Felt that way. We solved the puzzles really rapidly and everyone participated.
Yep, we picked a medium one for our first try, and it was too difficult to finish. It was a blast anyway.
We did a bit of research first to pick a company that had very high player ratings.
Ours had a literary theme. Part of it took place in a cozy, old-fashioned library.
I’ve found that the difficulty for a given rating varies wildly between companies. Something to be aware of.
I’ve probably done a dozen or so, and now my son is old enough to do them (and contribute) and he’s done three in the past year. We love them. There’s one company here in Montreal whose rooms are so pretty, and their puzzles are clever. The Harry Potter inspired ones are fun, because you can choose to wear a robe, and you get a wand with a magnet imbedded in it to move or lift certain clues. And the animatronic dinosaurs in the Dino Island one are really impressive.
The last one we did was in another city and it wasn’t nearly as well done. At one point literally needing to try like 40 keys individually in 4 locks, as there was no clue to find the right one. That kind of sucked. Cute story (more kid oriented) but weak puzzles and very simple decor.
I’ve done three. My team escaped from two of them, failed in the other.
One was cool because, to exit, we had to move a bookcase aside and crawl out through a tunnel. I felt like one of the Hardy Boys.
That said, I think I’m fine with never doing another.
mmm
I’ve seen more than one story about escaped prisoners who somehow ended up in an escape room and were recaptured, some more recent than this one, but Google isn’t pulling them up:
I think escape rooms also grew out of large-scale puzzle/scavenger hunts. I know some of the same people have been involved in both.
Back in the early 2000s I did one–I and a bunch of friends piled in a van and cruised around the Bay Area, going from location to location as the clues led us. The locations themselves had puzzles, there were props involved, etc. We pretty much stayed awake for 50 hours straight and went around the whole area. A lot of stuff was more difficult when not everyone had a smartphone, but we did have to use a laptop and employ some programming skills to solve some difficult puzzles.
Lots of fun, but obviously too intense for most. Escape rooms are like a short, single-location version of one of those.
I did one with some coworkers just before Covid. We escaped the island before the volcano killed us, but needed a clue from the staff if I recall correctly. Fun was had by all.
I might eventually figure out the clues but I doubt I’d succeed at any sort of timed challenge.
Also, for those who have played are the clues generally honest or have you run into escape rooms that had clues like those annoying “brain teaser” puzzles? I.E. clues that were stupid instead of clever?
My limited experience is that the puzzles are fair. After all, they’re running a business, and keep track of each party’s progress. If most of the groups get stuck on some dumb puzzle that’s a little too “lateral”, they’ll change it. They want groups to have fun and come back in the future.
I’m sure some are poorly put together, though, and someone has to be the “beta tester”. So not every experience will be great.
“Lateral thinking” was the phrase I was blanking on, thanks! Yeah, those aren’t always as clever as their creators presume. Ones that instead of making you go “oh, of course!” make you go “-da fuq??”.
A little lateral thinking makes the puzzles interesting, but you want it to be something that could come up naturally, and ideally fits the theme. Morse code tends to come up in these puzzles a lot… but it would be dumb and annoying if it came up in one where the theme was Leonardo da Vinci (the theme of the recent one I did).
But like I said, escape rooms get plenty of user feedback, so if any of the puzzles are too lame they’ll fix them.
There’s one in an episode of The Big Bang Theory which is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4j9zwMqzGQ .
A fancy one, with escape room staff performing in the room
I’m truly amazed at the vast array of things that other people know about, and indeed are well-acquainted with, that I never heard of.
That’s why we have the Dope.
That’s me and music. A new pop star’s name will be spoken of and I think it’s someone on the rise right now, but no, they’ve had number one hits for the last five years.
There is an episode of Bob’s Burgers where Bob and Linda are coerced into doing an escape room. The attendant falls asleep so they can’t just use the panic button.
Lets just say the other couple do not help…
Brian
I wonder if anyone ever started removing drywall, like Bart escaping the hedge maze with a chainsaw.
My first thought on seeing that pic was: "Yikes!!! That’s impossible!!! How can she do that? It’s a disaster waiting to happen…'doesn’t Thelmalou have cats? !!!
Then I realized it’s in the public area, and, wow, is that a great idea for a facility of retired folks.Fun for you, and a nice touch for all the neighbors. I’m going to suggest it to my mother, who lives in a similar home.
Hehe. You are so right! I could never work a puzzle like this in my apartment.