Finders Seekers Subscription Box Review + Coupon – April 2018

Finders Seekers is a monthly puzzle box that asks you to solve mysteries around the world. Each box delivers a challenging puzzle to be solved, comprised of clues related to a new city each month.

Think of it as an Escape Room adventure delivered right to your door!

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

About Finders Seekers

The Subscription Box: Finders Seekers

The Cost: $30.00 + free shipping

The Products: A complex, challenging mystery along with clues and virtual scavenger hunts around a new city each month.

Ships to: US.

Finders Seekers April 2018 Review

Each mystery begins with a letter from The Society of Seekers—Finder's Seekers' official name for their fearless consortium of dedicated detectives!

The letter indicates the difficulty level and estimated time needed to complete the challenge, along with details of the mystery and the clues intended to help you in your quest. This month's mystery took place in Las Vegas! Sin City, baby. I've never been—and honestly am not sure if I ever will—but I was excited that it was another city I hadn't traveled to before!

I am ASTRONOMICALLY proud to say that this time around, I completed the whole box. While the intro letter says that the Las Vegas challenge takes approximately 2-4 hours to complete, I will admit...that it took me over 6 hours total. But it was worth it.

Because I was able to finish the box, I have included all clues and solutions in this review to give a thorough understanding of how these mysteries play out. So, fair warning: spoilers ahead!

The letter directed all Seekers to head to SeekersUnite.com/lasvegas to begin their quest.

This main landing page gave a quick breakdown of details behind the mission:

Danny Ocean has worn out his welcome in Las Vegas. His frat pack’s continual swindling of casinos has become passé and annoying. The local authorities have enlisted the Society of Seekers to infiltrate his gang and stop their next heist. Your mission is to collect playing cards from Ocean’s 10 chums and decipher the code to reveal the location, date and time of their next pilferage attempt.

So, right off the bat, I knew cards were going to be very important in solving this mystery.

The included deck of Finders Seekers cards was very unique. There were a few anomalies to be found in the deck (i.e. strange symbols, altered suits, etc.), so I knew I'd have to pay close attention.

The landing page directed me to "BEGIN THE CHASE" and led me to the first stop: Neon Boneyard Park.

The ensuing directions explain:

Your first stop is the Neon Boneyard Park, where old signs from the strip lay to rest. The collection includes more than 200 historic signs, including those from Caesars Palace, the Golden Nugget and Stardust.

As you wander the dirt path lined with rusty metal, you come to a particular sign that is still in working order. To collect your first card, you must examine the sign, which contains a password.

And, here's the sign! Now, I figured that the password wouldn't be "Stardust," but I gave it a shot anyway.

No dice.

I stared at it harder, I blurred my eyes, I squinted at the screen while fluttering my eyelashes—still nothing. This particular clue didn't offer a "Need a hint?" button like many of last month's clues had, so I had to really buckle down!

After a long time staring, I was able to make out a flash of the letters A, S, and M in the upper-right corner of the moving gif. No spelling combination worked for those three letters, so after a frustrating few tries, I turned to the Finders Seekers User Group on Facebook. This is where users can come to share hints, offer help, and even drop a few spoilers, so beware!

I was lucky enough to find helpful hints there. Someone said they also saw a P and an L in the gif, and that was all I needed! P-L-A-S-M-A.

I typed in the code, and:

Voila! I removed the Jack of Clubs from my card deck and set it aside for later.

Now, onto a new location to find our next card: the Hoover Dam!

Here's what was to be done:

Completed in 1936, the Hoover Dam is an amazing feat of architecture and engineering. The dam impounds Lake Mead, which is the largest reservoir in the United States. At the time of its opening, the dam was also the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world.

As you take in the sweeping views from the top of the dam, you are handed a circuitry board and 3 metal wires. To secure the next playing card, you must figure out the secret numerical code.

So, here's where one of the included mystery props come in. I immediately grabbed the "circuit board" and included wires (which were really just a couple of tiny metal rods.)

Here's how I cracked this clue: I figured out that the cryptic code printed on the circuit board was essentially directions in how to "connect" circuits using the rods. Just like connect-the-dots!

Four different codes made four different Roman numerals: VI, III, IV, and IX. Translate 'em to standard decimal numbers, and whaddya get? 6 - 3 - 4 - 9.

Bada bing, bada boom—I cracked the code!

I removed the King of Diamonds from my deck of cards and set it aside with my Jack of Clubs. Now, Let's keep it movin'! Onto Fremont Street.

Here's the lowdown on the Fremont Street destination:

As the historic district of downtown Las Vegas, Fremont Street has long been the representative scene for Sin City depicted in movies and posters. It is home to some of the earliest casinos and was nicknamed Glitter Gulch after the many flashing lights and neon signs, including Cowboy Vegas Vic.

