Toys & Games

Mail Order Mystery Review: Spies, Lies, and Serious Bad Guys

Every year when I’m putting together my annual gift guide, I look for gifts that engage children’s creativity, imagination, and problem-solving.

One gift I can wholeheartedly recommend year after year is a Mail Order Mystery. Basically, these are immersive, interactive stories for kids told through a series of clues and documents that come in the mail. Every envelope contains an assortment of personalized letters, secret missions, and cryptic messages, along with mysterious objects, puzzles to solve, codes to crack, and clues of all kinds.

This year we received Mail Order Mystery’s spy-themed mystery, Spies, Lies and Serious Bad Guys!

Check out our previous Mail Order Mystery reviews: The Case of the Missing Bigfoot, The Enchanted Slumber and Treasure Hunt!

Spies, Lies and Serious Bad Guys is a mad-cap mystery that unfolds through a series of personalized letters, top secret missions, curious objects and cool spy gadgets. There are ciphers to crack, codes to enter, clues to solve, and an evil villain to foil.
 
The adventure begins with an acceptance letter to spy school, but training is interrupted when a secret agent goes missing. If the villain’s plans succeed, fun will be gone forever. Seriously. No more fun. Forever! Mwah ha ha ha ha!

Under normal circumstances, kids receive an envelope every week for six weeks. But this year, Mail Order Mystery is sending all six envelopes at once in one big box. This option is perfect to dole out on your own schedule to keep the kids busy over winter break or through quarantine. Each envelope is addressed to your child and numbered so it’s easy to keep them in order. You can hide envelopes around the house and let the kids search for them, or sneak them into the mailbox when they’re not looking.

It all started with a mysterious envelope addressed directly to both my children. (Mail Order Mysteries work really well for siblings.) They were surprised to discover that they had been chosen to attend spy training at the S.H.O.E. (Secret Headquarters of Espionage) Academy in Toronto, Ontario.

The envelope contained an acceptance letter, a pamphlet introducing prospective students to the S.H.O.E. Academy, and one questionnaire for each child. They answered questions like how many push-ups they could do, how long they could run before getting tired, and which spy skills they were more interested in learning. Then they chose their own secret spy names (Metal Tiger and Glitter Girl, if you were curious) and mailed their reply back to the Academy.

After that first envelope, the kids asked every day if a reply from S.H.O.E. had arrived yet. Once they received the second envelope (I sneaked it into our mailbox when they weren’t looking), the game was afoot! As more envelopes showed up, they learned that there was a double agent at S.H.O.E. Who could be behind rival spy organization S.O.C.K. (Society of Cranky Knaves) and their evil plan to stop fun forever?

The attention to detail was amazing. Each delivery came with an activity, secret missions, hidden messages, codes to break, and/or a neat spy gadget. The kids made their own cipher wheel, went undercover with stick-on mustaches, and read invisible messages by UV light. One envelope contained a handy dandy S.H.O.E. Guide for Spies with a glossary of spy terms, various kinds of ciphers, and rules for becoming a world class spy.

The final delivery brought one last letter and a real combination safe disguised as a book. This last puzzle answered all their questions and wrapped everything up neatly.

Once the kids cracked the final code and opened the safe, they secured the top secret “WC” item (no spoilers, but they screamed with laughter!) and became full-fledged spies with their very own Official Spy ID cards with their names printed on them. The last mailing also included instructions for how to go online and check their answers to all the puzzles presented throughout the six-part mystery.

Spies, Lies, and Serious Bad Guys! is recommended for ages 9 and up. There wasn’t any content that I would consider scary or inappropriate for younger kids, but there is a moderate amount of reading and the puzzles range a bit in difficulty. Some were simple cipher substitutions, others required a little more thinking.

But what I love most about Mail Order Mysteries is how they get the whole family involved. We all took turns reading the letters and secret missions out loud, so I was able to give hints for any puzzles the kids found too challenging. If the kids do get stuck, each mission has a secret three-digit number that they can enter on the shoeacademy.org website or call in to a 1-800 number for a hint.

Gift It

Mail Order Mystery currently offers four different mysteries: Treasure Hunt! ($109), The Enchanted Slumber ($109), The Case of the Missing Bigfoot ($119), and Spies, Lies and Serious Bad Guys ($119). Over the years my kids have done all four, and you can’t go wrong choosing any of these.

Mail Order Mysteries are perfect for last minute shopping as well. After you purchase your mystery, you can download and print out a gift note to put in your card or under the tree.

Connect with Mail Order Mystery on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Disclosure: I received sample items to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ.

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