Neutral's newest seasonal escape. What more needs to be said? This escape-the-room game, though miniaturized (that little banner at the top of Neutral's web page is the game—click it to begin), is full of the details and enjoyable, logical puzzles that you'd expect from the best escape game designer in the biz. Merry Christmas JIG readers!

Once again one of Tesshi-e's wacky friends has locked you into a room filled with strange devices. Escape from the Device-Filled Room has everything you expect from a top-notch design, easy controls, a save feature, decent English translation, and the obligatory happy coin alternate escape. Get ready to challenge yourself with another of Tesshi-e's freaky friends and their habit of locking you into a strange house!

Even if you don't speak Russian you are still probably familiar with matryoshkas, also known as nesting dolls. And just like the dolls this escape game unfolds in layers, each one revealing a lovely little surprise. Despite the fact that it is called a "mini-escape" Matryoshka contains all the bells and whistles expected in a well-designed escape game: easy inventory control, great puzzles, intuitive navigation, and even a save feature. Come and give Matryoshka a try and, even if you're a macho guy, discover the joy of playing with dolls (and escaping).

New from Yoshio Ishii of NekoGames, TOUKA is a short and simple game of darting your mouse all over the place. It follows closely in style and basic format as the previously-released KIKKA and OUKA, only this time around, there's less puzzle and more action.

Sometimes receiving a message can be so exciting that the letters seem to jump off the page. Then those letters form into a giraffe, which will dart across the landscape pursued by snakes, sharks and Godzilla. Okay, that just might be the interactive music video for Japanese rock group Andop's song "Bell". With an amazing combination of typographic and charcoal art, the game so visually interesting that it makes up for the CPU-hogging and somewhat loose gameplay. There are probably easier ways to post a missive, but this is definitely one of the most fun.

Don't you just hate when you're hungry for some lunch and when you sit down, ready to eat, you find that you used your puzzle lunch box? Or maybe you love it. Similar to the Dismantlement series, Chovy Works brings us Pot, a point-and-click puzzle game where the ultimate goal is a scrumptious noodle lunch. It's a cute and quirky distraction to try out during your much simpler lunch break.

3 Doors is a standard point-and-click escape game that involves a basic room with three mysterious doors and a lot of fun and tricky puzzles, mostly visual. You're faced with the usual dilemma, getting out of a locked room, and the standard "pick up everything that's not nailed down" in order to get out scenario. This is definitely an escape skewed towards those who take careful note of their surroundings and can spot the hidden patterns.

Like an early holiday present from Robamimi, Snow Dance is the perfect escape game to start the holiday season here on JIG—it has all the sumptuous conveniences we escapers prefer: changing cursors, logical puzzles, sparkly music, perfect graphics and, to top it off, a hint system better than any in the genre. While the puzzles are farm from difficult, they do require the right amount of thought and investigation to complete, so you can find the key to the gorgeous, snow-blanketed world just outside the door.

Like an early holiday present from Robamimi, Snow Dance is the perfect escape game to start the holiday season here on JIG—it has all the sumptuous conveniences we escapers prefer: changing cursors, logical puzzles, sparkly music, perfect graphics and, to top it off, a hint system better than any in the genre. While the puzzles are farm from difficult, they do require the right amount of thought and investigation to complete, so you can find the key to the gorgeous, snow-blanketed world just outside the door.

Yoshio Ishii of NekoGames is back with another stress busting, eye pleasing simple discovery game borrowing from the same formula as Ouka. This time, though, you're looking for the delicate, many-floreted chrysanthemum—petal by petal. Use the mouse to scroll about the soothing charcoal grey backdrop and figure out the rule that will bring all the petals back to form the lovely mum. Like a lovely vase encased in flowery bubble wrap, Kikka is both beautiful and gratifyingly fun.

Check out this early effort from the great room escape designer Kotorinosu. While Color is a pretty basic, bare-bones escape it is definitely worth the effort, especially to see the genesis of what would come later. Even in this early design there are hints of the clever puzzles and solutions which would eventually make them one of the most popular room escape designers we've ever featured. Time to learn some color theory!

