house-guests are always intrigued by a good puzzle.

One warning about playing these puzzles - if you search internet forums for help with the passwords, YOU WILL SEE SPOILERS and it could ruin it for you. I would highly recommend avoiding those forums altogether (until you are ready to give up anyway). Otherwise you run the chance of spoiling the mystery for yourself.

Enjoy!

This puzzle is excruciatingly difficult to master but fun at the same time.
There is no quick fix in solving it. The door of the puzzle box lies flat
and it does slide from side to side. There is a spring mechanism inside which is the ultimate key to this enigma!