The Midnight Train

“The Midnight Train,” made for kids ages 7 to 10, locks your team inside an old night train whose cars lock one by one. The conductor has vanished, the engine is racing toward a station that appears on no map, and there is only one hour left to reach the front car and stop the train. Every compartment hides a puzzle: pick out the right ticket among several, put the stops of a route in order, crack the code on a suitcase, and piece together a station clock. The puzzles are solved as a team, by looking closely and reasoning, with no long reading and no supplies to buy. The book already includes the padlocks to cut out and assemble, the clue cards, a countdown to start, and the grown-up guide, which explains the game step by step and offers backup hints so the game never stalls. It works as well for a birthday party as for a family evening, for a small group or a big table of kids. Five puzzles carry the team along the train, from the first car to the locomotive, where the team that solved everything brings the train to a stop and earns a Traveler diploma.