Escape Room Review– Trapped Escape Rooms– Twin Cities, Minnesota

Escape Room Review– Trapped Puzzle Rooms– Twin Cities, Minnesota 

 

During the height of the pandemic, one escape room company proved particularly helpful at helping me stay connected to my friends and have a little fun– Trapped Puzzle Rooms in the Twin Cities, Minnesota.  Though I live a state away, they have some terrific options for anybody living anywhere, as long as they have a reliable Internet connection and an up-to-date electronic device.

 

One of the innovations Trapped provides is audio escape rooms.  With the help of a laptop (or tablet, though phones may not be as effective), you join up on Disqus at an assigned time and then a game master joins you.  You can all play in the same room with a single computer (with at least one exception, which will be addressed later), or you can play in different buildings and even states, as my friends and I did.  In these games, you communicate purely through talking, and your game master narrates the situations, with artwork and certain visual puzzles appearing on your screens at various points throughout the games.  You tell the game master what you want to do, and what steps you’ll try, and the game master tells you if your idea works or not.  For example, you can look at a picture of a desk, and say, “Open the drawer and look inside.” The game master will say, “there’s a red key there.”  You’ll then reply, “Try to use the red key on the red box on the mantlepiece.”  And so on and so forth.  

 

I should point out that most of the puzzles are far more complex than “find a key, put it in the lock, and repeat.”  These puzzles generally include details that can only be performed in the freedom of one’s mind, and require close observation, memory, and creativity.

 

Before I go further, I want to take a moment to mention my appreciation for the artist who creates the illustrations for all of these games.  Seriously, the person who does this is incredibly talented, able to work in many different styles, and able to incorporate clues in clever and stylistic manners.  This person ought to have a thriving career, and I need to commend the artist (whose name, unfortunately, I do not know) for a job exceedingly well done.  Also, all of our game masters were outstanding.

 

My friends and I have played all nine of their audio rooms and won all of them, but more importantly, we had tons of fun.  The first room, “Herbert’s Laboratory,” has you visiting a laboratory with a remarkable secret.  The puzzles include a level of imagination and fantastic occurrences that couldn’t be duplicated in a brick-and-mortar room, and like all of the audio escape rooms, it requires imagination, creativity, and thinking outside the box.

 

These attributes are especially important in “Prehistoric Park,” where you have to survive in a theme park filled with actual dinosaurs.  (I needn’t explain the reference, do I?).  You can’t just use logic on these puzzles, sometimes you have to make an intellectual leap.  At least three times over the course of the game, I said, “This is a really stupid idea, but I’m going to suggest…” I say this without boasting but with amazement that I was right every time.  Once again, the dinosaurs do things in this puzzle that you have to use your imagination for, and you couldn’t replicate these puzzles in the real world, even with the most advanced animatronics.

 

“Super Squad” has you and your friends protecting a science museum, but along the way, each of you gets a special mutant power that allows you to solve puzzles, either alone or in a group, everybody playing to their strengths.  “Heist Heist Baby” has your group working together to stage a theft at a casino.  This room requires two separate devices, as at one point your group must split into two teams and work together while not seeing each other’s screens.  Notably, each room has slightly different puzzles, which require different thinking skills and approaches.

 

“Pirate’s Plunder” has you going on a journey on a tropical island, searching for treasure, and then going on a long sea voyage.  The images are lovely and oil-painting-like.  There’s observational skill puzzles, pirate-themed riddles, and much more.  “Monster Smash” has you exploring a haunted house and meeting a lot of classic horror characters along the way. 

 

If you’re still in the holiday mood, try “Holiday Whodunit”– a Christmas-themed room that’s also a mystery.  Grandmother Winter has been run over by a reindeer at the North Pole– she’s alive, but injured.  Santa recruits you to figure out which one of his reindeer is the villain.  The artwork has a marvelous Dr. Seuss vibe to it.

 

Then there’s “Spirit Train,” a delightful, extra-long game inspired by Hayao Miyazaki, where the puzzles and their lessons are unlike anything else I’ve ever played.  The most recent room is over a year old, “Escape From Escape Island,” where you explore a mysterious, technologically complex island that features aspects of the most popular escape room themes.

