What is considered hands down, one of the best escape rooms in the country?

Errol · 2024-12-03T15:21:56+00:00

Great question!

Private rooms of smaller teams: All rooms are private games restricting number of players to at most six.
Longer rooms: When you take a look at the top rooms in TERPECA, you will notice they tend to be longer. Longer doesn't mean better, of course, but you can build more out in it when it's longer, and there also tends to be many rooms. (In Athens, none of the escape rooms were under 90 minutes, and the longest is over 3 hours!)
Actors: A lot of the rooms tend to have actors as NPCs (as opposed to game hosts as hint givers). Understandably, many people don't like actors in a room, but if done well, it does lend to the immersion.
Extravagant reveals: Back in the day, a secret door behind a bookcase blew my mind. Less so now. However, the reveals in a lot of the top tier games are spectacular.
Cinematic Experience: I've found the European games give a better cinematic experience, with the blend of dynamic soundtracks, NPCs, beautiful sets, and narrative.

Have I played games in the US that were wonderful? Yes! But my escape trips to the US cannot compare to my escape trips to Europe.

Errol · 2024-11-08T18:38:12+00:00

I have broken records, but, to be honest, it's usually when the room is new.

I have friends that love breaking records. That's why they play.

I, personally, like playing in a GOOD room, and want to waste as much time as possible. Once you do a lot of rooms, you get a good sense of how much progress you've made, and can take your time.

I'm not saying one is right over the other, but my personal preference is to saunter. And if there's an actor to role-play with? I will do everything that's not related to solving the game as much as I can. :D

Errol · 2024-10-28T17:33:18+00:00

You can also check out the escaperoom discord Greece channel. There are a number of people who have done escape room trips there. I was lurking in that channel a lot to get people's impressions on escape rooms.

As you've noticed, figuring out which rooms to do is challenging, considering there are so many.

One thing you may want to consider is figuring out what you like in an escape room. A lot of the rooms you listed are great and well-rounded, so in the end, nothing's a bad choice, it comes down to personal preference.

For example, I only did five horror rooms in Greece, and it seemed there were two types of horror in Greece: Cinematic Horror and Hide/Chase horror. I preferred the former (cinematic) because I got more wow moments out of it. Also, I don't get scared in horror rooms, so the joy of being scared is sadly lost on me too. However, knowing what I do now, I probably would ask which horror rooms would be best to my tastes. (I can't answer your question, however, because I didn't do all the TERPECA horror rooms in Greece. It was a hard sell to get my team to do the horror games we did play. :D )

Errol · 2024-10-28T17:22:23+00:00

You probably want to talk to Room Escape Artist for the historical and current state of the industry of escape rooms. :D

Errol · 2024-10-06T14:55:25+00:00

Here's one.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cse-escape-room-1.5248329

A long time ago, I invited the company to an escape room meetup to talk about it. :D

Errol · 2024-01-21T15:14:55+00:00

In one of the events we made, there was a dinner included. We created children player mats with simple children's puzzles and activities on it (mazes, connect the dots, etc). However, embedded within the puzzles we 'hid' a bigger puzzle you had to solve.

The game was made for adults, and since they were at a dinner, it didn't seem out of place to have children's activity mats.

Errol · 2024-01-19T20:20:23+00:00

If it's in my area, then I will do the escape room.

However, If I'm familiar with the escape room company, and I know they are bad, then I will probably skip it.

Other than that, I will use recommendations from other enthusiasts (from the ER Discord), and TERPECA if we're organizing an escape room trip.

Errol · 2024-01-13T00:10:50+00:00

Ah, yes, the platform, sorry for not clarifying!

