Games & Activities

The sixth title in this ingenious series of Sherlock Holmes Escape Books, The Adventure of the Train of the Dead is an exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story. Readers will take on the role of the world’s foremost consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, as he embarks on a journey full of twists and turns.

Colonel Lysander Stark is a ruthless gang-leader who was running a counterfeiting operation in the City of London until he and his gang were captured by the police. Of course, the raid was made thanks to the intervention of Sherlock Holmes. However, shortly after his capture and subsequent sentencing, the Colonel escapes from prison.

A month later, an unusual series of unaccompanied passengers — in coffins, with one-way tickets — ride on the Necropolis Railway to be buried at Brookwood Cemetery in London: the first is a John A. Watson, two days later a John B. Watson, and some days after that a John C. Watson. Whose bodies are in the coffins? Who is buying their tickets? Can you, as Holmes, solve the mystery before your loyal companion John H. Watson is riding on the train of the dead?

Culminating in the huge London Necropolis, the adventure finds you solving puzzles set as a deadly challenge by the vindictive and embittered Colonel Stark. Can you solve the puzzles and save your one and only friend from a terrible ending?

Puzzles include:

• Riddles
• Logic puzzles
• Timed challenges
• Mathematical brainteasers
• Maps
• Mazes

A Sherlock Holmes Escape Book: The Adventure of the Two Flying Scotsmen is a unique form of puzzle book, in which the reader must solve the riddles to escape the pages.

The fifth title in this ingenious series of Sherlock Holmes Escape Books, The Adventure of the Two Flying Scotsmen is an exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story. In this latest tale, Sherlock Holmes and Watson find themselves trapped on a Flying Scotsman bound for Edinburgh after being mistakenly led to believe that Sherlock is needed in Scotland to thwart a plot against the Queen. Readers will quickly discover that the actual plot in motion is to rig a rail race between the two Flying Scotsmen happening that day. A race where the Queen’s son Bertie has ill-advisedly lent money to a small gang of ne’er-do-wells within the household of the socialite Daisy Greville. A woman with whom Bertie is having a secret affair.

With Sherlock trapped on one train and the gang rigging the other, readers will face many challenges in order to thwart the gang and prevent the news of Bertie’s affair reaching the public. Something readers must do before the race between the two locomotives concludes in Edinburgh.

The readers as Sherlock must solve the puzzles aboard the train and alert the authorities before reaching the stop at York. However, this isn’t the only challenge the readers will face as anti-monarchists – aware of the gang’s plot, also seek to destroy the reputation of the monarchy by attempting to derail one of the trains so the money can be lost and Bertie’s secrets can be exposed.

With the reputation of royalty at stake, readers will follow Sherlock as he strives to solve the puzzles and prevent the royal scandal from breaking. If Holmes fails to solve the mystery, not only a train but also the reputation of the monarchy could be catastrophically derailed.

Puzzles include: Riddles, Logic Puzzles, Timed Challenges, Mathematical Brainteasers, Maps and Mazes.

The Alcatraz Escape Book is a unique form of puzzle book, in which the reader must solve the riddles to escape the pages.

An exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story, this book is inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms as well as the history surrounding America’s most infamous prison.

Readers will take on the role of Scott Wilson, a member of an underground US environmental movement called the Wilderness, who has discovered that a farming lobby is illegally using toxic pesticides to sell large amounts of land cheaply to corrupt politicians. There is enough evidence safely tucked away in a secret location to bring these criminals to justice, but failed sting operation takes place which leaves an FBI agent dead and Scott framed for the murder.

Framed as a traitor and a murderer and sent to Alcatraz as a result, the reader must escape the forbidding, top-security jail, recover the lost evidence and stop the pollution and land sale before it’s too late. Surrounded by the most notorious, dangerous and unpredictable inmates, the reader will quickly learn that their only means of escape will be from solving hidden puzzles using the code wheel left behind by the renowned criminal mastermind Robert Stroud – the famous Birdman of Alcatraz.

Nobody has ever escaped Alcatraz alive, and with time quickly running out, the reader will have to find unlikely allies who can help them break out and aid them when they come to face the perilous waters surrounding the prison in order to escape the Rock.

