Room 5280, Escape Room Review

Room 5280

Denver, Colorado

The Dark Room: Trapped in a mysterious dark room with cryptic symbols on the wall, we had to discover the secret of what happened here and find our way out safely.

The Experiment: A scientist has disappeared leaving his experiments incomplete. We had to finish the experiment and discover the truth of what happened to the professor.

Pros: The Dark Room puzzles were challenging but we worked our way through the process with limited guidance. The storyline for the Experiment was very interesting and unique. We really enjoyed the puzzles in this room which were tied into the overall theme. I was most impressed by the fact that we actually learned a bit of history and science in the process. Kudos to the game designer for proving that education can be fun. The game master was helpful and attentive. We appreciated his enthusiasm and referrals to other area escape rooms. He helped generate excitement about the scavenger hunt challenge designed to encourage us to visit other escape rooms. 

Cons:  The set design was fairly basic in both rooms and did little to add to the ambiance. We struggled with the logic of a few of the puzzles in the Experiment and required a few more hints than usual. The Dark Room seemed fairly straight-forward but we could have used more flashlights. Escape rooms are no fun in the dark!

http://escaperoom5280.com

The Clue Room, Escape Room Review

The Clue Room

Centennial, Colorado

1893: We were transported to Chicago in 1893 where the World's Columbian Exposition was underway. But a mysterious man and a strange hotel beckons further investigation.

Pros: Great theme. Love the book that the room is based on. The decorations fit the theme as well. The gamemaster was awesome and the introduction to the room/storyline generated much excitement.

Cons: The storyline lost cohesiveness in the room and deviated from the actual story at many points.  We found most of the puzzles to be actually illogical and required hints on nearly every one. We would have loved to play other games at the establishment to see if this is a trend in general for the business, but time limited our ability to play more. Next time we are in Denver, we will try to play some of their other games.

https://theclueroom.com

Colorado Escape

Colorado Escape

Thornton, Colorado

Temple of Doom: Our band of treasure hunters had to locate the ancient relic, the Golden Gato, before a competing band of treasure hunters beat us to the punch.

Pros: This room was nicely decorated with a clear storyline. Most of the puzzles made sense and were connected to the story. We did however, struggle with a few and required assistance. Minor changes to the puzzles could make them more straight-forward. We found ourselves spending lots of time searching, which can be a good thing if your group size is larger. We had a group of six and everyone had enough work to do.

Cons: This was a mostly multilinear room with lots of puzzles. Groups of no more than four or five are recommended. When it becomes linear, it can be difficult to keep everyone focused but the searching in the beginning is best for larger groups. The gamemasters did their job, but their friendly people-skills were lacking during the time we were there and they grumpily instructed us to re-read the rules a few times before our game began (even though we did read the rules and also told them we had been there before). We assumed they were having an off-day, since on previous visits we had a great encounter with other employees. 

http://www.coescape.com

Clue Chase, Escape Room Review

Clue Chase

New York, New York

Pros: The room was decorated to theme and had some generally clever and mostly logical puzzles. The game master did their job and assisted as needed. We would have said this was a solid escape room experience had it not been for the company's unfortunate policy of grouping strangers together and most specifically adult players with random groups of children. See further gripes below. 

Cons: We were once again in what is becoming a disturbing trend, placed, without our prior knowledge or consent, with a group of children. This was my face:  :-(  

The children ranged in age from 8 to 12. The point is that most of the time was spent trying to ignore their high-pitched, excited screaming followed quickly and repeatedly by their plaintive wailing about being bored or confused. When they weren't generally breaking things or moving essential clues and tools, they were simply: there, quite literally standing in the way, impeding all progress. So again we ask escape room owners: Why? Seriously, why? We know, we know it's about money. But seriously create a separate, kid-friendly escape room experience for these birthday parties and allow child-less adults to play separately. Otherwise, you will essentially drive adults away from escape rooms and end up moderating children's birthday parties FOREVER. Think about this: FOREVER. Oh and don't forget to childproof your new kid-friendly rooms, we noticed that they tend to break everything. 

https://cluechase.com

Ryptic Room Escape, Escape Room Review

Ryptic Room Escape

Mountain View, California

Escape from the Madhatter:  We found ourselves caught in the Madhatter's twisted game to keep us trapped in Wonderland.

Pros: Escape from the Madhatter introduced us to a whole new approach to the escape room concept. Our team could compete against up to three other teams in this intense intellectual exercise that had us scurrying from one room to the next every five minutes. Our goal was essentially to successfully solve four individual puzzles in each of the four rooms before the other teams completed the same four puzzles. The trick was that we had to rotate from one puzzle to the next every five minutes and avoid leaving hints for other teams to pick up on. Sounded like a great idea in theory, right?

Cons: The problem was with the reality. We loved the concept, but found the process extremely frustrating. Essentially it was like working on a multilinear room with multiple puzzles at once but being interrupted and forced to move to another puzzle and then back again every few minutes. This was challenging for the brain and frankly mostly ridiculous at times. The process was even further complicated by the game master who interrupted frequently to give us answers and hurry us along. We found ourselves rushed, distracted, confused, and angry especially by the end of the game. We "successfully" escaped but felt it was more a result of the free answers provided by the game master than by any success on our part. As the primary puzzle solver in each of the four rooms, I left feeling like my brain was in complete meltdown mode as a result of overuse. This was one of those rooms that had us shouting to escape room owners again: "Enough with the gimmicks already! Just focus on creating good, logical puzzles and we promise we will have a great time!" Time to take the madness out of this Madhatter game. 

https://www.ryptic.com

Mission Escape Games, Room Escape Review

Mission Escape Games

New York City

The Initiation: We had one hour to solve the puzzles and pass the test in order to earn admission into a secret society. 

Pros: The puzzles were simple and mostly fun and easy to solve. We played as two people and finished in record time with lots of time to spare. 

Cons: Simplistic, minimalistic set design. Basic storyline. Generally easy puzzles. Nothing to rave about. Nothing to complain about. Recommended for first-timers.  

http://missionescapegames.com

Escape the Room NYC, Escape Room Review

Escape the Room NYC

New York, New York

The Dig: Tasked with unraveling an ancient mystery, we channeled the spirt of Indiana Jones to make our escape.

Pros: The set design in this room was beyond excellent creating a fun, immersive escape room experience. The game master was enthusiastic and went above and beyond in her quest to make our experience a memorable one. The storyline was simple but sufficient. We struggled with some of the puzzles but found them generally logical and solvable. 

Cons: A few of the puzzles had some issues in design that created difficulties at time. Using bolder colors and visual markers to help players make links between puzzle elements could help clarify the process. A few overly convoluted puzzles also slowed our progress and required game-master intervention.  

We applaud Escape the Room NYC for setting a high standard and going above and beyond in set design. Nice work!

http://static.escapetheroomnyc.com/index.html