You wander the bustling street, which has undergone a lot of revitalization in recent years to try to attract gamblers from off The Strip, and then enter Binion’s Gambling Hall. The main attraction at Binion’s is a pyramid stack of cash that totals one million dollars. Ocean’s crony is here to hand off the next card to you, but you must give her a secret code.

The code is contained within the stack of cash. Can you spot the discrepancy that points to the counterfeit bill and secret code?

I knew right away that it was time to grab the Million Dollar Pyramid sheet from our included props! (Now, if we're being technical, I'm not exactly sure how a pyramid of twenty $100 bills adds up to $1 million, but I digress.)

This basically boiled down to a daunting "spot the difference" game, and I was shocked that I figured it out so quickly! At first, I used the magnifying glass to check for any discrepancies in the graphics on each bill.

When that came up short, I started looking at the numbers on each bill. I looked at the second row of numbers in the upper left corner of each bill and wrote down what I saw to check for any patterns:

L12  B2
H8  B2  B2
E5  H8  J10  B2
B2  J10  H8  B2  W13
L12  B2  B2  B2  B2  B2

I could definitely see that B2 was significant, but it still wasn't shining as the clue that'd crack this, so I started looking in a broader scope.

I happened to catch that on every bill, the top row of numbers began with two letters, and the second letter of that pair matched the first letter below it. For example:

LL 84917851 B
L12

See how they match? The only bill that didn't follow this matching pattern was in the second row up, at the far right:

MB 37155850 D
M13

This was the counterfeit bill! I typed in M13 as my secret code and:

Boom! I removed the Three of Spades and set it aside with my Jack of Clubs and King of Diamonds. Onto the next clue! The Las Vegas Strip:

Your trip to Las Vegas is definitely incomplete without visiting The Strip. The world’s largest casinos and hotels are concentrated along this four miles of Las Vegas Boulevard. The glamour of the lights and over-the-top ornamentation is a result of the casinos competing for your attention and money.

You’ve been directed to the high stakes poker table at The Aria for your next card. As you approach the table, you are dealt a series of seemingly random cards with 2 missing spaces. You need to identify the absent cards.

Now, as I wrote earlier, the deck of cards we received has a few anomalies within it. Some have strange symbols on them, others have suits that aren't all the way filled in, and others (like the Clubs) have trios of circles instead of clovers.

To solve this particular puzzle, I started searching to see whether any of the odd cards would fit in the puzzle. After a bit of investigating, I realized the pattern was much easier than I was making it out to be! Each card is 4 digits higher or lower than the card next to it.

Therefore, I knew the second row needed a 4 and the bottom row needed a Jack. There may have been a more advanced way of reaching this conclusion, but I simply tried each suit for each of my two cards and eventually found the correct combo.

I removed the Jack of Diamonds from my deck, grouped it with my Jack of Clubs, King of Diamonds, and Three of Spades, and went on my merry way. (Or, "marry" way, I should say, because the next destination was the Little White Wedding Chapel!)

You discover that one of Ocean’s cronies is getting married at A Little White Wedding Chapel today. They’ll join Michael Jordan and Britney Spears among many others who have been married here!

As you enter the gaudy waiting room, your senses are overwhelmed. Sights, smells, and sounds. In fact, the music seems just a little too loud. You wait for over 45 minutes, but the bride is a no-show and you hear the same 5 songs on repeat the entire time. Maybe there's a clue that will help you get the next card. Listen to the five songs included in the video playlist below.

This was such a fun challenge! Here's the playlist they linked to. The songs included were "I Will" by Paul McCartney, "Always" by Kenny Rogers, "I Say a Little Prayer" by Dionne Warwick, "I Promise You" by Michael Bolton, and "A Chance" by Kenny Chesney.

There were three boxes available to enter the secret phrase, so I figured it would be a 3-word, lovey-dovey answer related to the song titles or lyrics. (Even though I still tried "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU" and "I WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU A CHANCE" for good measure!) When it came down to it, after trying many variations of "I LOVE YOU," I honestly took a guess and got lucky.

The secret phrase was "LOVE YOU FOREVER," which I guess makes sense, seeing as those words are heavily featured in each song. I pulled the Nine of Clubs, placed it with my Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, King of Diamonds, and Three of Spades, and kept movin'!

Now, for The Stratosphere:

You jump on a helicopter and circle the Stratosphere tower for this next card. It’s the tallest tower west of the Mississippi and features a revolving restaurant with panoramic views and thrill rides and activities to boot!

As you make passes around the tower and see it from different angles, you could swear you notice a hidden message. Assemble the replica included in your box to decipher the hidden message.

