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Printable escape roomAges 6 to 102 to 8 players, about 30 to 45 minutes

The Pumpkin Fair Mix-Up.

An escape room you print at home for a Halloween or autumn party. Big Marigold, the biggest pumpkin at the Maple Hill Pumpkin Fair, has gone missing with her red wagon before the contest. Nobody took her to be unkind: somebody got mixed up. The children play 7 fair games in a chain, and every answer opens the next card.

What you get

Two PDF files of the same 16 pages, one A4 and one US Letter. You print them, fold the seven card pages and play at a Halloween party, a birthday, a sleepover, in class or on a rainy afternoon. Nothing is shipped.

The game laid out: the title, Big Marigold the pumpkin in her red wagon by the pie stall with Olive the Owl, page 4 with Olive's coded note in picture code, three folded cards showing only their Acorn, Leaf and Pear picture strips, a Fair Helper badge and a blue ribbon
The real pages from the game, arranged on one picture.
6.90 €one payment, VAT included

VAT included, nothing added at checkout. You buy the two files once, keep them and print as many copies as your family, party or class needs.

See all 16 pages first

The files unlock right after payment. You can still withdraw within 14 days without giving a reason (our terms, section 5). Terms

  • download buttons appear on this page right after payment, and the links come by e-mail too
  • A4 and US Letter, both in the price
  • no account to make

How the Fair Helpers play.

Four steps, repeated for each of the 7 puzzles. A grown-up reads the story aloud and holds the pile of cards; the children do the rest.

How the Fair Helpers play in four steps: solve a card, look the answer up on Olive's Answer Board, ask for the folded card with that picture, and find Big Marigold with the Carrot card, opened last
  1. Solve a card. Each card is one fair game. The first one is Olive’s note in picture code.
  2. Look it up. Every answer on Olive’s Answer Board has a picture. Some pictures belong to no card at all.
  3. Ask for the card. If the picture is the one on top of your pile, they get it. If not, they check their work or you read them a hint.
  4. Find Big Marigold. The last card tells the end of the story and sends them to the treat you hid.

Watch the 21 second film

What is in the game.

Sixteen pages, the same in the A4 and the US Letter file. Every picture on this page is cut from the real pages.

The seven fair games as small drawings with their names: Olive's coded note, Mrs Bramble's pie shelf, the hay bale maze, the Lantern Tent twice, the costume parade, Basil's picture note and the barn gate lock
Seven puzzles in a chain. A picture code, counting pies, a hay bale maze, spot the difference, a picture logic puzzle, a sticker puzzle and a number lock. Only the first can be solved from the pictures on this page.
Two Official Fair Helper certificates signed by Olive the Owl and three Fair Helper badges with a Maple Hill Pumpkin Fair seal
Badges and certificates. Each child gets a badge at the start and a certificate at the end. 8 badges and 4 certificates to a page.
  1. 1Start here: three steps for grown-ups and what you need
  2. 2The story, to read aloud, with Olive’s letter and how to play
  3. 3Olive’s Answer Board, where the children look up their answers
  4. 4Fair game 1, Olive’s coded note, on the table from the start
  5. 5 to 10Fair games 2 to 7, each a whole page that folds once
  6. 11The Carrot card: the end of the story, opened last
  7. 12Plan for grown-ups: the order of the pile, how to fold, two teams for 5 to 8 players, a timeline and a checklist
  8. 1314 hints to read aloud, 2 for each game
  9. 148 Fair Helper badges, the size of a bank card
  10. 154 certificates, signed by Olive the Owl
  11. 16Solutions for grown-ups

All sixteen pages, before you pay.

The Answer Board, the end of the story, the hints and the solutions are blurred, and the puzzle text is replaced by grey lines, so nobody can peek.

All sixteen pages of the A4 file side by side; the Answer Board, the end of the story, the hints, the solutions and the drawings that hold answers are blurred, and the puzzle text is hidden
Tap the picture to open it large and zoom in.
Page 2, the story: Big Marigold in her red wagon by the pie stall, Olive's letter and how to play
Page 2. The story to read aloud.
Page 4, Olive's coded note: a code key of 16 pictures, a warm up and the note in picture code
Page 4. The first fair game.
Page 14, eight Fair Helper badges to cut out or tear off
Page 14. Fair Helper badges.

Who it is for, and what you need.

