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 22nd. 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.
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