Combines riddles, logic puzzles, timed challenges, mathematical brain-teasers, maps and mazes.

Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle challenges while trapped in a locked room, this is an escape room in the form of a locked book: filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, plus an ingenious Hieroglyphic Code Wheel set into the cover. Taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes, in this new adventure readers find themselves trapped with Watson in the Enlightenment Gallery of the British Museum after a curator collapses in the Egyptian Collection. With King George V due to arrive at the nearby tube station, and rumors of an anarchist plot, Holmes and Watson must find their way through the museum, and fathom the involvement of both Mycroft and Colonel Sebastian Moran, if they are to win their freedom and save the day.

A Sherlock Holmes Escape Book: The Adventure of the Tower of London is a unique form of puzzle book, in which the reader must solve the riddles to escape the pages.

The fourth title in this ingenious series of Sherlock Holmes Escape Books, The Adventure of the Tower of London is an exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story. Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle puzzles while trapped in a locked room, it is an escape room in the form of a locked book, filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, and a clever Code Wheel set into the cover.

In the latest adventure in the series, readers will take on the role of the world’s foremost consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes’s nemesis Moriarty has locked Sherlock’s friend, the musician Odon von Mihalovic, with the Crown Jewels in a cage in Tower Bridge the night before a special ceremony is due to be held for the Queen. Holmes and Watson are themselves trapped in the nearby Tower of London by Moriarty, and they must work through the night and against the clock to find and free Odon from the cage to prevent him being disgraced in the ceremony the following morning.

Combines riddles, logic puzzles, timed challenges, mathematical brain-teasers, maps and mazes.

This ingenious series is a spin on the current urban craze for 'Escape Rooms', in which participants are locked in rooms, and must solve the puzzles they find there to make good their escape. Here, the book becomes the locked room, the pages become the path, and the reader can take on a challenge every bit as brain-teasing from the comfort of their own home. Visual clues are hidden among the intriguing illustrations; fiendish riddles, logic puzzles, and timed challenges unlock hidden doors and reveal the direction of travel; and mathematical problems provide the codes required to follow the correct path. There are maps and mazes to explore; references to the original Sherlock Holmes adventures to unravel; and a code-wheel that holds the key to unlocking the next page. Solve the puzzles correctly to escape. Get them wrong, and you will find yourself further and further along the path to your own demise.

Do you keep forgetting where you put things – and, even, what those things are called? Has 'thingy' become one of your commonly used words? Do you find yourself feeling a bit befuddled? If so, it sounds like you're suffering from what is commonly known as 'Senior Moments'. But never fear, Senior Mind Gym is a comprehensive mental workout wrapped up in one handy book that will help reboot your scatterbrain. With fun quizzes, conundrums, crosswords, word games, suduko, mazes and escape-the-page games you can sharpen your little grey cells with a daily workout. 

Regularly challenging your brain will help to improve your mental agility, concentration levels, memory and problem-solving skills – something we can all benefit from, at any age! Sales points: Gift book aimed at seniors, but a broad age range can benefit from and enjoy the content Contains a variety of fun mental challenges to improve brain function.

Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle puzzles while trapped in a locked room, it is an escape room in the form of a locked book, filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, and a clever Code Wheel set into the cover. 

Taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes, in this new adventure readers find themselves trapped with Watson and aspiring engineer Henrietta Prince in the grand home of Bertram Alfreds, the last surviving child of Lord Byron. After being lured to the residence by an intriguing mechanical music box, Holmes and Watson must find their way through the mansion, foil a deceitful plot to destroy Henrietta's lifelong work – a replica of Babbage's Analytical Engine – and fathom the involvement of Moriarty, if they are to win their freedom and save the day.

Card Games is a detailed guide to 52 of the most popular card games, perfect for players of all ages.

A simple deck of cards can provide hours of entertainment for adults and children, so it’s no surprise that card games are as popular as ever. From simple, fast-paced games for children to more complex, strategic games for adults, this family-friendly companion features 52 classic games for one player upwards.

This handy guide provides detailed rules and instructions for each game, accompanied by clear, colored diagrams to help you master these fun, engaging games. The current edition has been updated to include two popular poker games: Five-card Stud and Texas Hold’em.