The Dig

quite linear… love escape the room and our gamemaster, but didn’t love the flow and puzzles of this room

I booked The Dig ($36/person + $12 booking fee) with a group of 6 on a Sunday. We needed to buzz the 8th floor to get into the building, so be aware of that if you also come on a Sunday! This was everyone's first time trying this company, but all of us have done an escape room before. The Dig was recommended to me by a staff member for a fun beginning experience. Jade was our clue master, and she was terrific; we could not have gotten out without her! Two things made this experience unique: no clue limit and the permitted use of cell phones in the room. The clues are given at the clue master's will when they deem you have struggled enough. This extends your time, as if you were allowed to ask you could move through the room quicker. The cell phone thing is a mixed blessing. Some things are easier to do with a phone, but sometimes knowing you can look stuff up on the phone complicates things for overthinkers! Overall, my group enjoyed the room, but I did not really care for it. We did escape with 7 minutes to spare, but Jade literally helped us on 90% of the tasks. I wouldn't call myself an escape room aficionado, but I absolutely love puzzles and have done really well in the 4 other escape rooms I've done in the city. Some of the "puzzles" in this room, I feel like 5% of the population would get WITHOUT a hint. To me, you NEED a clue master to break out of this room, which I don't like. I prefer puzzles that make logical sense and there is a clear connection from one to the other. We also solved some of the puzzles by guessing and got lucky. Also, the maximum room booking is for 8 people, but 4 people would be my recommendation. There are actually very few tasks to complete, but they are time consuming because they make no sense, not because you need a lot of people. I would NOT recommend The Dig for beginners. I would recommend it for a group of 4 who is looking for a challenge and can REALLY think outside the box. That being said, I am curious about the other rooms here. I am planning to try one more to see if all rooms follow the same clue patterns. If so, I would change my rating to three stars.

The Dig: Tasked with unraveling an ancient mystery, we channeled the spirt of Indiana Jones to make our escape. Pros: The set design in this room was beyond excellent creating a fun, immersive escape room experience. The game master was enthusiastic and went above and beyond in her quest to make our experience a memorable one. The storyline was simple but sufficient. We struggled with some of the puzzles but found them generally logical and solvable. Cons: A few of the puzzles had some issues in design that created difficulties at time. Using bolder colors and visual markers to help players make links between puzzle elements could help clarify the process. A few overly convoluted puzzles also slowed our progress and required game-master intervention. We applaud Escape the Room NYC for setting a high standard and going above and beyond in set design. Nice work!

We really enjoyed the game. Besides the several tech issues we had we enjoyed the story and the atmosphere. The staff are great.

So awesome! Set was great, and puzzles were super cool. Really felt transported. Wish I could do it again!

This Dig was amazing! Lots of turning of events that kept you on your toes. I do with there was a bit more light in the first room, but other than that. Such an amazing room. Design was fantastic, and puzzles were great!

One of the harder escape rooms I’ve completed, and we would not have arrived at many solutions without hints…and the hints we received involved full diagrams in ways we could have arrived at, but given much more time. I don’t normally recommend bringing more players, but this one would benefit from at least 3 or 4 people as there are particular aspects to some puzzles that would be helpful to assign to specific people while other people work elsewhere. The decor of this room is super well done, and it’s surprisingly large! My partner was very frustrated by this room to the point of not enjoying it as much, but I didn’t mind nearly as much as he did Our game master Greer was great!

Game aside, hints were only visible from the front room, which meant a lot of backtracking to get help.