Looking for reports on experience with the Mysterious Package Company

November 22, 2016 3:44 PM

I'm considering giving my 15 year old son an experience gift from the Mysterious Package Company for his birthday. I'm looking for any feedback folks may have either from the giving or receiving side of the equation. Thanks!
posted by gateau to Shopping (4 answers total)

I have a friend who adores the Mysterious Package Company for the convoluted puzzles embedded in its quarterly broadsides. If your son is interested in puzzles, that's the experience that my friend recommends. If your son is interested in weird transmedia storytelling, you might try one of the experiences. My friend (who has purchased almost all of them) feels that they are cool, but not as cool as the glowing reviews online might suggest. He thinks it's worth trying once, if you have the money to kick around.

That said, be conscientious about your purchase. I purchased two of the Inner Circle kits last year as a complete newcomer to the service -- one for myself, and one for my fiancee. I was very excited about it, because I ~love~ puzzles AND transmedia storytelling, and the descriptive copy for the Kits alluded that they would contain both (as well as some additional tchotchkes). Come to find out that the Inner Circle kit contained no puzzles and no storytelling. Who knew! Definitely not us, since the service's primary marketing strategy is to obscure information in order to create excitement and curiosity. We sent a disappointed email to customer service, detailing our confusion and expressing our disappointment, since we would have spent our 200 some odd dollars on an actual experience if we had known. We did not receive a reply. Because it was 200 dollars blown, I've been sour on the service since then, and I continue to funnel my 'I want a weird puzzle-y storytelling experience' rainy day money toward escape rooms in my area.
posted by zeee at 4:18 PM on November 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

I was the recipient of the "King in Yellow" experience as a Christmas present. They notified the giver that the first package would be late, so the giver had to kind of spill the beans as it was their only gift to me and it was pretty expensive. The subsequent deliveries were consistently behind schedule, to the point where you're not really excited to get a new one.

The things you get in the mail are kinda neat and well crafted, but unfortunately the story is really lackluster, leading one to not really care or wonder about what's happening.

If someone is interested in experiences, I wouldn't really bet on this. If someone likes well-crafted knick-knacks, then they may like it, but I think it is far too expensive for just that.
posted by Nerro at 4:32 PM on November 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

I was given the Weeping Book as a present last year. It was really cool BUT...it's crazy expensive for about an hour of entertainment. I'm amazed that they charge as much as they do.
posted by silverstatue at 6:12 PM on November 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

I received one from my husband, and was VERY put off by the letter that arrived with it ... something along the lines of "Dear DotParker, you don't know me but I was given your name and then I tracked you down... " etcetc. He'd mentioned the premise in passing (he'd bought one for a male friend) and so I asked him first "did you get me one of those things" - to which he said yes.
FWIW, the friend he bought it for totally loved it.
posted by dotparker at 7:13 AM on November 23, 2016