Lift for Life is an escape game by SuzumeDr, whom you may remember for Triangle a while back. The game takes place in a room with a somewhat athletic theme, as well as an adjustable glass table that's a little too low, a nice TV hooked to a game console, two strange pedestals that seem to react to one another, and a few other fixings. Naturally, you've got some puzzle-solving and some inventory management to do. It's a splendid escaper that's definitely worth a try to break up your weekday blues, so go out there and get your Lift on! For Life!

Nobody knows how to make relaxing yet still brain-teasing puzzle games likeYoshio Ishii of NekoGames, and his new game OUKA is no exception. Move your cursor to a symbol of a cherry blossom (the meaning of "ouka" in Japanese) and click on it. Sound easy? Well, the symbol doesn't always play by the rules, and it's your job to figure out what the catch is in each of sixteen levels.

Welcome to the strange and somewhat twisted world of Tesshi-e, where the news of a friend opening a new restaurant means not only free food but a restaurant that is specifically set up as a room escape game as well. Escape from the Brick Room is a rather unimaginative title for a quite imaginative and tasty escaping experience. With gorgeous graphics, fun puzzles, and the usual twisted logic Escape from the Brick Room is a mid-week favorite for both escaping and a lovely snack, even if it is virtual. Time to visit your friend's new eatery and enjoy an escape from the everyday.

A fantastic escape game designed within the constraints of a single room puzzle scenario and packed with tons of logical and tricky puzzles. Robamimi makes the escaping chore entertaining with elegant puzzles and solutions, along with top-notch controls that include the easy to use inventory and fantastic hint feature. Resembling the Japanese omelet this game is named for, Tamago is a wonderful, sweet, multi-layered joy to consume. Dive in and take a bite!

Once again we are faced with the classic Tesshi-e escape-the-room scenario, to wit: We have been invited by "him" to a cabin somewhere (and what a great invite that is, let's go to an isolated cabin somewhere in an unspecified place with a guy we only know as "him"). Unfortunately, he's already gone and once again we are locked into a gorgeous space, looking for a way out. Everything you expect is there, navigation bars at the sides of the screen to move around, lots of interesting items to examine or pick up, clues and puzzles at every turn.

The Latest Work of Dai Hyakka is not a terribly difficult escape; seasoned players will probably be out in five to ten minutes. Considering all of the puzzles (many color-based) that have to be solved to view this precious piece of art, it had better be worth it.

Strawberry Cafe designed room escape games usually contain a luscious mix of reds, pinks, and whites that together evoke images of strawberry desserts, and Enchanted Room Escape is true to form. Despite the minor flaws this is one of the better escapes from this designer, simple enough for a snack but complex enough to satisfy the appetite. Perhaps you'd better grab some munchies before you dive in, just in case, and prepare to be enchanted!

During a long and tedious day at work there is nothing better than a lunch break, especially if you've skipped breakfast and are starving. You're so hungry, in fact, that you're ready to take that lovely Bento Box Lunch and dismantle right it down to the bottom where the bomb is...wait, the bomb? Must be a Dismantlement puzzle!

Robamimi is one of our favorite room escape designers and One Scene is a perfect example of why. It's a room escape that features just one scene, a single point-of-view of a room, which makes navigation in this amusing little escape pretty easy. There's no wandering around, just investigating everything from one perspective. One Scene is a midnight snack, meaty but not too heavy, a wonderful bite rather than a main course.

It seems like only a few days ago we were given a new installment in Yoshio Ishii's gorgeous Hoshi Saga series, and today another one, number 8, lands in our virtual laps: Hoshi Saga Dokuringo. But before you go off playing this one, please note the rating. This latest set of levels contains some risqué imagery, as well as some way more difficult levels.

A typical Kotoriscape consists of a handful of well-designed puzzles that follow a specific theme revealed by its title, and Device does not disappoint. There are all kinds of devices to fiddle with in the vaguely Oriental room: a smartphone with a dead battery, a mysteriously fast-running clock, a service robot with three cranks on its head, and many more. Logical puzzles, soft and pleasing gradient-filled graphics, and a save feature for when you need a break are also hallmarks of Kotorinosu that stay with us for Device.

