Escape Room Review– Solve Escape Rooms: 14 Floors Below

Escape Room Review– Solve Escape Rooms: 14 Floors Below

 

Nearly a year ago, I posted a review of Solve Escape Rooms in Waukesha, Wisconsin.  My friends and I played their room “Capone’s Cabin” and really enjoyed it.  Just last night, we played their room “14 Floors Below.”  “14 Floors” makes no effort to hide that it’s affectionately inspired by National Treasure.  As you watch the opening video, a newscast announces that the Declaration of Independence has been stolen from the National Archives, and then an FBI “agent” recruits you, because as it turns out, the thief is your landlord, and the Declaration of Independence is in your apartment building’s basement, but if you don’t retrieve it in sixty minutes, a device will destroy the Declaration.

 

As with “Capone’s Cabin,” the production values are strong, though not as colorfully immersive as the cabin in the woods.  The opening room is a pretty realistic elevator, with lights and sounds designed to allow your imagination to convince you that the elevator is indeed moving downwards.  You know you’re stationary, but your brain isn't entirely convinced.  The rest of the room is a basement filled with assorted puzzles.  Without spoilers, I can tell players to look carefully, look thoroughly, and to look everywhere.  

 

I do not recommend that this room be played with fewer than four players, though three highly skilled players just might be able to do it.  My group of four had to split in half, and so I’m not sure how some of puzzles worked, but by working in independent groups, it’s easier to cover everything in time.  

 

The puzzles range from moderate difficulty to slightly challenging.  In some cases, you need a little clue in order to give you the push you need to put everything together.  The puzzles are fair, creative, and fun.  You need to look for patterns and take a couple of creative leaps, but they’re a bit more original and fresh than the tired “find a key, open a lock” puzzles. 

 

We managed to finish with twenty-two minutes to spare, so we got to play a bonus game that required four additional puzzles to solve.  We finished with five minutes to go.  You don’t need to finish the bonus puzzles to technically win.  Solve is special because they “solve it forward” and donate twenty-five dollars to charity (you can pick from a few options) when you win.  They don’t pay extra for solving the bonus puzzles.

 

I highly recommend both of Solve’s rooms.  Two more are coming in the future.  I look forward to playing them.

 

 

 

Chris Chan’s sequel to Sherlock’s Secretary, Nessie’s Nemesis, was published on September 3^rd by MX Publishing.  His novel Ghosting My Friend was released by Level Best Books on March 28th. His first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  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.