The Paradox Room: La Corporación Pineapple [Review]

Location: The Paradox Room, Area Central shopping centre, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 

Date completed:  April 2017 (3 players). Succeeded escaping!

Creativity: 8; Difficulty: 8.5; Atmosphere: 7.5; Fun: 8

Requirements:

• Intermediate English or Spanish (Castillian)
• 2-5 players
• One player not colourblind

In a not-so-far-away future, people have the Smart Yourself app installed directly on their brain cells. It allows humans to access information, book activities, transfer data and chat via brainwaves, which is extremely handy. However, a hacker group which opposes the practice decides to expose its weaknesses in the most violent fashion possible: initiating the auto-destruction protocol of Smart Yourself and literally mindblowing the major part of humanity from the planet.

As scientists, you and your team mates have one hour to enter the HQ of the Corporación Pineapple (Pineapple Corporation), find the files of Dr. Raven, the lead scientist behind the app, and stop the auto-destruction protocol. Being such a dangerous set of codes, you will have to unlock many layers of security to succeed. It will not be an easy task! And looks like Dr. Raven is a big fan of a certain soft drink…

Ultimate Roomscape: The Lost Scepter of Tutankhamun [Review]

Location: Ultimate Roomscape, Malaga, Perth, WA, Australia

Date completed:  January 2017 (3 players). Succeeded escaping!

Creativity: 7.5; Difficulty: 7; Atmosphere: 8; Fun: 8

Requirements:

• Intermediate English
• 3-8 players

When an archaeologist brings to light strong evidence that the scepter from Tutankhamun actually exists, you and your team of fellow explorers decide its time to venture inside the famous pharaoh’s tomb and look for the artifact.

However, you soon realise that there was a reason for all the legends of curses and magic surrounding Tutankhamun’s rest place. There is something mysterious in the air, and every new clue will bring answers to the questions buried for thousands of years. Differently from games which define the minimum number of players for business cost reasons, The Lost Scepter of Tutankhamun really requires at least 3 people to be solved. This room can please families looking for a fun time together, beginners and experienced players alike.

Ultimate Roomscape: Pipeline – Red vs Blue [Review]

Location: Ultimate Roomscape, Malaga, Perth, WA, Australia

Date completed:  January 2017 (3 vs 3 players). Succeeded escaping!

Creativity: 7.5; Difficulty: 7; Atmosphere: 6.5; Fun: 8 (Difficulty and Fun may vary according to opposing team’s performance)

Requirements:

• Fluent English
• 4-8 players (we recommend 3-4 per team)
• Full mobility

If you always wanted to be part of an episode of Crystal Maze, this “escape room” in Perth is probably the closest you can get in Australia. In fact, Pipeline – Red vs Blue at Ultimate is not an escape room per se, but an action race course in which two teams compete to see who finishes first.

We had the great opportunity of playing Pipeline – Red vs Blue with (actually, against) the Escape Room Hunters during our visit to Perth. Two teams, locked in identical rooms, with plenty of puzzles and physical challenges to overcome. What do you think happened?

Enigmik: The NW6 Bunker

Location: Enigmik, La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

Date completed:  April 2017 (4 players). Succeeded escaping!

Creativity: 8.5; Difficulty: 9; Atmosphere: 7.5; Fun: 8.5

Requirements:

• No language requirement. Intermediate English, Spanish (Castilian) or Catalan for briefing/hints.
• 2-6 players (we recommend at least 4)
• At least one player not colour blind

Dr. Betsy Smith is a renown scientist, but for the last months there has been suspicion about the type of experiments she’s been conducting in her lab, known as The NW6 Bunker. You and your team got access to the place for one hour, to check what is going on and, if necessary, get information – and materials – out.

We decided to play Enigmik due to its good reviews in tourism websites and its convenient location. We were not disappointed! Our group of four had a great time in a cold Barcelona night, and teamwork was essential to guarantee a successful mission!

Jetpack Theatre: Art Heist [Review]

Location: ‘Wade Galleries’, Dulwich Hill, Sydney , NSW, Australia

Date completed:  July 2017 (4 players). Failed as thieves!

Creativity: 8; Difficulty: varies; Atmosphere: 9; Fun: 8.

Requirements:

• Fluent English
• 1-4 players

After our successful foray as bank thieves in Small Time Criminals, we thought we had it covered when we were assigned the job of conducting an Art Heist to retrieve a painting named The Fat Dragon from Wade Galleries. This job turned out harder than expected and hilarious antics and theatrics ensued.

At first glance, the job seemed simple enough. We had 15 minutes to case Wayne Galleries, determine its security layout and then have 45 minutes to steal the mark. After coming up with a relatively simple and straightforward plan, we executed it only to find that the security systems were better than we thought. Huh. No plans survive first contact. We adapted, but we did not overcome.

Maximum Escape Barcelona: The Dungeon – The Last Round [Review]

Location: Maximum Escape, Eixample, Barcelona, Spain

Date completed:  April 2017 (4 players). Succeeded escaping!

Creativity: 7.5; Difficulty: 7; Atmosphere: 9.5; Fun: 9

Requirements:

• Intermediate English or Spanish (Castillian)
• 2-4 players
• Full mobility

While we were waiting for our game to start at Maximum Escape’s reception area, their promotional videos played on a screen. We were laughing at how epic and exaggerated the trailer to The Dungeon – The Last Round seemed to be: everything had a dramatic flair, similar to the images you see in this post. Once the game started, however, we bit our tongues: the place was super-epic and lived up to  the trailer! It was an amazing recreation of a medieval dungeon, with torture tools (safely locked to the walls), lots of wood, stone and narrow dark corridors to explore.

We were impressed by everything about the setting, but there was little time to spare. In this game, players are prisoners bound to be beheaded at any moment. It is not about locks, puzzles or jigsaws. The Dungeon is a pure escape game: it is your instinct and your raw will to escape that will get you out of there, finding your way through the dungeon maze. Maybe you can get some help from those less fortunate than you…

Time is Key: Bradshaw Manor [Review]

Location: Time is Key, Dandenong (Melbourne), VIC, Australia

Date completed: June 2017 (2 players). Succeeded escaping!

Creativity: 8; Difficulty: 6.5; Atmosphere: 8.5; Fun: 8.5.

Requirements:

• 90 minute room
• Fluent English
• Acute senses
• Full mobility

If you are a real state agent with paranormal skills, would it be ethical to sell a house that you know is haunted? Trapspringer and I often discuss hypothetical scenarios, and that one once came to the table while we were visiting some allegedly haunted places during ghost tours in Victoria.  (Btw, our answer, independent of belief, was “no, try to solve the ghost issue first”).

To our complete surprise – and somewhat amusement – an escape room in Dandenong created a game with the exact same premise! In Time is Key’s Bradshaw Manor, a family wants to sell an old house but are having doubts, as they believe the place may house the ghosts of former owners. You play the paranormal investigators hired to find out if their fears are real or not, before the place goes into auction. Without spoiling the end, I’ll just say I had the biggest jump scare of my escape history within the walls of Bradshaw Manor.