RetroworksTrick Lock - Mystery of the Prickly Key

This is a heavy lock, and looks nice. It is well built and has held up well to a lot of abuse. It is fairly easy to open if you are familiar with trick locks. It has been used in a mystery escape room and has worked well.

Fun but simple trick lock. I'd only rate it a 2 on a scale of 1-6 on difficulty if you know that its a trick lock. This is my first time buying a trick lock, but I have bought several cast metal puzzles from other vendors before. I'm not disappointed in this lock and will probably buy some of the other variants too.The mechanism could be hidden much better, but to someone unfamiliar with trick locks it could look like a normal industrial lock with heft and age. It has a very used feeling to it, which may be a plus or minus. The metal is a little corroded and stained in places, but functions perfectly. The staining really looks like it's received normal wear being stored in a garage or something like that. The box it came in is very battered (as the listing warned it would be). The stamped pattern on the lock front is only partially stamped, and is different than the picture attached to the listing (though I can confirm it is the same trick to open the lock). The lock I received has a a star stamp instead of a lotus flower stamp. The stamp lines are a little sharper than those in the picture, but not fully stamped either such that one point of the star is completely missing. That helps with the illusion that it's just an old lock made back when everything was made sturdy but without precision, but it might also disappoint a collector who wants a pristine lock. The lock does have heft and feels like a real lock, but also still feels special.Minimal spoilers below...When you attempt to open the lock the normal way, the key goes in easily but can't turn. But you can't accidentally open it either without intentionally activating the trick. It still requires the key to open it (and nothing extra besides the key and the secret). I have no knowledge of how easy it would be to pick the lock if you were to actually use it to secure something. In contrast to its rough appearance, when you do activate the trick, it's beautiful in a way.

I got this for my YouTube channel Puzzle Fun and I solve them types of puzzles on the channel and this video has been the most watched so far. It was a decent challenge for me.

Just look at the picture, and you can easily see the trick. It is so obvious that it took my friends only a minute to open up. Not worth the price.

It was just "okay". Nothing really special about it and it didn't require a great deal of mystery solving to unlock. My 10 year old grandson and a few minutes of enjoyment from it.