Davinci’s WorkshopGet Out Games Bloomington [prev. The Code and Key Escape Rooms]Escape roomIRLThe operators said this was their easiest room; I don’t know if I agree (having played them all). It had the fewest puzzles, for sure, but the puzzles are multi-step and require good use of different skills including physical coordination of multiple team members. The physical space is small, though, so I would not recommend going in with more than 2-3 people. There is some wear and tear, which is unfortunate, but everything was still solvable. We had a good time.
Hoosier HysteriaHoosier Escape HouseEscape roomIRLI enjoyed this room and I also enjoyed talking with the owner/operator (who also designed this specific room). Obviously a great theme for the location and I thought everything was well clued and cleanly designed. Nothing advanced from a tech perspective but for me personally I don’t consider that a negative as long as there are logical connections between the locks and the things that open the locks, which was certainly true. Recommended.
The Stolen ArtifactGet Out Games Bloomington [prev. The Code and Key Escape Rooms]Escape roomIRLFull review tk
Tiny House of HorrorsGet Out Games Bloomington [prev. The Code and Key Escape Rooms]Escape roomIRLMy least favorite of the three rooms we played at this venue but it wasn’t -bad- and we had a good time. A couple of clunky puzzles and one very prominent ghost puzzle (operators, please take all the related props and clues out of the room if you remove the puzzle that those things refer to). But overall it was fine. If Morty had a “meh” I would choose that, but I only give a room thumbs down if it is really un-fun and this room was fun despite the glitches.
The Basement: UnhingedTHE BASEMENT: A Live Escape Room Experience - Kansas CityEscape roomIRLDon’t be concerned if you previously played “The Basement” in Las Vegas or LA. This is 100% different apart from the framing story and the presence of a live actor. Different room layout, different puzzles. We had a great time!
The Wedding Party [Mystery Dinner Experience]Secret CityEscape roomOther If you like Club Drosselmeyer, you’ll like this. Many of the same actors, similar fun puzzles, and a variety of interactive character moments and surprises. And this wedding is catered! We had a great time. Highly recommended.
Haunted HouseEscapology - BraintreeEscape roomIRLMy second-favorite Escapology room so far (Scooby-Doo is still number one). Good set and atmosphere, good effects, good puzzles. Recommended.
7 Deadly SinsEscapology - BraintreeEscape roomIRLI wanted to like this room from the opening video (I like a dark theme). Unfortunately the puzzle design lets it down.
Zodiac Serial KillerFox in a Box MiamiEscape roomIRLI really wanted to like this room. The GM was great, fully in character. The puzzles are generally good. There is a high scavenger hunt element which is where most of our hints went. (They are still doing the old school “one hint every ten minutes” thing, but generally when we wanted one, it had been ten minutes. So while I object to this on principle, it didn’t actually keep us from finishing.) My biggest complaint — for the second room in a row at this venue — is that the finale puzzle doesn’t work! They had us enter the code repeatedly and the thing that is supposed to happen did not happen. It’s just terribly anticlimactic to go through the entire room and then someone has to just let you out manually. I would have given the room a thumbs up on its overall gameplay but not being able to finish because of poor maintenance is just not acceptable.
The Other SideFox in a Box MiamiEscape roomIRLVery good set design. The room is clearly an homage to a TV show but they do not want to come out and say which one. You’ll figure it out. Our GM was very enthusiastic and friendly. This place has everything it needs to be successful… … but unfortunately “The Other Side” has the same problem as the other two rooms we played at Fox in a Box: flat-out broken technology. I am not sure I have ever had to ask for so many hints in one room where the answer was “do the thing you’re already trying to do, but keep futzing with it and maybe it will work.” This is a problem that I thought we were past in the industry but these folks are determined to prove me wrong. In addition to the straight-up broken puzzles there was at least one instance of a ghost puzzle but in a way I have never seen before: the prop fully works and reveals information … that just never gets used. We’re not talking “stray blacklight message that wasn’t fully painted over,” this is a big honking (cool-looking) prop that you have to activate to get it to show you the ghost puzzle. Why leave that in the room? It’s like instead of doing maintenance, they are cutting content out of the room as the mechanisms stop fully functioning. We even got a key that didn’t unlock anything, which they claimed was a red herring. What would even be the point of that? It’s a key! Just leave it out of the room if you don’t use the lock any more. I just cannot recommend Fox in a Box Miami in good conscience. Maybe these rooms all worked perfectly when they were built, but we played three rooms and each one had significant tech failures. That’s not bad luck, that’s neglect.
Mastermind: A Heist StoryFox in a Box MiamiEscape roomIRLInteresting mix of high-tech and low-tech puzzles. No crawling or difficult physical actions but someone needs to be able to crouch. The room is dim, but not pitch black. You’ll need the flashlights they give you. Unfortunately the finale puzzle was not working so we had to get the GM to bypass it to let us finish the room. The puzzles are fine but there are multiple places you are expected to look for information at various times, and nothing tells you that, so you are reduced to rechecking everything repeatedly to see if there is new information. As a result we had to take a few more hints than we normally would. The GM was very friendly and helpful but it’s tough to recommend the room with a broken endgame.
Club Drosselmeyer 1942 [Immersive Experience] - CLOSEDGreendoor LabsEscape roomOther If you like any one of: immersive theater, solving puzzles, dancing (especially Lindy hopping), The Nutcracker, great cocktails, a fantastic band, seeing an aerialist, dressing up in 1940s period attire, or just having fun, you will like Club Drosselmeyer. If you like most or all of those things (which I do), then this might very well be the most entertaining thing you do all year. I fly up from Atlanta to Boston just for this show and it is 10,000% totally worth it.