This challenge was FRUSTRATING. It required the use of the included Stratosphere insert, scissors, and glue (or tape, in my case).

The instructions on the sheet explain:

1. Cut out the two strips and the three openings marked with scissors
2. Glue each strip where indicated to make two cylinders
3. Place the top cylindar inside the bottom cylinder
4. Twist the two cylinders until you reveal a password in the openings

My cylinder tubes got too frustratingly wrinkled to be worth photographing, but I will tell you that it was HARD to make out any letters! The moon itself was the letter "O," if that's any indication of how strange it was deciphering this challenge.

After many attempts, and only finding the letters A, H, O, and B, I headed to the Facebook group for some help. There, I found a hint that the word itself was 10 letters long. After a little more cylinder sliding, I found it! ACROPHOBIA. (The technical term for a fear of heights. How fitting!)

I pulled the King of Hearts and placed it with my Nine of Clubs, Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, King of Diamonds, and Three of Spades. Onward. (Finally!)

You walk into the Las Vegas CityCenter and admire the beautiful decor and luxurious open space in the main atrium. The stores are all very high-end, including Tiffany & Co., Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton and more!

You are handed a boutique circular that you can peruse to decide where to shop. Prices aren’t listed in the catalog, but if you scan the whole thing you might find something you can use.

"Scan" was the key word here. Finders Seekers offered a hint on this challenge that said: Find an app that lets you scan barcodes. This was most certainly meant to be used on the fashion brochure that came in the box!

I downloaded the app Best Scanner by CYS Creative, scanned a portion of the barcode printed on the magazine, and boom: I had my answer.

The barcode scanned to read: COUTURE.

I plucked the Eight of Spades from my deck, placed it with my King of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, King of Diamonds, and Three of Spades, and moved on to the Wicked Spoon!

You’ve looked high and low for the best buffet in Las Vegas and you may have found it at the Wicked Spoon in the Cosmopolitan hotel. Luxurious food and drinks are offered in a chic modern setting.

You hesitantly approach the counter that one of Ocean’s henchmen points you to. As you admire the gorgeous spread set before you, you notice what might be a hidden message. What is the secret code to get the next card?

This one was ALSO TOUGH. I stared at the picture looking for clues, and soon saw a V and an E on the right-hand dessert plate in the photo. I then knew I'd have to look for more letters to form the secret code.

It honestly took me over twenty minutes, and I tried LOTS of words—GIVE, LOVE, SERVE, even HORS D'OEUVRE! The final answer ended up being: CRAVE. See the C formed by the shrimp, and the SNEAKY R formed in the soup?

The Jack of Hearts joined my Eight of Spades, King of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, King of Diamonds, and Three of Spades, and we were on our way to the Mob Museum!

The Mob Museum, or as it is officially named the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, features a wide array of artifacts, stories and exhibits centered on organized crime in the US. You can see the original courtroom where 14 hearings were held in 1950-51 that exposed many organized crime rings and the actual bloodied wall from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. But your favorite exhibit is a disturbing wall with victim photographs, appropriately named “The Mob’s Greatest Hits.”

Las Vegas has deep roots with organized crime that spans 100 years. However, today’s organized crime is much different than what you traditionally think of, such as Al Capone and John Gotti. Contemporary crime rings are not organized within neighborhoods and often remain nameless and faceless thanks to the Digital age.

Ocean’s tech team has hacked into one of the casino’s network and is using its servers to attack Russian businesses. To earn your next card, you must identify the compromised casino using the list below:

• MIRAGE
• ORLEANS
• NEW YORK NY
• TREASURE ISLAND
• EXCALIBUR
• CAESARS PALACE
• ARIA
• RIO
• LUXOR
• OASIS

This was an easy one—huzzah! The first letter of every casino on the list spelled out MONTE CARLO.

I entered in it and was instructed to remove the Seven of Clubs from my deck. This left with me almost all ten of the cards I'd need to solve the entire puzzle! ONE CHALLENGE TO GO.

Caesars Palace was established in 1966 and is one of the largest and most recognized casinos on the Vegas Strip. Founder Jay Sarno envisioned an opulent experience where visitors are treated like Roman gods while indulging all of their human senses. Throughout the casino palace, scantily clothed Romanesque statues are on display.

The key to your next card is deciphering a code found carved into a sculpture of Venus. There are 3 missing words in a sequence of words that transform DICE into CARD. One letter is changed in each line to form another real word. To earn your next card, you must provide the three missing words.

Here's the image I was provided with to crack this puzzle:

I loved this brain-teaser of a challenge! I've always had a knack for word games like this, so I was able to solve it pretty quickly. The final three words I entered were: DIRE, DARE, and CARE.

