Tabletop Game Review: Doctor Esker’s Notebook

Doctor Esker’s Notebook

Plankton Games

Players: 1-6 Players

Play Time: Depends on Players

“Doctor Esker has vanished, leaving behind only a mysterious book full of puzzles written in his own hand. Nobody has cracked his cryptic codes yet. Are you up to the challenge?”

Doctor Esker’s Notebook is a puzzle game that can be played solo or with a group of people. In this card game, players work together to solve nine puzzles, each of which are represented by a set of cards. The gameplay is simple: players start with the first set of cards, which are made up of images and text, then they try to decipher the code. The code indicates which set of cards to solve next.

Doctor Esker was inspired by escape rooms, and the influence shows. Every set of cards give the players pieces of a big message and trying to understand how everything fits together and discovering the solution evokes the same feelings as getting out of that room. When players finish all of the puzzles (It took my group about three hours), they are greeted with a lovely message.

Through the nine puzzles, players will encounter a bit of diversity in the type of puzzles, but they mostly carry similar mechanics with them. Quite a few puzzles are easier to solve once you realize that the game favors specific types of means of solving. This does make some of the latter puzzles a little easier, but it isn’t detrimental to the overall experience. Overall, while some of these puzzles will be familiar to those who enjoy playing puzzle games, everything is still creative enough to keep this game feeling fresh.

The difficulty is somewhat sporadic, and it’s hard to say that the game gets more difficult as you progress. Rather than each puzzle getting increasingly difficult, there is a bit of inconsistency in difficulty. For example, the opening puzzle is one of the most difficult puzzles, if not just because the player doesn’t know what to look for. A few puzzles in the middle of the game vary from quite easy to painfully tough. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the experience of the group playing will determine how much mileage this game will have. We had a pretty diverse group playing Doctor Esker, so our different methods of thinking carried us pretty far.

Every solution is a set of numbers, which correspond with the ten solution cards given to players. The solution system is one of the shining parts of the game and allows players to make mistakes without spoiling the answers.

The game’s art manages to successfully turn the cards into scraps of a notebook. The puzzles appropriately match the game’s theme, leading to an engaging experience. The text on the cards appears as rushed scribbles, while the pictures look plastered to the page.

The game is accessible to most ages, though the game recommends 13 and older. Our group struggled on quite a few puzzles, which was fine since there is a handy set of hints for each puzzle. The hints are well made, avoiding giving too much away. Even after using some hints, our group felt satisfied after solving puzzles. There is even a little scorecard on the back to record records, making this game one that players will want to share. This is an especially good thing because there isn’t really much replayability in this package. It’s a great experience, but you won’t want to play it more than once.

Doctor Esker’s Notebook is a challenging and engaging puzzle experience. You won’t find any tabletop games like it. It is perfect for a rainy afternoon with a small group of friends. It won’t last much longer than that afternoon, but it is still a great game for puzzle enthusiasts.

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