Pharaoh's TombWolf Escape Games-OnlineEscape roomVirtual We have played and enjoyed the three previous online games from Wolf Escape Games, and Pharaoh’s Tomb delivers basically more of the same. The graphics are good, the voice acting is fine, the “backpack” system works really well for letting the whole team examine key documents, and the puzzles are mediocre. My only real complaint is that the ending makes almost no sense and introduces a cliche of the Sherlock Holmes homage genre that really does not seem earned by the story. You’ll know it when you get to it. But, for 90 minutes of decent fun that you don’t have to get off the couch for and works really well screencasted to your big-screen TV, I can hardly complain. We’ll keep playing ‘em as long as Wolf Escape keeps making ‘em.
The AlchemistSherlockedEscape roomIRLThe two things an escape room needs to be memorable are a beginning that hooks you right away and an ending that leaves you in awe of what you just accomplished. This room has both. It turns out that everything between the beginning and the ending is also great. The level of craft and engineering that went into the set and the props is incredible. There are at least two elements of this room that I have never seen done in an escape room and I think I am unlikely ever to see them done anywhere else. This is simply a must-play.
The Lost CabinetSherlockedEscape roomPortableThis is a tabletop experience, but it has the feel of a good escape room — there are puzzles, of course, but there are also secrets to find and even somewhat of a scavenger hunt element as you will frequently find necessary objects in surprising places. As I am sure many folks have noted, the cabinet itself is reminiscent of “The Room” games brought to life. The craftwork is top-notch and every place it might be possible to cram in another compartment, they found a way to do just that. Technically a prequel to “The Alchemist” but given the logistics of coordinating to play this (unless you are in town the day before an REA tour arrives, ha) it surely isn’t a must-play for story purposes, but it does hint at what is to come. We had a great time with this experience and would certainly recommend it. The only rough spot was a couple of compartments being sticky to open: the box is unique, and it got its start being taken to people’s homes, so it has accumulated a bit of wear and tear. But this is easily remedied by just asking your host if you should do the thing you want to do, just with a bit more force, and the answer is likely to be yes. :) Highly recommended.
Escape the Ancient Ruins - Online CompetitionRaid the Room - OnlineEscape roomVirtual Note: I can’t speak to the “competition” aspect of this room. We played it as part of some sort of contest but I do not know who won or anything like that. I am just reviewing it as an online escape room (ish) experience. We played as a team of 4; good friends who have done many in-person rooms together. I think that the platform provides enough communication options (including video/live chat and text chat) that coordinating the group is not really a problem. You get a little tutorial with the GM at the beginning, which is useful as a couple of key aspects of the platform pertaining to object manipulation and “ghosting” through other players’ avatars do need a bit of explaining and practice “off the clock” as it were. All in all the platform is okay: you can zoom in/out, there was no appreciable lag, etc. It seems to force the designers to put a lot of text/instructions directly into the game world as writing on the floor. This is probably not ideal for immersiveness but it does the job. Each avatar can carry one object at a time and it did not seem possible to accidentally permanently destroy anything critical. So all in all I thought the platform was fine. If the original NES Legend of Zelda were an online escape room it would look approximately like this. (It’s dangerous to go alone.) As for the specific puzzles on this quest, they were … okay. I found the variety of puzzles to be good enough (all distinct) but the puzzles themselves were more like pencil and paper logic puzzles translated to the online format, for the most part. One puzzle did make good use of the ability to interact with NPCs and another puzzle was a good test of the group’s communication and coordination skills. We finished in about 45 minutes which seemed like it would be about average. There was essentially no story overall. One or two puzzles had a little bit of a frame within that room but nothing really connected to anything outside of its room. I suppose we did “escape the ancient ruins” but I am not even sure why we needed to escape the ancient ruins in the first place. So, it was about on par with any mediocre live escape room in that regard. I won’t describe or comment on specific puzzles as I believe the competition is still live. Would I play another game on this specific online platform, sure. Would I recommend this particular game as a good online escape room experience, not really. YMMV
The Keeper And The Fungus Among UsHeadlock Escape Rooms OnlineEscape roomVirtual Simply delightful. An escape room inside of an immersive story that was built specifically to be played via Zoom. Not terribly difficult but the puzzles are clever and the way everything takes place inside the game world is fantastic. Includes some laugh-out-loud moments. Highest recommendation.
Rise of the FungiHeadlock Escape Rooms OnlineEscape roomVirtual This “prequel” might best be enjoyed after playing “The Keeper and the Fungus Among Us” as it contains a number of easter eggs and nods to the other game, but I don’t think it really matters what order you play them in. This game is just as much fun and just as whimsical. Highest recommendation.
The ObservatoryThe Gate EscapeEscape roomIRLFull review TK but this room has one of the most jaw-dropping moments I have ever experienced in an escape room. It is a pure puzzlefest from start to finish.
The Assistant 2.0The Gate EscapeEscape roomIRLThis was an enjoyable room with an amusing blend of high-tech props used in low-tech ways. You’ll learn more ways to repurpose an old circuit board than you probably ever imagined. Overall the gameplay flows smoothly. One very ambitious physical puzzle is a bit fiddly to get everything aligned just right but the GM (and owner/designer) was able to help us nudge the right pieces into the right places without spoiling anything. We had a lot of fun. Recommended.
![The Wedding Party [Mystery Dinner Experience]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/3dd140a4-19d9-47aa-97a4-2bd0c9d5bddd.jpg)
![Club Drosselmeyer 1942 [Immersive Experience]](https://images.morty.app/mortyapp/image/upload/c_limit,w_260/f_auto/v1/store/s/f9421548-396a-4ee2-b75f-69d657de56cb.webp)
