The Ruins

The atmosphere and set design were standout in this high-tech room. The puzzles were really physical and visual. It was dark, but we were given flashlights and we didn't have to read much, so it was fine and added to the immersive experience. Some of the puzzles were not intuitive and we used several hints to get out in time. There was a lot of loud music and the game relies on a digital "you solved it!" indicator for many main puzzles; otherwise it's a little hard to tell if you're making progress. The voiceover at the beginning was also a bit difficult to understand and would benefit from some kind of subtitles, even if that took away from the immersion. Overall, we had a great experience and got out in the nick of time!

I swear I don't give bad reviews to games where we don't make it out! The set design was good, but the puzzles weren't that intuitive and worse, we didn't have the best experience getting clues. Delays, clues on things already solved. (Granted, this was 7 years ago, where the mindset for a lot of rooms was 3 clues & not a lot of oomph to help the players make it out.) But yeah, that really soured the room for us. 🤷🏾‍♂️ If Morty adopts their "meh" rating, I'll upgrade my thumbs down to that.

The aesthetics of this room were great. My biggest complaint is a lot of room the locks were already open or certain things weren’t put back together. The game master was nice but they didn’t do a good job of giving useful clues, even when prompted. This room has potential however, it just doesn’t flow as well as some of its competitors.

I played this room years ago with a couple of friends. We ran out of time on the last puzzle. I remember the decor and atmosphere being alright, but not the best I’ve seen. We still had a good time.

A temple heist. It was a bit dark, and background sounds were loud meaning it was hard to hear clues, etc. over the walkie talkies. Great immersion, including sand on the floor. Puzzles were pretty good. They required a moment to think about, or a failure or two to figure out what to do.

We greatly enjoyed the immersion, but we did not like several of the puzzles. We still talk about 1 of the puzzles we did not like quite often. The game master was great!

I have no idea why this is a TERPECA nominee. There aren't a lot of puzzles requiring brain power, just a lot of replacement puzzles. We asked for a couple of hints for illogical steps that were required to advance. Also, the GMs at this location are underwhelming. We were quite disappointed.

The rooms decor and theme tie well together. Puzzles were ok.

What an incredible experience! The Ruins was extremely detailed and immersive from start to finish. The quality of the props, decor, and puzzles was truly incredible! It felt like we were actually in ancient ruins, right down to the sand covered floors. Quite a challenging room for us, but our hilarious and a Game Master, Lindsay, gave excellent clues when we needed help. She also did an awesome job of staying in character, which really added a lot to the experience! I can't wait to come back and try more of Exit Strategy's rooms and hope to have Lindsay as a GM in other rooms as well!

Visually beautiful room, but we waited on the GM for hints and then the hints weren’t helpful and indicated they weren’t actually watching us. One puzzle required outside knowledge to complete and they could not clue us through it. We ended up leaving this room feeling very frustrated and confused why enthusiasts love it so much.