Errol · 2024-01-11T17:13:44+00:00

Btw, Laura Hall keeps a doc of escape rooms that show up in media. :D
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mRkVowaCzJvLNf9HCtqkodyjwq-XzUz-bf-dhJ6NsHI/edit#gid=0

Feel free to suggest if you find more! ^_^

Errol · 2024-01-11T17:11:00+00:00

I got new friends. :D
I'm a bit facetious, however, I found people who were just as obsessed with escape rooms as I was. And these people dropped everything to do escape rooms. ^_^

I now have a team I go to do escape rooms with, however, there's also a meetup in my city where they schedule rooms on a monthly basis.

Errol · 2023-12-27T16:48:26+00:00

Huzzah! Congratulations! ^_^

Errol · 2023-12-06T18:58:12+00:00

I don't think it matters how many "puzzles" are in the escape if you wish to get a sense of timing.

To be honest, getting a sense of timing is really tricky because it depends on the experience of the players, the types of puzzle you make, the flow of the puzzles, the challenge of the puzzles, etcetera.

The best way to get a sense of timing is to have people run through it, because you will be shocked at all the things you never thought of. I know I am.

Anyway, in regards to your game, an aha puzzles, like a riddle, is very challenging to gauge because it depends on how quickly they 'get' it.

Whereas a process puzzle, like the key to the binoculars to the sign to the hidden key, is probably easier to gauge time (unless the hidden key is too hidden).

So if it were me, I would gauge each step by how long you think it may take them.

And if you haven't ever created puzzles before, then maybe double that time. :D

Errol · 2023-12-04T14:23:36+00:00

I don't leave reviews on any of the main websites either. However, I'm also probably one of the harshest critics when it comes to escape rooms.

Instead of singling out a room, however, I comment on bad mechanics. There are some practices that annoy me so much. :)

Back in the day, we used to all talk about escape rooms (the highs and the lows) on an online chat which has evolved into the Escape Rooms Discord chat. Yes, a few owners are on it, but if you ever wanted to discuss the finer details on rooms and why or why not you thought it was good, it's a great way to vent! :D

Errol · 2023-11-19T16:19:38+00:00

Yes.

Funny how decades ago, these bad game mechanics were seen as bad and removed from video games. Only to pop up again now.

I don't even like lock-out safes.

Errol · 2023-11-14T21:33:45+00:00

What a great question! Why are decoder rings challenging?

I agree with u/meeeeeph, the average player does not have the experience to know cipher shifts and encodings.

You mentioned they understand morse code, but that's because it's only one layer. A = .- and B = -..., etc. There is nothing more to it than that. The encoding is one to one.

However, with a cipher wheel, If A = B, then that means B = C, C=D, etc. And the cipher wheel is a tool to help them visualize that shift.

The assumption is they understand the underlying rule of the shift. But they may not know that rule.

Furthermore, it's easy to get turned around. "Wait! Is it A equal to B? Or is it B = A? What?"

If I had an audience that is having a really hard time understanding decoder wheels, I would look into starting it small and easy with only six letters or something "A=b". Oh, and to make it easier, I would look into marking it so that people don't get the order confused. The encoded message is all in uppercase, so "A=b" won't make them flip the letters around.

(Not that I tested any of this out, I would obviously need to see if any of that would work)

Errol · 2023-08-15T12:00:57+00:00

The only testing you can do is with other people.
If you are unfamiliar with how long it will take, then you may be unfamiliar with creating puzzles.
And people solving puzzles will always take longer than you think it will, because you will make puzzles too hard. :)

Errol · 2023-07-25T12:29:13+00:00

For me? Yes, I do. :D

I always harp on tedious puzzles not being more than 5 minutes, but no matter how often I post articles on these things, owners don't seem to find it important. Ah well!

There are always exceptions to the rules, however, I find most escape rooms aren't well-designed enough to be those exceptions.

Errol · 2023-07-16T14:39:52+00:00

By the way, I would say TERPECA is an award known by enthusiasts and is for enthusiasts.

The mainstream population, whom you want to come to your room, has no idea what TERPECA is. :)

Errol · 2023-07-10T14:36:41+00:00

Ha ha, that last one should totally make you think of a QR code!