 

Though they’re no longer doing it as far as I can tell, a couple of years ago we played their in-person room “The Heist” through the Internet– the room was shown to us through a video camera, and our game master was our avatar, and he handled the items in the room as we played the game. It’s set in an art gallery, and you have to solve puzzles to retrieve a stolen painting.  It was a lot of fun, and if it’s an example of their other in-person rooms, then if you’re ever in the Twin Cities, I highly recommend a visit.

 

If you want to try an audio escape room, Trapped Puzzle Rooms is a must-do experience for escape room fans.

 

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2 was released on June 22^nd. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Escape Room Review– Solve Escape Rooms– Waukesha, Wisconsin

Escape Room Review– Solve Escape Rooms– Waukesha, Wisconsin

 

Solve Escape Rooms in Waukesha, Wisconsin is a new business.  It has two rooms open with two more planned in the future.  My friends and I have played one of them, and I can’t wait to see the rest.  

 

The room we played is “Capone’s Cabin.”  When you begin your experience, you’re led into a lounge area and shown a brief video featuring a deceased relative, telling you to check out an old cabin that may have been a hiding place for Al Capone, and he may have hidden a cache of gold bars there.  You have one hour to find the gold.

 

First of all, the production values are great.  It really looks like an actual cabin, and it reminded me a bit of the presentations at the Milwaukee Public Museum.  First you find your way inside the cabin, and then you work on the puzzles.  One thing I appreciated about the room is that it was nice and spacious– there’s plenty of space to move about, and there’s lots of light so you can see what you’re doing.

 

What’s also fun is how the clues come in through a television set.  We only needed a few hints here and there, but most of the puzzles were reasonably challenging but never frustrating.  Some points needed a little more explanation to be put into context, but everything made sense– no huge leaps of logic or overly simplistic problems, and nice, big props– I hate it when most of the objects are tiny little keys that are easily lost or misplaced.  We finished with lots of time to spare.

 

The game master was terrific as well, and what’s nicest of all is that if you win your room, they will donate $25 to a charity such as The Food Pantry, The Alzheimer’s Association, or The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  Our $25 went to help people with diabetes.

 

The other existing room that we haven’t played yet is “14 Floors Below,” where your new landlord has stolen the Declaration of Independence and you have to snatch it back.  If the puzzles and designs are as good as “Capone’s Cabin,” I can’t wait to play it and their upcoming rooms.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2 was released on June 22^nd. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Escape Room Review–Catch-22 Escape

Escape Room Review–Catch-22 Escape 

 

Catch-22 Escape is in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and it’s an independent escape room business that currently has four open rooms. Two of them have been played by me and my friends.  One of their existing rooms, “Mysteries at the Museum,”is a pair of identical museum-themed rooms where two teams can battle to finish the room first.  Or, if you like, all the members of your party can play in the same room at once.  I haven’t played it.  “Lost in Space” is an astronaut-themed room that is just for young children– aged 9-12.  As I’m too old for that room, I haven’t played that one, either.  Catch-22 is available for young people’s birthday parties as well.

 

One room my friends and I played and won was “Nana’s Study,” but apparently it’s no longer available, and Catch-22 must be replacing it with something else.  The goal was to search your late grandmother’s room to find a hidden cache of money.  The room was fun, but it was actually quite small, and not suited for more than four people, otherwise it would get too crowded.  It also required crawling at one point, and the presence of the second venue in the game didn’t seem to fit tonally.  It was a simple room, but fun.