Evolution has you wandering a rocky underground base filled with mysteries and puzzles, your only company an egg-headed scientist who really likes bananas and seems to have lost his pet cat. As is the 58 Works custom, you'll pick up and use various items that come in handy here and there, and more uniquely acquire pieces of a rather cool bodysuit that gives you all sorts of new abilities. Everything that made Solitude great (an interesting environment, totally logical puzzles, simple but appropriate graphics and sound) is back in Evolution, and the new content (intermittent short cutscenes, a somewhat more artificial setting) is nothing to sneeze at either.

Hoshi Saga Ringohime is the seventh installment of the popular and revered Hoshi Saga series by Yoshio Ishii, and it's in full, glorious full color as all the "Ringo" versions of the series have been. There are 25 new stages to clear, so don't just sit there, click and play! :)

There's very little to complain about with Escape Hotel 4: the puzzles are logical and flow, the navigation is pretty intuitive (except in some hidden spaces), the translations are excellent, and the pixel hunting is at a minimum. This is Tesshi-e room escaping at its best!

Libra Horoscope: Today you are likely to play an escape game by Otousan, with puzzles themed around determining the weight of objects by various means. When Otousan picks a theme, they play with it in seemingly every way they can; Libra is no exception. It has all the hallmarks of an Otougame: a group of well-designed themed puzzles with some simple minor ones to tie them together, and a simplistic atmosphere that makes sure you know what you're messing with without being distracting.

The Escape Hotel is back in The Escape Hotel 3, from Tesshi-e, and this time the fun begins before you ever make it to your room. How hard can it be to escape a hotel lobby, you might ask? Harder than you'd think, especially since you're not escaping to get out, but to get into your room. All you have to do is navigate around the spacious area, figure out your hotel room number, discover how to make the elevator work, and break into a few "employee only" areas.

We dig deep for an oldie but a goodie with Kotorinosu's Shape. Shape is logical, fun, challenging escaping awesomeness that depends mostly on spatial perception and the ability to observe and deduce using various shapes found around the room. Despite the paucity of furnishings or other decor there is a lot of puzzle-solving to be had in this amusing little room escape.

Welcome to yet another strange friend of Tesshi-e who loves nothing more than to lock hapless strangers into a puzzle room and make them solve their way out. Mr. K is back and better than ever in Escape from Mr. K's Room 3.

This summer vacation themed point-and-click game by Nekonote is perfectly sized for a leisurely sojourn. With savvy item usage and a careful inspection of small spots, you'll soon find ten new tiny friends to pal around the beach, go camping, sail on tropical waters, listen to beautiful, soothing music. So don't miss the boat, join your buddies at Find Dwarfs in Summer 2011!

A classic one-room escape game with puzzles that are nicely varied with a lot of combination type and those that use found objects. What is nice to see with Escape from the Room 202 is a designer who seriously understands how an escape game should flow. Let's welcome Tsukisuna-sou to the ranks of promising game designers and have fun playing this wonderful new effort.

Gam.eBB.jp proudly brings us a new toy to dismantle with the usual exploding surprise buried within. The puzzles are pretty simple but are nicely varied, and this is definitely a fun way to start the day. Just don't mute the sound, otherwise you'll be stuck from the beginning. Wake up and grab a screwdriver!

A delightfully logical and quick to solve room escape game, this one from Petithima. It's a simple room design with simple, easy to understand controls and simple puzzles. And when added together these make for a wonderful experience that is not too heavy on the palate. Fortunately we have games like Room 9 to fall back on, secure in the knowledge that the escaping fun will be logical, amusing, and flow easily from one challenge to the next.

Escape from the Restroom is a pretty easy game, befitting something that is there to amuse a restaurant patron for a few minutes while awaiting a dinner guest. The puzzles are fun and challenging but not overly difficult, creating a nice, light, easy escape to whet your appetite and leave you wanting more.

The puzzles in Ancient Scripts are not necessarily the hardest we've ever seen. What Ancient Scripts has that many other games don't have though is that indefinable elegance of design, in the controls, in the backgrounds, and most especially in the puzzles.