What you need: a printer, pencils, a few paper clips and a small treat; how long it takes and how many can play; and three drawings of how a card folds so only its picture shows
Age
6 to 10. Six and seven year olds need a grown-up or an older child to read the cards; nine and ten year olds can play on their own.
Players
2 to 8. For 5 to 8, print pages 3 to 11 twice and play as two teams side by side.
Time
About 30 to 45 minutes to play, and about 10 to 15 minutes to print and fold. Both are our estimate: nobody has played the game yet.
You need
A printer (print one sided), pencils, a few paper clips if you like, and a small treat to hide. No envelopes, no scissors to play.
Good for
A Halloween or autumn party, a birthday, a sleepover, a classroom or a rainy afternoon.

Two files, the same 16 pages.

FilePaperPagesSize
A4 PDF210 x 297 mm16 pages0.90 MB
US Letter PDF8.5 x 11 in16 pages0.90 MB

Print at 100 percent or actual size, one sided, because the folded cards hide the puzzle inside. Colour is nice but not needed. Keep pages 1, 12, 13 and 16 away from the children.

Before you buy.

What age is it for?

Children aged 6 to 10. Six and seven year olds need someone to read the cards and the Answer Board with them. Quick nine and ten year olds who love puzzles will be at the short end of the time; it is not made for 11 and up.

Is it scary?

No. It is a Halloween and autumn party game without anything spooky: a pumpkin fair, pies, paper lanterns and a costume parade (an astronaut, a knight, a pumpkin and a bumblebee). The missing pumpkin was taken by mistake, and everything ends well.

Does the grown-up need to know the answers?

No. The children find their answer on Olive’s Answer Board and ask for the card with that picture. You keep the folded cards in a pile and hand over only the top one. If they ask for another picture, the answer is not right yet.

To be honest, children can still ask for pictures at random and sometimes get lucky; you hold the pile, so you see it when it happens.

Do I need envelopes or scissors?

Not to play. Each card folds once so only its picture shows. The badges and certificates need scissors if you want to cut them out.

Can I print it in black and white?

It is designed for that. Every shape that matters differs in form, not only in colour; we have not yet tried a real black and white printer. If anything is hard to read, write to support@arling.sk and we fix it or send the money back.

Has it been played with real children?

Not yet, and we would rather say so. The times are our estimate. The picture code, the maze, the logic puzzle, the sticker puzzle and the Answer Board were checked by a computer. The counting and spot the difference pictures were checked by counting the drawn objects in the files.

What happens after I pay?

Stripe sends you back to this page, the page checks that the payment went through, and download buttons for the A4 and US Letter PDF appear in place of the buy button. The same links are sent by e-mail to the address you paid with. The links on this page work for 7 days and the ones in the e-mail for 30 days; after that, write to support@arling.sk and we send fresh ones.

The unlock is remembered in this browser, so you can come back to this page later on the same device. Keep the files once you have downloaded them.

How many copies may I print?

As many as you need for your own family, party, classroom or club. Please do not share or resell the files.

Who made it?

ARLing s. r. o. in Bratislava wrote the story and the puzzles and drew the pictures, with the help of AI tools. The drawings are simple shapes drawn in code, and our own program typesets every page.

Do I get a receipt?

Yes. Stripe handles the sale through Managed Payments as the merchant of record, and ARLing supplies the files. At checkout you will see “Sold through Link”, your bank statement will show LINK.COM* ARLING, and Link sends you the receipt.

Can I get my money back?

Yes. As a consumer you can withdraw within 14 days without giving a reason, as our terms say in section 5: write to support@arling.sk or use the withdrawal form, and we refund you within 14 days by the same payment method. If a file is broken or a puzzle is wrong, write to us and we put it right.

That is the law, not our customer service. All sixteen pages are shown above so you can decide before paying. If a file is broken or never arrived, write to support@arling.sk and we will fix it or send the money back. Terms and withdrawal form.

Colophon

Publisher
ARLing s. r. o., Ivanská cesta 32E, 821 04 Bratislava, Slovakia. Company ID 56583486, VAT ID SK2122352100.
Who makes it
Andrej in Bratislava looks after the products and the support and answers at support@arling.sk. The story, puzzle and drawings were made with the help of AI tools; our own program typesets every page.
Payment and delivery
Stripe handles the sale through Managed Payments as the merchant of record, and ARLing supplies the files. Your download links appear on this page as soon as Stripe confirms the payment, and the same links are sent by e-mail to the address you paid with. There is no account to make.

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