Yeeeeeeeeee! Hold onto your hats, everybody. Armed with my final ten cards (after adding the Ten of Clubs!), I was ready to move onto the final challenge!

Now that you have collected ALL 10 CARDS, let's play a little poker! The game is 10-card poker with a wild King Caesar. The best hand (5 cards) has all of the details required to catch Ocean and his gang in their next heist.

To complete the Find, input the date, time and casino where authorities can trap Ocean and his gang.

Now, for a quick run-through of the 10 cards I collected that would be trimmed down to make up my final, 5-card poker hand:

I am certainly no poker expert. I'd only played once before in my life, and even then, the rules were skewed to make things easy for me. I knew I had to do some searching to figure out what would constitute the best 5-card hand out of the 10 I was dealt.

After a little Googling, I found this very, very helpful graphic:

Even with this handy guide, this challenge took me the longest to solve. Like...3 hours in total, with a few frustrated "I give ups!" sprinkled in there. I tried everything. 

I knew a King had to be included (because it was called "10-card poker with a wild King Caesar")! But when it came to which King to choose, along with the REST of the hand, the date, time, and casino name, I was stumped.

I'll spare you the laborious details, but with lots of consultation and Internet digging, I eventually figured out which hand would be best: A straight flush, with the King acting as the wild card to make up for the missing 8 of clubs!

The game was far from over. I then had to use this final hand to decipher the date, time, and location of Danny Ocean's next planned heist. Here's how it was going to be entered:

Once again, I'll try and spare you the long-winded details of the 2-hour struggle spent trying to figure this out. I'm not kidding. Two. hours.

Here's how the case was ultimately cracked:

My first instinct was to immediately plug July 9th in as the date, but thaaat'd be too easy for Finders Seekers! The symbol in the upper right-hand corner of the 7 of Clubs was obviously significant. I thought it was a Greek letter at first, but with some more searching, I found it was the Taurus astrology symbol! APRIL. (Or May, I guess, but since this box arrived for April I went with my gut!)

Now, for the date: the trio of circles in lieu of clovers also had to be significant. (The 9th didn't work for the date, either, so I knew I had to keep trying!) I multiplied 3 by the number of trios there were, and got 27.

The 10 of clubs card REALLY HAD ME STUMPED. I assumed that because of the King's presence in my final hand, the casino would obviously be Excalibur. Because of the sword! Duh!

I was very wrong, and very, very frustrated. It wasn't until I looked very closely at the card that I noticed there was a gap in the stem of the middle clover. Below that gap was a tiny, tiny PYRAMID! And, y'know which Las Vegas casino is shaped like a pyramid? Luxor. Mind blown.

Now, to figure out the time of Danny Ocean's planned heist!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the Jack of Clubs was holding a clock that read 11:30. That part was simple. When it came to choosing a King for my final hand, I relied on the sly hint Finders Seekers gave in the name of this final puzzle: "10-card poker with a wild King Caesar." Guess which King in a deck of cards is named after Caesar?

The King of Diamonds!

The moon on the King of Diamond's crown automatically let me know that the time of day would be in the PM range. Convert 11:30 PM to military time, and you get 2330 hours! Enter all values in, aaaannnnnnd.....

CUE THE TRUMPETS AND CONFETTI! C-o-m-p-l-e-t-e! I wish I could say the final screen had a little more OOMPH. Y'know what I mean? It could be a little more celebratory, I say! But, what can you do. Finishing the entire box was enough of a reward itself!

Those who finish can enter to win prizes using their CrateJoy username and additional information. I haven't entered just yet, but I'm thinkin' about it! For now, I'm still riding that sweet, sweet finish-line high.

Verdict: While this box was just as challenging as last month's, I was able to wrap my brain around these particular challenges, and, with a lot of work, solved the puzzle! Reaching the end felt SO GOOD, and even improved the already-fun experience this time around!

I also fully felt the love from the Finders Seekers community during this challenge. The Facebook group is full of such supportive, curious, like-minded adventurers, and it was so nice to receive helpful hints when I got stuck!

I am GIDDY for next month's destination and coinciding mystery. Fingers crossed it's another city I haven't been to!

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? You likely won't receive the Las Vegas box right away, as Finders Seekers ships a box related to a new city each month, but you may receive it soon after subscribing! Order before the 22nd of each month to receive your box as soon as possible.

Coupon - Use code CRATE5 to save $5 off!

Value Breakdown: This box cost $30.00 total, including free shipping. The items contained within the box are very inexpensive. This month felt slightly lower in physical value because there wasn't a handy desk calendar (like London included) that I could use after solving the puzzle!

Check out all of our Finders Seekers reviews and board game and puzzle reviews for more challenging subscription boxes!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

What was the most puzzling clue for you in this month’s Finders Seekers box?