Every scene in 58 Works' On Sen is picturesque, beguiling, and very peaceful, so it makes sense that the puzzles would be equally affable, not too strenuous or taxing. With logical puzzles, intuitive navigation and a beautiful atmosphere, On Sen is a pleasure to experience, even if it is only a quick dip rather than a long soak.

Escape from the Kid's Room is the perfect mid-week break, challenging but not too difficult, and a nostalgic look back for one of our most popular room escape designers. Pretty to look at and fun to play, Escape from the Kid's Room is definitely the perfect escape for those not wanting to spend too much time locked into a strange kid's room.

Escape Castle consistently defines fun. Although some puzzles may leave you feeling you've been there, done that, Escape Castle's final "puzzle" is a welcome twist on the genre, elevating it to a new level while harkening back to an age-old gaming tradition of the final boss battle.

Kotorinosu is treading into Mya's Neutral territory with Mirror Escape in regard to variety and difficulty of puzzles. The game is fun, challenging, logical, and a joy for experienced room escapers looking for something fresh and new. Just remember, when gazing into mirrors it is sometimes wise not to look too closely lest you get lost inside with no hope of escape.

Place of Light has nabbed you again, and this time you're trapped inside a very cozy, but very small, entry hall. Unless you're satisfied with the company of animal photos and can subsist on shoe leather for the rest of your life, you'll have to follow the clues, solve the puzzles, and find some way to escape!

Not very difficult but fun and occasionally challenging, Suntrap Room Escape is the perfect mid-week break, a light and airy confection as delicious as its designer's name implies. Dive in and enjoy the experience, even if it will leave you hungry for something, anything strawberry flavored.

Nobuyuki Forces 4 is a remake of 2003's Nobuyuki Forces 3, and feels similar to arcade rail shooters like Time Crisis and House of the Dead. You control a wily female soldier infiltrating a heavily-guarded office complex. Alternate between hiding behind cover and darting out to pick off the enemy across numerous stages to reach the roof and a powerful boss.

Time to brush up on your culinary skills and get cooking in this latest Tesshi-e escape game! Explore the irregular dimensions of this out of the ordinary room as you enjoy the beautiful and stunning graphics that Tesshi-e is known for. You'll need to combine logic, puzzle solving, object finding, object using, and a few culinary skills in order to call your friend to let you out so you can enjoy the lovely breakfast you just slaved over a hot...hot-plate to create.

Hermit Rabi is a satisfying little escape adventure chock-full of puzzles, logic, use of found objects, combining objects, and communicating with imaginary rabbits. With this designer you get the whole package: fantastic gameplay, intuitive and easy to use controls, and gorgeous visuals, making Robamimi one of our favorite room escape designers. So get ready for a perfect mid-week break with Hermit Rabi and Wonder Fountain.

Sakudatu is definitely an entertaining room escape. The puzzles are fun if a tad too easy and the madness going on all around merely enhances the escaping experience. If the bizarro world of Detarou is to your liking then you are in for one tasty treat.

In this conclusion to the Stamp Rally Escape trilogy, the puzzles flow nicely from one to the next and the animals' special talents for jumping and punching are on display front and center several times around the room. All in all a nice, satisfying conclusion to the series, leaving the room escaper happy and content, at least until Cogito Ergo Sum's next epic trilogy.

As with most escapes, Button is set in a room filled with all manner of doodads and puzzles: a few paintings on the wall, a red couch, a grandfather clock mysteriously missing its hands, a bookshelf... and a tempting red button behind a metallic hatch beside the door, helpfully marked "DO NOT PUSH" in both English and Japanese. How you treat the button will affect the outcome of the game.

Dangerous Gen-Kan Escape 2 is not only a perfect mid-week break but a fantastic nod to the past oeuvre of point-and-click adventure gaming which spawned today's room escapes. Come on, you know you want to play, even if you might blow up. Be careful, it's dangerous.

