Playdate: The Unofficial Website (Nick Simberg, Apr 2025). "Kind of a Professor Layton game set in Alice in Wonderland." He found a few puzzles "a lot more obtuse" than the first game's.
https://www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/escape-the-boardgameGames / Catalog / Escape the Boardgame
OverviewCatalog
Escape the Boardgame
Puzzle / AdventureCrank: yes$8
1 · official Catalog GIF (1-bit still: screen-1-still.webp)
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4 · official Catalog GIF (1-bit still: screen-4-still.webp)1 · official Catalog GIF (1-bit still: screen-1-still.webp)2 · official Catalog GIF (1-bit still: screen-2-still.webp)3 · official Catalog GIF (1-bit still: screen-3-still.webp)4 · official Catalog GIF (1-bit still: screen-4-still.webp)Overview. Not yet reviewed. No score. Checked 12 Oct 2026. Built from official and press sources.
What it is
Escape the Boardgame is "a playful and mind-bending mix of escape room puzzles and visual storytelling". Sarah and Alex meet for a first friend-date at a board game café run by the mysterious Eleanor. Mid-chess game, lightning strikes, the lights go out, and they're shrunk to chess-piece size. Built in Cadin Batrack's Panels comic engine, it has you scroll the story with the crank and solve puzzles hidden in the drawings with the buttons: maths, tinkering with the art, and riffs on classic board games like chess and dominoes. A hint system will eventually just give you the answer.
It's by Julie Bjørnskov, a loose sequel to her award-winning Escape the Arcade (you don't need to have played the first). It came to the Catalog in March 2025 for $8 (also on itch.io). At the 2025 Playdate Community Awards it won Best Launch Experience and was a finalist for Best Puzzle Game.
Who made it
What others are saying
Callout (?): No review yet. We haven't reviewed Escape the Boardgame yet. This page is an overview built from official and press sources.
Sources
Checked 12 Oct 2026.
- Official Catalog page (description, credits, size, dates, content/AI/accessibility notes). https://play.date/games/escape-the-boardgame/
- 2025 Playdate Community Awards results (Playdate Squad). https://playdate-wiki.com/wiki/The_2025_Playdate_Community_Awards
- Playdate: The Unofficial Website, Nick Simberg. https://www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/escape-the-boardgame
OverviewNo score
Overview
Not yet reviewed.
No score. This page is built from official and press sources.
On the card
Sarah and Alex's first friend-date at a board game café goes wrong when lightning strikes and they're shrunk to chess-piece size. Solve puzzles hidden in the art to get out.
From the sources