 

Another room we played that is still there was “Cell Phobia.”  It’s a classic escape room premise.  You and your friends are stuck in two adjoining cells.  You can’t see the contents of the other cell, so you have to communicate well with your next-door partner(s).  Then you must find your way out of the prison in seventy-five minutes, not sixty.  It’s a classic premise, but there were some serious technical issues.  One early portion of the game is far more disgusting than it should have been.  It’s just gross.  Next, at one point, we were supposed to use one instrument to complete a task, but it was too flimsy, and just didn’t work.  We lost a lot of time on that, and it wasn’t due to our error, but due to poor equipment.  Also, the mechanism that was supposed to lead to the final section jammed.  After our time ran out, our game master tried to show us how to make it work, but it didn’t.  When you can’t win due to technical issues, I believe you can dub it a moral victory.  I stand by that position and would defend it in front of the Supreme Court if necessary.

 

Finally, “The Monster” is a Frankenstein-themed room, and in terms of design, it’s brilliant.  It looks like something out of a classic horror movie, and you must complete the Doctor’s work.  The puzzles are varied and tricky, but nothing’s too hard.  There’s some clever use of technology, with a good use of lighting and atmosphere as well.  One dexterity puzzle jammed and I had to complete it multiple times before it worked.  At one point, one of my friends had to stick his hand into some unpleasantly sticky water, so that was a minus.  Otherwise, we finished the game in time (but you have to save one point until the very end, so you must be absolutely certain you have everything perfect before performing one last action. Unfortunately, the final special effect, which would have been a great final touch, didn’t work, so we weren’t sure whether we’d won or not until our game master told us that yes, we did win, but technical issues prevented the satisfying ending.  Even after our game master tinkered with the final task, it didn’t work.

 

I would go back to Catch-22, especially if a new fifth room opens, but be wary of “Cell Phobia.”  Please call ahead to confirm that the mechanism leading to the ending is working.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2 was released on June 22^nd. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Escape Room Review–Escape the Room Milwaukee

Escape Room Review–Escape the Room Milwaukee

 

Escape the Room Milwaukee, unlike City 13 and 60 to Escape, is a chain of escape rooms.  (Yes, 60 to Escape has another branch in Gurnee, Illinois, but the two branches have entirely different rooms.)  Therefore, branches around the country have similar rooms, and this review ought to apply to those branches as well.

 

Located in the Third Ward, Escape the Room Milwaukee has four rooms.  When you walk inside, there’s a small waiting area with a bunch of nice puzzles and games to play if you get there early.  My friends and I visited three times (playing two games one after the other the last time), and on each occasion the staff was friendly, supportive, and did a nice job creating a positive experience for players.

 

For three out of the four rooms we played, we had to share the room with strangers, which made for some… interestingplaying experiences, some of which were better than others, some of which were quite memorable.  In the wake of the pandemic, I believe that Escape the Room has instituted a “no strangers– private group rooms” policy, though I don’t know if this is still universal and how long this policy will last.

 

The first game we played was The Dig, which is great for fans of Indiana Jones.  The goal is to make your way into an underground archaeological site and then solve puzzles to recover a lost treasure.  My friends and I thought we’d be playing this room alone, but we wound up playing with several men who had just left a Christmas party and had enjoyed several potent potables each.  Take note escape room companies: if you’d like to create a more difficult interactive experience, hire actors to play inebriated fellow players, stumbling around, messing up puzzles you just spent five minutes assembling, loudly asking questions, losing discovered keys and props, and locking themselves in portions of the room and needing to be rescued, especially when you’re afraid that they’re in a state when they’ll mistake a chapel’s confessional for a restroom stall and all the members of the group will be charged equally for the cleanup, then this may be a memorable way to make escape rooms more challenging for expert players.  Or you could just let the actors get genuinely blasted, though that might prove to be more expensive, especially when you have to keep paying for taxis and rideshares to get your employees home safely.  Seriously, our fellow players were friendly guys and I bear them no malice– after all, looking back, my memories of the game are shaded with laughter at the increasingly farcical nature of the experience, and there were numerous times when our compatriots helped us a lot by approaching the puzzles in ways we never thought to consider while sober.

 

The Dig probably has the best production values and special effects of the four rooms, from the opening setting to the underground dig site, filled with Indiana Jones references, puzzles, lights, and all sorts of other details.  A couple of the final puzzles aren’t exactly intuitive, and one solution might make as much sense as the official one, which is why we needed a hint in the right direction.  Yet we solved this room just in time– as we did all four rooms.  I recommend at least three players for this room, probably four, of an experienced group that works well together.