Yoshio Ishii is back with another installment of one of our favorite puzzle games here at JIG: Hoshi Saga Ringoen is the 6th in the series and in full color like the previous version. Still not nearly as difficult as the first few games in the series, which may disappoint the more hard-core puzzle lovers, but for casual players are sure to eat this one up. Whether you are new to the series or a veteran, a new Hoshi Saga is always a day to celebrate.

You would really have to search hard to find anything wrong with Mild Escape 4, the newest game from Tesshi-e. Challenging, amusing, easy on the eyes and ears, with simple intuitive controls, you're looking at a near perfect classic one-room four-wall escape game, wrapped up in an anniversary bow. Perfect for the mid-week break, Mild Escape 4 is everything you could want in a room escape and more.

I don't know how to pronounce it, or even what it means but I love the game! Detarou's latest release is completely Detarou; in other words, it's a wonderfully weird, surreal, delightfully presented and maybe even a little unsettling point-and-click game with three endings to discover. The game itself defies any sense of reality, but it's funny, quirky, surprising and a real pleasure to play. And each ending only adds to the enjoyment of play with startling humour.

Escape from the Living Room 2 is a fun stand-alone room escape, a bit of a nostalgic nod to the past while incorporating all of the elements that make the more current Tesshi-e games much more fun and playable. Whether you are young and new to the genre or an old, old veteran like myself, Escape from the Living Room 2 is quite a fun classic room escape game, perfect for the mid-week break.

Shadow is a quiet yet solid escape game by Kotorinosu, which stands apart from the crowd of point-and-click puzzle games with its simplicity, appealing graphics, and honest escape game fare. If you have an appetite for honest-to-goodness escape games, then loosen your belt a knotch and enjoy a hearty helping.

The Who Am I? series of puzzles are Robamimi "light", leaning more on the central wordplay than the complexity of the other individual puzzles. Play 18 Who Am I? and enjoy a lot of well designed and well executed escaping gameplay wrapped up in a fun 10 minutes or so. So relax and enjoy the soothing rhythms of a mellow jazz soundtrack as you ponder the universal question, Who Am I? Or, at least, the 18 Who Am I?

Despite the stripped down interface and fairly simple graphics Escape from the Room Surrounded by Bookshelves 2 is a lot of logical escaping fun. Try this fun and simple escape which is another step in the right direction from a talented new game designer.

Triangle is absolutely charming. Its atmosphere is decidedly different from practically every escape game I've ever played before, and for someone who's played as many as I have that's a feat. Explore the room, pick up various items, solve various puzzles, and eventually regain your freedom.

Gold Door Escape is a rollicking good escape the room game. Most of the fun is had in anticipating the bizarre, hilarious, or surreal scenes that await the player as they make their way through the strangest building in existence. Fun, slightly scandalous, and surprisingly logical, Gold Door is the perfect mid-week escape, especially for anyone who appreciates the outlandishness to be found within.

Transmover: New Generation is the sequel to Polygon Gmen's Transmover, and it features as much great puzzle-platforming and laser-effected teleportation as the original. The original Transmover boasted a clever concept and fun puzzles, and if Transmover: New Generation is more of the same, it's more of the same good casual gaming.

Escape from the Lodge is Tesshi-e's best effort to date. Complex, amusing, gorgeous to look at, and with easy to understand and use controls this is one fantastic room escape, perfect for the mid-week break. Join Tesshi-e on their vacation from escaping and be prepared for...more escaping fun than ever before.

Give Bird Escape a spin. Try out something new, something that is not "just like every other room escape" and enjoy the surreal and unique experience that is Otousan's world. A world with a lot of birds. And grapes. And some amusing escaping as well.

Room Perfection 2 isn't what you'd call a complete room escape, more of a two walls and out type of scenario. However, packed within those two walls are a lot of tricky puzzles and games worthy of gam.ebb.jp's reputation. Visual puzzles, letter puzzles, just about everything you can think of makes an appearance, including a tricky bit of point and shoot.

Not terribly difficult but with a lot of entertainment value, R20 Who Am I? is a great addition to the Robamimi catalogue and an amusing way to break up the week. Nowhere near as difficult as, say, Smile For Me and without the sentiment of Dad or First Love, R20 Who Am I? is relaxing, mind-stretching escaping goodness wrapped up in a really well designed bow.

