Last-minute gifts for puzzle lovers: ready today
For a last-minute gift for a puzzle lover, choose something that arrives by email. Our digital escape room game, Mission: Elfpossible, is ready to play within minutes of checkout, and our gift card lets them choose a boxed adventure later. If you have time for delivery, Down the Rabbit Hole and The Fifth Column are good options to wrap. Here is how to choose by the time you have left.
If you need the gift today: a digital escape room game
Mission: Elfpossible arrives in an email from pip@elf.enterprises with the subject line "THE ELVES NEED YOUR HELP!". The email contains the link to start playing, so you can give it as a gift without waiting for delivery.
The setup: Santa has been captured and the North Pole is under siege. A few elves got out and sent a plea for help, and you spend the game breaking back into the Pole, working past its security and following the clues the elves left behind. You play on a laptop or desktop, alone or with a group in the same room or over a video call, and it fills an evening.
It is for 1 to 6 players aged 14+, with 1.5 to 3+ hours of play. Players have rated it 4.7 stars across 26 reviews.
Check two things before buying. Mission: Elfpossible is rated 14+: the rescue-Santa story has no violence or crime scene, but the puzzles are designed for teens and adults. One review mentions 13- and 15-year-olds who could not finish it. The recipient also needs a laptop or desktop; a phone screen is too small, and part of the game does not work on a tablet.
Enter your own email address at checkout so the order confirmation stays with you. Then forward Pip's game email and the Getting Started guide to the recipient when you want them to receive the gift. One copy covers a group playing together, including over a video call. For separate recipients or groups who will not play together, buy separate copies; each generates its own game email.
The game stays available for at least a year after purchase and saves progress as you go, so the recipient can choose when to play.
"It was fun to do together during the holidays. The challenges were difficult," is how one reviewer, Tammy B., put it. See Mission: Elfpossible for the game details and gifting instructions.
If you can't pick for them: the digital gift card
A gift card is useful when you know they love puzzles but are less sure which setting they would choose.
Our digital gift card arrives by email and can be used across our catalog of at-home escape room games. It never expires, so the recipient can choose their next game whenever they are ready.
If you have time for delivery: a boxed game
Orders generally leave us the next business day, and standard shipping within the contiguous US takes 3 to 7 business days after dispatch. Check our shipping page and the options at checkout before choosing a box for a fixed date. Allow extra time around the holidays.
Down the Rabbit Hole is an approachable first game, with one part and a Wonderland setting. You fall into Wonderland and work your way out, and the table fills with illustrated envelopes for the places you pass through, the Tea Party and the Royal Court among them. Nothing needs to be cut up or written on, so a finished copy can be handed on to the next puzzle lover intact.
It is for 1 to 6 players aged 12+, with 1.5 to 3+ hours of play and a 4.9-star rating from 82 reviews.
If they have already been through Wonderland, The Fifth Column offers a longer codebreaking adventure. It is a wartime thriller set in Manhattan in June 1945, weeks after Germany's surrender, where you are trying to stop a Nazi plot. The story runs across two parts in one box.
It is for 1 to 6 players aged 14+, with 2 to 4+ hours of play across two parts and a 4.9-star rating from 152 reviews.
Both live in our last-minute holiday gifts collection.
Our free Puzzle Archive has fifteen browser puzzles with optional hints. Tuck the link into a card so there is something to solve while a gift is in transit, or give it as a free activity to try together.
If you're shopping in person today
Call a local toy or game shop to check what you can take home today. EXIT: The Secret Lab is one option; check the age, player count and playtime on the edition the shop carries. Standard EXIT games use up components as you solve them, so choose one for someone who will enjoy a single-use puzzle adventure. Our stocking stuffers for puzzle lovers guide has more small gift ideas.
Last-minute gift questions
How fast does the digital game arrive?
Within a few minutes of checkout. The email comes from pip@elf.enterprises with the subject line "THE ELVES NEED YOUR HELP!", so check spam if you do not see it, and write to support@puzzlingpursuits.com if it truly has not landed.
Can I send Mission: Elfpossible straight to the recipient's email?
Enter your own email address at checkout so the order confirmation stays with you. When Pip's game email arrives, forward it to the recipient along with the Getting Started guide when you want them to receive the gift.
What does the recipient need in order to play?
They need a laptop or desktop computer and a modern browser; we recommend Chrome or Firefox. A phone screen is too small, and one part of the game does not work on a tablet. One purchase covers a playing group of 1 to 6 people.
Do they have to play it before the holidays end?
There is no rush. The game stays available for at least a year after purchase and saves your progress, so a playthrough in January, or in July, works fine.
Does the gift card expire?
No. Our gift cards never expire, and a partly spent card keeps its balance until it is used up. If December turns into February before they pick a game, nothing is lost.
Can a boxed game still make it by December 24?
It depends on the date you order. We generally ship the next business day, contiguous-US standard delivery runs 3 to 7 business days after that, and there is an expedited option at checkout. Check our shipping page for current delivery windows and the options at checkout.
If you have time to compare more options, our guide to gifts for puzzle lovers covers books, mechanical puzzles and boxed games by the kind of solving the recipient enjoys. For a whodunit fan, our murder mystery gifts guide covers that genre.
