Smugglers Den

Rating: 3.5/5 - Enjoyed the blackout concept, good execution Pros: ➕ I'm a sucker for concepts that take away some of your senses. This is the 2nd pitch black room I've played and is much better than the other one I did elsewhere. ➕ Fun puzzles, even in the part that was lit up. ➕ Immersion starts at the entrance to the building, the GM played a character for the intro. ➕ The building itself was interesting and had an unique vibe for an escape room company. ➕ More than a single room. ➕ Mostly sensor based tech with some padlocks. ➕ GM was friendly, though we didn't really need any hints. Room for improvement: ➖ The story doesn't really tie in to the manor as much as the other 2 rooms. ➖ Wish the room was longer with more puzzles ➖ The rooms here are already pretty expensive, but the 45 min room is the same price as the 60 minute ones. We played as a team of 3 enthusiasts and finished with plenty of time left, it is not a difficult room, I'd recommend 3 enthusiasts. My ranking of all 3 rooms I played here (Inventor's Attic wasn't open): 1. Smuggler's Den 2. Jazz Parlor 3. Mardi Gras Study

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience from the moment I walked thru their door to the moment I exited. Highly recommend.

It gets a like instead of a love because it is absolutely ridiculously, overly overpriced especially for A 45 MINUTE ROOM! Even for a standard 60 minute room, it's expensive. I will say I personally had a blast in the room as I tend to love sensory depriving rooms where you have to utilize your other senses. My fiance and partner in escape however wasn't nearly as thrilled with it as I was and she makes a solid point that there are literally like 6 puzzles total for $144 (group of two price....) If the argument is being made that there's a 4 person minimum or something and that's why it's retarded expensive, that goes out the window because you would be hard pressed to physically fit more than 2.

I enjoyed this! Definitely took a learning curve to gain confidence walking around in the dark, but the puzzles were clever for the pitch black situation. The ending was a little anti-climatic, but overall super fun!

A great room experienced in total darkness. Very unique, we had a lot of laughs as a group of four. It’s a refreshing palate cleanser!

fun room!! be prepared to really rely on your sense of touch! the puzzles were fun and just the right level of difficulty to complete in total darkness. room ended a bit abruptly, but overall a great time

Stabbed by a random screw on the floor while crawling around in the dark. Customer service afterward was pretty bad. Pitch dark room meant to require you to feel around in the dark to solve puzzles, but my hand was punctured by a screw randomly lying on the floor. It wasn’t too bad but skin was slightly punctured. This wasn’t a big deal but seriously being in the pitch black requires a bit of trust, there should never be sharp objects at all on the floor and due diligence should be taken between games to ensure safety. After the incident I alerted the GM just to let them know. They forced us to exit mid-game to inspect it and take pictures. The whole ordeal took probably 5-10 minutes of distraction, talking, her walking up and then us getting back into the game. She offered us TWO minutes additional time to finish. And refused to just let us finish (we needed about five minutes) and was rude and rushed us out. You would think that as an I’m sorry they’d let us finish the last puzzle. The sad part is that it would have gotten a heart instead of thumbs down. Just goes to show that customer service is half the experience… theirs ruined it for us.

Pros: - Puzzle dense - All dark room, a rare find - GM (babs) was incredible, relatable and friendly, but perfect dry and lanky behavior that fit the character she was playing Cons: - After first room, not much theme at all - Wish there was nothing on the floor, it’s a safety hazard to crawl and get stepped on - Got a little bruised cuz stuff kept falling on me - Ends abruptly 7/10 (solid, might recommend out of novelty) (Honestly the GM would bump this to an 8)

Overall, this was a fun room. It was our first dark room experience so we went in with an open mind and were pleasantly surprised with the puzzles. They were very easy and straightforward if you had light, but the lack of light made it a new experience. Communication is a must. I felt that there could’ve been more in terms of decoration or puzzle- we finished comfortably. The GM was amazing and stayed in character. Things that would’ve affected immersion were dealt with humorously. Would recommend but wouldn’t go out of my way for if I’m not in NOLA.