Escape from the Tatami Room 2 is one of Tesshi-e's more middle of the road efforts. There are some unique puzzles alongside old chestnuts like the wobbly corner picture. Not, perhaps, their most innovative, but still a nice combination of puzzles and construction make Tatami Room 2 an entertaining way to while away a few minutes.

A nice mix of logic, use of found objects, and strangeness make Stamp Rally Escape 2 a worthy sequel to the first Stamp Rally Escape. Judging by the increasing difficulty of the puzzles the unseen RIDLRIDL (or Cogito Ergo Sum) are working towards something that will challenge Wan and Nyan to their very limits, will drive them further and further into the unknown of puzzle solving, will tax every cell in their bodies as they strive for the elusive prize at the end

Stripped down and basic, lacking music, decor, and some controls, Escape from a Building without Windows is a fantastic way to spend 5 or 10 minutes, and hottategoya is a room escape designer to watch, if only because they have mastered the first basic rule: make it logical, please. If you want to design room escape games or just love playing them give this little gem a try.

If you're looking for a game that will leave you wondering, "What was THAT all about?" then try this quirky Japanese escape game from Detaru. The slick graphics and smooth gameplay make this a title worth checking out, and fans of strange silliness will definitely love it.

Fireplace fits brilliantly into Petithima's ever increasing catalog of escape games, a transition to bigger and better things, we hope. Amusing, entertaining, and original, Fireplace is not only a great escape game to play, it is the perfect mid-week, mid-holiday stress reliever you've been looking for.

Escape from Santa's Room is not Tesshi-e's best, perhaps, but it hits all the right notes for room escaping fun, and may help a little with the post-Christmas blues that tend to settle in around 7 pm or so, depending on when dinner was served. Cheer up, and join the escape!

The best thing about Christmas as a kid is Santa, isn't it? Not necessarily the presents per se, but more the excitement of Christmas Eve. The anticipation, wondering what you're going to get. The excitement of trying to stay up late and catch a glimpse of Santa. But in this great little Christmas escape game by 58 works, Santa does things a little bit differently.

So what do you do when St. Nick turns your living quarters into a room escape puzzler for the holidays? Naturally, you try to escape. Endless X'mas is a good sample of what room escaping should be like. The puzzles are exceedingly creative compared to most, and the graphics and music are quite nice as well, bringing everything together into a quaint atmosphere.

A brand new Dismantlement game has just been released upon us, and that's usually a red letter day around here at JIG. As it's only just been released, we'll need a little time with it to write up something appropriate. In meantime, help us with a walkthrough, please? Of course we have to get through it first. You can help with that, too. :)

Wan and Nyan, the jumping dog and punching cat, are back for this epic journey to collect stamps in Stamp Rally Escape 1 from Cogito Ergo Sum. The animal heroes receive a piece of mail from a mysterious organization that has created several room escapes just for them to get out of, and at the end are the promised presents. And though at the end all you get is a special gold stamp (you will need three to get the promised cool present), you also have the promise of more to come. So join Wan and Nyan on their quest for consumer goods of an undetermined variety.

Escape from the Art Studio has a nicely balanced mix of exploration, puzzles, and use of found objects. Even better, the puzzles have become more unique for a Tesshi-e escape, especially the little robots with the moving arms. These escapes continue to evolve, rarely falling back on cliché d, "I've seen this before" puzzles. That is one of the reasons that Tesshi-e escapes are so entertaining.

Long before they discovered a save button, long before they found a competent translator, long before we first featured one of their games, Tesshi-e created this cute little puzzler that deserves a spot in the Weekday Escape spotlight. Give Escape from the Dome Room a try and enjoy playing this early and amusing effort from the brilliant Tesshi-e escape game designers. Despite the flaws, there is a lot of entertaining room escaping to be had.

Mya of Neutral just released her latest escape game, and it's another masterpiece. You find yourself trapped in a room that seems quite pleasant, but is full of a rather baffling array of hidden clues to find and codes to crack. With a little bit of elbow grease and some clever thinking, you too can conquer this fun, logical, and playful escape game from the creator of Vision.

