UFO: Go For Launch

I struggled with how to rate this, because the game itself wasn’t too bad. The staff we were exposed to were rude with horrible customer service, though. Part of the game also had an extra puzzle for larger groups that they just didn’t hide correctly, so we wasted 5-8 minutes on this before giving up. A helpful “that’s not for you” would have been nice, but I don’t think they were paying attention to us at all. Part of our party was 5 minutes late so they said they would take that from our game play (completely understandable), but then they wouldn’t go let them into the main portion of the facility (if you’ve been here before, you know that there’s a false entrance you must be escorted through to make it to the front desk to check in, so you’re at the mercy of them), which took further time away from us. When our party members told staff the rest of us were there, they said “oh well, I’ll finish this first”, which is fine, except that meant they’d deduct time they took from us. We weren’t briefed on what the storyline was for this game and the game master just stuck us in the room and said “here you go.” When we mentioned the non-working puzzle in one of the rooms, they were rude about it at first, with excuses about larger parties getting to do it (we were a group of 5). They eventually apologized, but it was one of those “make this person go away while I walk away” apologies. We’ve played 4 games here now and it was a place I used to recommend to out of towners for the atmosphere, but man…no more. That’s also changed a lot, by the way. Very disorganized with furniture thrown about now. All of this to say, make sure you come when there are nicer, more mature people running the games. About the game itself: it was ok. There were some neat tech. elements like all of the other Bureau games, but not everything lined up right and the storyline didn’t resolve. A complete “meh” game for us when we were excited about showing this place off to family.

Loved this room, creative and unusual puzzles made for a very fun time!

Fantastic high tech room. Great puzzles, theming, and immersion. Great use of unique elements and puzzles I’ve never seen in a room before!

Now this is what I’m talking about. Wonderfully realized world building, seamless puzzles that make sense for the story (with NO LOCKS!) and really awesome set design. UFO: Go For Launch is a delight from start to finish. Puzzle wise, it’s just difficult enough to be engaging and challenging for most groups, but never annoying. An experienced group may finish it with ample time remaining (like we did), but the puzzles are extremely fun and I can’t overstate enough how cleverly integrated and executed they are with the environments and story telling. If you’re looking for something fresh, inspired, creative and very different from what you’ve probably played at other businesses, AND something you can take just about anybody to play, this is it. It’s funny, original, and full of surprises. A great experience for beginners and veteran players alike, and maybe you’ll have a smile on your face most of the way through like we did 😃

Easily the best room at The Bureau, the crossing of atmosphere, story, and creative puzzles was perfect. If you only do one here, this would be my pick. For context my group did all six rooms at this location in one sitting.

Immersive story, amazing set, unique themed props, and fun puzzles—what more could you ask for? I also appreciate the unique way to communicate with our GM in this one. It isn’t their most challenging room, but it’s my favorite!

BY FAR MY FAVORITE ESCAPE ROOM IVE EVER DONE.

So fun! Our favorite at The Bureau :)

This game was fun, but after doing the possession game first, it was a little less luster. One of the puzzles felt like we didn’t do anything and it just worked. We still aren’t sure what happened there. I would still recommend. Love the Bureau and their games/staff!