 

The second room we played, The Rec Room, is my least favorite of the rooms, and the one with the least impressive production values.  You’re in a 1980’s themed rec room and must escape before you’re lost to time.  It’s complete with games, 80’s movies posters, and some decorations, some of which were specific to Milwaukee, meaning that some of the details and clues might be different from city to city.  The initial puzzle which is necessary to move forward is actually easy to miss and kind of time-consuming, so if you don’t catch the clues at first, you might fall way behind.  Another problem lies in a time-consuming game you think you have to complete but don’t actually need to finish to win.  Some players might be used to the “one and done” rule, where there’s just one use for an item you find and then you’re done with it, but one easy-to-discard clue has multiple uses and requires a bit of outside-the-box thinking and a bit of 1980’s political knowledge, so be careful.  

 

The worst aspect of The Rec Room is one point that isn’t a puzzle so much as a frustration, where you have to retrieve a certain object using a not-particularly helpful tool.  We spent over twenty minutes completely stalled in this game, unable to move forward.  Thankfully my friend Blake earned MVP status and thought creatively as to how to solve the problem, completing the objective with about three minutes left in the room.  After a few frenzied final moments, we managed to escape with seconds to spare, making for a happy ending to a room that had a bunch of fun, clever puzzles and a lot of aggravation.

 

We played this game with a very nice family of four, although the father lost interest in the game and spent the latter half of the hour sitting on the furniture and looking at his phone.

 

In our third and last visit, the first room we played was The Apartment, where you’re let inside a nice little apartment, and you must retrieve keys, solve unusual puzzles, and other standard fare.  The first thematic drawback is that the ultimate objective is vague, and I don’t recall a thematic contrivance to create any sense of urgency to solve all these puzzles in an hour.  Yet despite these issues, the puzzles are fun and not too challenging, and even though it was just the three of us, we solved everything with no problems.  If I remember correctly, we solved this room with the most time to spare.  Take note– experienced escape room players may be following the “no cell phones rule,” but a cell phone is actually necessary to solve the room– perhaps on two occasions if there’s a gap in your knowledge of a certain historical mathematical subject.  This may be my second favorite room because it had the least frustrating moments.

 

We played the fourth and last room, The Agency, with a father and son who were strong players who worked well with us.  The spy-themed room has you searching for codes and clues, and there are a lot of tricky puzzles– some of which lost me and I was never clear on how my peers solved them, though the production values are right up there with The Dig.  It’s easy to overlook critical clues, so double- and triple-check every item and location.  Please be warned– once again, a smartphone is actually crucial to solve one clue, though we didn’t realize this and solved the puzzle through simple trial and error.  Also, towards the end, if you do something wrong twice, you automatically lose the game, so watch your step.  Due to some frustrating puzzles that require you to repeat a cycle if you miss something, it’s my third-favorite room, but it was still a fun experience with a great setting and design.

 

When we last visited Escape the Room Milwaukee, we were told that it was possible that at some point in the future one of the existing rooms might be replaced with another one from the chain’s collection, or perhaps additional space would be rented or another venue opened.  If that happened, I’d go back to play the new rooms.  It’s not as fresh and imaginative as some of my favorite locations, but I always had a good time, despite some aforementioned low points.  If you’re an escape room novice, start with The Apartment, and save The Dig and The Agency until you’ve had a bit of experience with the genre.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2 was released on June 22^nd. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Escape Room Review– 60 to Escape Milwaukee

Escape Room Review– 60 to Escape Milwaukee

 

As part of my recent series on escape rooms, I’m going to review one of the best escape room companies in Milwaukee: 60 to Escape.  Located in Southridge Mall, 60 to Escape has another branch in Gurnee, Illinois, which I have not yet visited.  The Milwaukee branch opened a few years ago, and over the past year and five months my friends and I have played and won all five of their rooms.  All are great, with terrific, immersive production values.

 

Invasion!