Fancy Maze is a classic room escape and a fun little time waster in which there are a lot of fun things to discover and puzzles to solve. Wander around, pick things up, see if you are up on the latest (and not so latest) technology, and see if you can find the two different endings in this amusing game.

Not the most difficult point-and-click escape out there, and the pixel hunting can get a little annoying, but Ice Stone Escape delivers some fun logic and puzzles in this compact little game. Cute backgrounds and quirky, logical puzzles make Ice Stone Escape a fun mid-week break, something that will refresh your logic circuits and help you clear your mind for the rest of the week.

A previous work from Rosetta Escape author, Otousan, Enigma is an escape game that takes place in a pretty bare bones room. While not the elusive perfect room escape game we are always searching for, Enigma is still an amusing beginning and highlights the ability of a new talent on the escape scene.

A lively combination of beautiful scenery, strong puzzle design, and manipulative ability makes Kalaquli a fantastic escape-the-room game. Not too easy, not too difficult, easy on the eyes, and the added bonus of charming animations give this latest game from 58 Works must-play status for any escape game fanatic. Or anyone who just likes point-and-click adventures. Or anyone who just likes Ninjas. Okay, so it's fun for everyone!

Escape from the Same Room 2 contains everything we like about our Tesshikins: photorealistic graphics, catchy music, and logical puzzles. It's four interconnected rooms, all of which look alike at first glance: a little teakettle on a round table, a green box on a square pedestal, a mysterious picture on the wall next to a button that doesn't do anything. Obviously, you've got to solve puzzles that span all four rooms if you're to get out, with or without the usual Happy Coin.

Escape from Mr. K's Room 2 is this week's delightful room escape game and the perfect break for the mid-week. It's a chance to stretch the neurons and take them out for a little walk, and enjoy pure room escaping fun. Stripped of all of the extraneous scenarios of how you got in there in the first place, Tesshi-e proves that they are masters of the basic room escape. Test drive Escape from Mr. K's Room and find out for yourself how much fun escaping a locked room can be.

Original, enjoyable, and in some respects different from many of the samey room escape games out there, Rosetta Escape is a fantastic way to while away your time in the middle of the week. Although the game is from Japan, no knowledge of the Japanese language is needed. Any letter puzzles are in English, and everything else is a complicated code of colors, tiles, symbols, and funky drawings which, if interpreted correctly, will help you get out of the stark space.

Although Camel Eye is not technically an escape game, it does fill the expectations that escapers have when they play. It's a wacky crime caper in which you play Camel Eye, famous thief, attempting to relieve some rich man of his valuables. There are a lot of items to find and use, and a ton of puzzles to crack before you can become a very wealthy person. Fun, tricky, challenging, a good time will be had by all. Besides, who wouldn't like a chance to get rich? Even if it's just a game.

Tone of Vesper is less of an escape from a room and more of an escape to a certain state of mind. Strawberry Cafe has stripped away many of the usual room escape trappings, leaving a game that is more of a point-and-click adventure than an escape. The object, you see, is not to get out of the space, but to explore it and find out what hidden treasures it holds. Specifically, what hidden musical treasures.

Akarimado brings nothing new to the room escape genre; you're locked in a one-view room (with an unlockable side room that's also one-view), and you have to solve many and various puzzles to get out. Although this particular dish of room escape contains few if any unfamiliar ingredients, there's not much to complain about; we enjoy these particular ingredients and we know it. It's a very satisfying journey all in all, and one that should not be missed.

Escape from Restaurant Minshio moves Tesshi-e ever closer to that elusive goal: the perfect room escape. Fantastically fun, challenging, and more accessible than ever, Escape from Restaurant Minshio is about as perfect a mid-week experience as you can get. You even get a yummy meal and maybe even a dessert out of the experience.

Hot Escape is definitely on the light side of the escape genre. Okay, so it's not the Einstein of room escapes. What it lacks in depth of puzzles it makes up for in sheer charm. The cutesy pastel cartoon backgrounds, the lovable pets, the amusing "Engrish" translation, all of it fuses together with some decent logic and puzzle solving to create a delightful little confection, perfect escaping happiness even if it is for a very short time.

