Dispatch is a monthly subscription-based mystery from Breakout Games that "tests your detective skills each month with a new delivery of clues."
This is a review of the third series, which is called I, Spy:
"By some twist of fate you have been mistaken for the top secret agent known as Wolf. Now you’ve been sent an assignment to stop the assassin known as The Raven from acquiring and using a nuclear device. You’ll track The Raven down with the help of a mysterious friend and use spy craft to ultimately sabotage the nuclear threat. Can you track down The Raven in time?"
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Dispatch: I, Spy by Breakout Games
The Subscription Box: Dispatch
The Cost: $24.99 a month + free shipping
ACTIVE DEAL: Save $10 off your first box!
CODE: dispatchsignup10
The Products: Physical clues to help solve a mystery.
Ships to: US
Dispatch I, Spy by Breakout Games #2 Review
I love that the boxes for this subscription are always so interesting and add to the mystery of the game!
We received a little intro card complete with a checklist on the back, which is incredibly helpful when there are clues everywhere and you never know what you might be missing.
The following items came in our first box, but are useful for each installment of this mission:
In case I need any help along the way, I received this card from Bailey Detective Co. with a link to their website that we can use for help if we get stuck.
Since we'll be traveling, we need a passport. This one looks authentic, and the pages appear to be blank, but with this box, you never know when a clue might appear.
We also received this envelope full of cash. Too bad it isn't real, although it does look and feel somewhat authentic—not of the Monopoly money variety.
We received this book on Code Systems that is full of information about Morse Code, Braille, Navy flag signals, and more.
They even included information on Baconian Ciphers and American Sign Language and left a space for notes.
The first item we received in our box was this note with a stamp (sticker) to add to our passport for our travels to Monaco.
We also received an authentic-looking scratch-off lottery ticket and casino chip for the Velour Casino. While we did scratch off the ticket (sorry—no spoiler photo this time), there was no information that was relevant to our box this month.
The next item that stuck out to me was this mysterious card with a raven feather printed on it. On the bottom, it had what looked to be Braille, so I grabbed our codebook and got to work deciphering it. It gave me a location, date and time, so I'm thinking it was telling me where to meet the Raven next.
This is the room service menu that was included in our box. In addition to listing a lot of expensive, fancy food, it also seemed to have a coded message on it. I got to work deciphering this and discovered a warning about someone named Gazelle and was told she was posing as someone else and that I would need to plant a bug in her room.
We received these photographs and notecards with information on three different women of interest.
Our Top Secret folder had some information on Gazelle, most of which was redacted. While I was busy decoding, my husband was busy figuring out how to read this. All I will say is that he was able to read the information by looking at it in a new light.
After decoding the note on the menu, I decided to visit the Monaco Gold Hotel's website and was greeted with this page. It had three different camera views and asked if I knew whose room I wanted to visit. Fortunately, the intel my husband had looked through gave us the answer to this one!
We were able to view the information from the redacted memo we received in our first box on something called Operation Businessman.
After reading the memo, we were warned that Gazelle was on her way back to the room, so we needed to plant the device and go.
We were then taken through a series of questions, all of which could be answered by using the various information we had uncovered from both this box and our first box.
The last piece of information included a video with this super creepy video of a tape recording that featured a disguised voice telling us where we were headed to next for our mission. Looks like we are headed to Russia!
Verdict: This installment took us much less time to complete than last month, which is probably due to the fact that there was no Morse Code this time. (Thank goodness!) I think the fact that we had to rely on information from the first installment made it just challenging enough and really helped to tie together some of the details. I actually liked that this box wasn't quite as time-consuming, and it felt a little easier in difficulty to get through and recover all of the information we needed since, between the two boxes, there was an abundance of it. My husband and I enjoyed working as a team to figure everything out, although this installment just as easily could have been a solo mission. I love the way they incorporated the hotel menu, the website, and videos to make it a multi-media experience. We are definitely enjoying our I, Spy boxes and can't wait to see how things go in Russia!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? This is the second box in the I, Spy game series. Although everyone receives a new box each month, subscribers will receive different boxes depending on where they are in the story.
Coupon - Use code dispatchsignup10 to save $10 off your first box!
Value Breakdown: This box is the second in a series of five total boxes each costing $24.99 for a total of $124.95 for the series. Considering this box gave us an evening of light entertainment, I definitely think this was worth the experience!
Check out all of our Dispatch reviews and the Geek + Nerd Subscription Box Directory for more mystery and crime-themed boxes!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of the first installment of I, Spy?
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