 

In the first room we played at 60 to Escape, the premise seems very simple.  You’re part of a neighborhood baseball team, when an errant hit sends your baseball through the window of a mysterious house.  When the young boy who helps your team disappears after trying to retrieve it, the rest of you are forced to figure out how to get inside the creepy, dilapidated house and find your friend and your baseball.  

 

It’s arguably the hardest room of the five, and one where it really helps to have a group of at least four people to complete it.  There’s one room that requires bending or crawling to get into, and players have to pass through it at least twice.  If that’s a problem, a special accommodation can be made to go through a different door, but players with mobility issues should ask ahead of time.

 

One of the rooms makes you go “Wow!” once you walk into it, and there’s even an animatronic that’s crucial to the game as well.  The puzzles are complex and sometimes require the players to go beyond the obvious.  There’s even a decision players have to make at the end that shapes the entire tone of the conclusion, and it’s interesting to think about what makes player pick the decisions that they do.  

 

Filled with moments and details that make you go “Wow!,” “Invasion!” is a great room for experienced players with teams that work well together.

 

Pirate’s Curse

 

Here, you go down into a subterranean grotto to search for lost pirate’s treasure.  Once again, the setting is brilliant, especially an optical illusion midway through that may make some people very nervous, and there’s a jump scare early in the game that people should be prepared for, but it all adds to the fun of the game.

 

The regular play of the game probably won’t take the whole hour, but there are five small bonus puzzles to complete.  You don’t need to finish them all to win, but successfully completing them nets you a little bonus prize.

 

The one problem with this game is that it’s dark.  It’s so dark that it was impossible for me to see one of the bonus puzzles, even when I knew where it was.  Otherwise, it’s arguably my favorite of the rooms.

 

Casino Heist

 

In this game, perhaps the smallest of the rooms, you go to an underwater casino in order to steal gold bars from the safe.  After finding a way to get your “submarine” to the target, you must play a number of gambling game-based puzzles to find your way inside the safe.  There’s a great twist towards the end that will have players wondering “Whoa!  How did they do that?”  It’s fun, interesting and challenging, leaving you with a deep appreciation for the game makers and designers.

 

Warning: Features a little smoke at one point.

 

Merlin’s Legacy

 

Here, you go to a magical world and fight a dragon.  You begin in a wizard’s laboratory filled with spell books and wants and potions and magical artifacts, and your quest takes you through some dark and sinister places until it culminates in a climactic battle.  Once again, this isn’t just a bit of office space with some pre-bought puzzles.  The production values are insanely good, especially one giant animatronic.  The puzzles are challenging but not too hard at first, though some of the puzzles in one room are a bit harder due to the limited light.  We still managed to win with plenty of time, and the music that was very close to the Harry Potter soundtrack but not quite– you gotta avoid that copyright infringement– added nicely to the magical atmosphere.

 

Warning: At one point there are flashing lights that may bother some players, and a little smoke as well.

 

The Storm

 

In the most recent room, you play members of a gang of hopeful would-be henchmen for a supervillain who has developed a device that can control the weather.  You need to fix the broken machine, because right now it’s stuck on “tornado.”  You find yourself exploring a slightly weather-beaten barn and farmhouse, figuring out how to find the machine and fix it.  Of all five games, this is by far the easiest.  My team and I finished with over sixteen minutes to spare.  The puzzle style is a bit different, as there are some more intuitive puzzles, and the problems are a bit simpler.  At times I anticipated a more complex twist, only to find that the obvious solution was the correct one.  I do note that in the other four rooms, there was a board to write clues upon, and there wasn’t one in “The Storm.”  It’d be an easy fix to provide one.

 

Given the relative ease of this room, I’d recommend it for newcomers to escape rooms and younger players.

 

Warning: At one point, a player will have to crawl on one’s hands and knees, and at one point there will also be a lot of odd-smelling smoke.  A powerful wind machine will blow throughout the game.

 

In conclusion, if you’re an escape room fan and you’re in Milwaukee, you can’t go wrong with 60 to Escape.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2 was released on June 22^nd. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.