SNAP Review – The Goonies: Escape with One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff

[Andrew] Oh, great. Do I need to do the Truffle Shuffle for you to let me help you with this SNAP review?

[Anitra] Goodness, no. This is a family site. But you can help. Now’s the time for you to smile when I say: “This is a SNAP review for The Goonies: Escape with One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff, a Coded Chronicles Adventure.

Game

Coded Chronicles is a series of puzzle games from The Op that started a few years ago with Scooby Doo, which we reviewed. This one, based on the movie we all know and love, is targeted a little older, at players 12+. The game is set in three acts and each one plays in 45 minutes to an hour. You can play with as many people as you want.

Art

The art here is great. It’s hard to tell if they got the rights to the likenesses of the actors, but the art for them is very definitely reminiscent of them. And you’ll recognize things like the key from the beginning of the movie. In fact, if there’s a major set-piece, like the restaurant at the beginning, to Data’s gadgets, and of course the pirate ship, you can bet you’re going to see them here.

But not all at once! There are tons of envelopes to open in this game and lots to unlock. We don’t want to spoil anything, but we’ll tell you a little more as we explain the mechanics of how to play.

Mechanics

Just like the other Coded Chronicles games we’ve played, each major character has a book. The characters also have specialties. Mouth can decipher things, Andy and Sloth can use items, Chunk and Mikey can explore. When you come across a puzzle, you can pair up the number of character with the number of the puzzle and then read that entry in the correct book.

But be careful! Too many wild guesses and the Fratellis will catch up with you!

The game stays remarkably close to the plot of the 1985 movie. Parents will enjoy revisiting the high points – but most of our kids really liked it, too, even though they hadn’t seen the movie.

Keep solving clues throughout the game to get to the end of the story, escape with One Eyed Willy’s treasure, and win!

Expectations

We’ve played Coded Chronicles games before, so we knew what to expect with the books. This system, while changing some things around, seemed to be pretty much the same.

There were a lot more envelopes to open, so we expected more puzzley things, They’re both rated 12+ on the box, so we didn’t expect the puzzles to be a lot more complicated than the Scooby Doo game we had played before.

I expected it to be a little darker than Scooby Doo. Although nobody got killed during the movie, the themes were certainly darker than in a Scooby Doo cartoon. There was a lot of mortal danger.

I will say there was some language in the movie that wasn’t replicated in the game, and the … David statue from the movie is absent as well.

But there’s no Truffle Shuffle, which is weird. (Is it weird, though?)

Surprises

Did anything surprise you, Anitra?

We had a hard time finding some of the cards and components mentioned. When you come to a “reveal this map” or “open this envelope” statement, must read VERY carefully to make sure you get it exactly right.

There were a few times we were convinced we were missing things (missing pieces?) just because the reader missed a number or something small.

We also felt it seemed to run a little longer than Scooby Doo. I think this is because some of the puzzles were harder or took more steps to get through to the end..

It also seemed like the reading would focus on one character for a while before switching. The Explore and Pick Up characters seemed to be doing more things than the other characters. They had a lot more to read, sometimes paragraphs and paragraphs. Fortunately we were able to fix this by having people pass the books around because no one “plays” a single character. This meant everyone got a turn to read and be more involved.

… over the razor-sharp spikes that lined the bottom of the pit. “Pinchers of Peril!” Data yells.

Elliot, reading from one of the books in the game.

The puzzles being harder meant we just kind of ignored the Fratellis. We would have gotten caught so many times, especially with the kids playing, that we just pretended they didn’t exist.

We certainly skipped some of the tension of the movie while playing the game in this way, but it made the game more fun for kids. Some of that tension is still present in the narrative that gets read, anyway. So it wasn’t like there was no tension at all.

Recommended?

So what do we think of The Goonies: Escape with One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff (other than the long title)?

Well, it’s a ton of fun. The puzzles are harder than we expected but the game is incredibly true to the source material. This is a great game for children of the 80’s and 90’s, like us, to pick up and relive the banter and the puzzles of the movie – in a more family-friendly way.

But I don’t think it’s going to be great for a younger families. If the idea of this whole thing sounds good, you might want to check out the Scooby Doo Coded Chronicles instead.

So this game is a ton of fun but considering it for a FAMILY audience, it will bring our rating down a little bit. We’re going to rate it three glittering jewels out of five.

And that’s The Goonies: Escape with One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff, in a SNAP.

Find The Goonies: Escape with One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff on Amazon or at your friendly local game store!

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The OP provided The Family Gamers with a complimentary copy of The Goonies: Escape with One-Eyed Willy’s Rich Stuff for this review.

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