The latest room escape game from Tesshi-e, Escape from Boss Room is perhaps not that elusive "perfect" escape, but it comes darn close in terms of design, puzzles, and just plain fun. Challenging, beautiful and entertaining, this is the perfect way to waste some time, at work or at home. Put your escaping caps on, guys, it's time to Escape from Boss Room!

Escape from the Big Windows Room is definitely a great break for the mid-week, a fun pick-me-up to get you out of the doldrums. And perhaps even dream of maybe someday being able to afford to live in such a fantastic space. Hey, even in this economy, a person can dream.

Dismantlement: Burger is still a fun way to waste 5 minutes and hey, maybe it'll make you think twice about reaching for a calorie, sugar, fat laden lunch. How about something a bit healthier and less bomb-filled. Like a salad. Unless they've got that planned for later down the line. Remember, Junk food bad!

Dharma Doll is a highlight of Petithima's rapidly growing oeuvre. More complex than the last one we featured on Weekday Escape, showing a progression of more puzzles and more difficult puzzles without losing the charm and design that make the games so great. Sort of an appetizer, where Choc-Mint was an amuse-bouche. Dig in!

Escape from the Garden is an amusing, delightful example of the room escape genre. Amusing gameplay that includes logical puzzles that flow easily from one to another, a charming area to explore, and the added bonus of needing to interact with the garden's animal inhabitants to complete your escape. It does, however, contain some Japanese text, but escape aficionados should be able to reason their way through without being able to read any of the cues.

Despite its simplicity, Choc-mint is an escape game done right. There is no text to confound the non-native speaker, the puzzles flow neatly from one to the other, and there is the blessed relief of a changing cursor to indicate hot-spots that can be clicked. A little logic, a little intuition, and an experienced gamer could be out in 10 minutes or less, refreshed and ready to face the day. All you escape game designers out there take notes, will you? Slow down, take a few minutes and enjoy the escape from the every day.

Escape from the Rest House is Tesshi-e's most accessible escape to date. Everything you expect from a Tesshi-e game is here: tight design, easy inventory control, a save button that can come in handy when looking for the happy coin escape, occasional pixel hunting, unique combinations and animation, and some very familiar music. The games, though, keep evolving. Play the Tesshi-e games from earliest to latest and you can see the evolution.

If you're into that red/pink/white color palette (as Strawberry Cafe obviously is) and enjoy solving your way out of locked rooms, then this can be a delightful way to waste a few minutes. A light, frothy delight perfect to counterbalance the mid-week blahs and the increasing summer heat. The whipped cream with a cherry on top of room escapes, if you will. Enjoy the refreshing treat.

Although smaller than the previous installment, Dismantlement: HDD packs a lot of punch in a little package. Lots of logic and screws and no controls to fiddle with this time around. Jump in and have fun, this series just keeps getting better and better.

Escape from Piano Room is a fun, logical, challenging escape guaranteed to brighten up the mid-week. Be sure keep the aspirin (or Tylenol) on standby though, just in case, although escaping out into the fresh air should clear that headache right up.

Anonymous is quite a fun challenge, involving not only the basics of room escaping fun; finding items, mysterious clues, headbanging puzzles, but with an interesting twist involving deductive reasoning and co-workers who discourteously leave food to rot in their lockers.

The Escape Hotel 2 is one of Tesshi-e's better efforts, up there with Escape from 5th Door for difficulty. Fun, challenging, and it definitely won't be over in 10 minutes unless you're, you know, like Einstein or Stephen Hawking. But hey, at least you have that nice snack of yummy bean jelly to help you when your energy is flagging. So get escaping! This is Weekday Escape, not Weekday have a light snack and a nap.

The Dismantlement series is very popular with our regular visitors, and Dismantlement: Fan delivers the goods with a nice variety of logic, math, and word puzzles that need to be solved before you are left with a heap of, well, components. For anyone who likes puzzles, logic, or just ripping things apart, take a few minutes and have fun destroying yet another common household object.