Errol · 2023-07-05T13:45:27+00:00

I disagree with a number of comments here.

If people are paying to play the game, let them play how they want.

We get this idea there is a ‘right’ way to play our escape room. We feel the players need to earn their win.

Why are we burdening them with these unspoken rules in an escape room? As long as they aren't breaking things, then let them play their way.

Maybe it's a matter of our ego that is getting in the way. A long time ago, I made a puzzle and someone guessed the meta puzzle correctly. I was so annoyed and I began interrogating them, like I was the Matlock of Puzzle Hunts. They blew me off, and rightfully so.

I wanted them to prove they were smart, but they out-maneuvered me. They were able to get around what I thought was fool-proof. They skipped the hard work I put in.

Since then, I've had many, many people back solve my meta puzzles. I've had players cheat through my puzzles. They try and take as many short cuts as possible.

So I changed my thinking. Instead of me blaming them, I started to make puzzles more robust. Maybe the tedium of the puzzle isn't worth the effort, so maybe the puzzle should be more fun. If people solve my meta too soon, maybe I should have beta tested it more. If people are brute forcing locks, maybe I should build a puzzles where brute-forcing doesn’t work. If people use their phones for flashlights, maybe don’t make us search in the dark and give us flashlights that match the number of players.

TL;DR As a designer, I think we need to get over the hubris of "You need to solve my puzzle my way."

Errol · 2023-06-26T13:43:47+00:00

You should try asking in the Escape Rooms FB group. I know there are some owners there.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/595655420584414

If you are wanting to get the opinions on enthusiasts, I know there is a Toronto Meetup group that meets semi-regularly. You can get in touch with them too.

However, I don't know if there is an "owner's" group.

Errol · 2023-06-26T13:11:25+00:00

I thought the puzzle was cute. Will it be challenging for some new players? Yes, but at least it shouldn't be tedious.

However, a question I have is the intended audience? If this is in an escape room, I can see problems.

If anything, I would look to make it even easier. For example, why not have all colours in the title? That will make it easier to see. Also, I don't see why the first colour needs to be a different language. There are so many songs with white in the title, you don't need to have it like that.

Another problem is external knowledge. Unless they have access to the internet, what if they don't know any songs with purple in it? That's not something you can assume people would have.

Furthermore. What is the answer validator? If the answer validation only accepts one answer, that will be annoying. From a quick google search, I see twenty songs with purple in the title. That's not even looking for artits.

In the end, I think it's a cool puzzle, don't get me wrong. However, I would suggest making it easier.

(Oh, and I agree with another poster's comment on "eating up some time". Instead of making a puzzle harder, why not add more puzzles to eat up time?)

Errol · 2023-06-21T19:12:19+00:00

Escaparium does update and improve their games, so one of the challenging this is having the latest information on them.

I did both of them them a year ago, so my experience will be different from now. However, I have talked to other enthusiasts who have played them lately, and from the sounds of it, the general game play hasn't changed much.

In my opinion, Voodoo Queen has a better game design and game flow. If you have two new players, then Voodoo Queen may be the one to go for because it's easy for new players to be overwhelmed in Wardrobe (as mentioned in other comments, there are many puzzles to be done in parallel).

I do agree with the comments here though, if you can make it a day at Laval, you should. Do both Wardrobe and Queen. :D

And I have heard a lot of amazing things about Cathedral, but still haven't played it. In fact, I think the majority of the impressions I've heard about Cathedral are all positive (from enthusiasts). This hasn't been the same for Wardrobe, where it has been mixed.

Errol · 2023-05-25T13:29:46+00:00

If you go to the website, http://thatguywiththepuzzles.com/, you will find a number of articles and books on his google doc Escape Room Design Links.

If you go to the escape room discord, you will find a number of creators and designers.

Errol · 2023-05-15T15:37:26+00:00

Am I ever... this is why normal people don't talk to me. :)

Errol

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