Hyde: The evil Mr. Hyde is about to rear his ugly face again. We were in a race against time to discover the secret antidote in Dr. Jekyll's lab.
Pros: The lab set was very cool and really helped set the tone of the game. The game master was in the room and ever willing to assist us. We asked for no hints and received none throughout the game. The puzzles were logically and flowed from one to the next. We split up the work of solving the puzzles and proceeded at a fast pace. We especially appreciated that the puzzles were themed to the game, helping to complete the storyline. Cons: Normally, we do not like the game master in the room with us, mostly because there is a tendency to slow down our game play and make us hesitant in expressing thoughts and searching all corners of the room. This did impede us a bit but in the end did not prevent us from escaping in record time. We were lucky to be able to play with just our group. Most escape rooms in Portland group you with strangers and this would have reduced our enjoyment of the game in this case. The Labyrinth is a top-notch escape room in Portland. Our favorite experience all weekend. We hope to return to Portland soon and play the rest of their games. Portlandia: Our crazy roommate is up to his nonsense again and we needed to find the rent money he's hidden away and pay the rent before the landlord arrived.
Prison Break: Locked away in a prison cell, our group of fellow felons had to fly the coop. Pros: The game masters were very kind and gave us a quick orientation to the process before starting each of our games. The set in Portlandia was decorated to look like an apartment room . We enjoyed the puzzles throughout the game all of which were very logical. Prison Break's set was very realistic and the puzzles mostly straight-forward though communication was an issue because of the larger numbers of players stuffed into the room. Cons: We struggled a bit with the sheer number of puzzles in both rooms. That coupled with a major fail in completing the final puzzle led to our inability to make the escape in Portlandia before time ran out. We encountered the same problem in Prison Break with a large number of puzzles to solve and in this case too many people in one room. We did finally escape with only minutes to spare but only by encouraging our newbie playing partners to hurry it along. The concept of a clicking clock is sometimes lost on new players. The immersive set had us feeling a little too trapped perhaps. In the end, a great time was had by all. We would definitely return to Escape Games PDX to play more games next time we are in Portland. Revolution: Taken prisoner by the British army, our band of patriots had one hour to make our escape before we would be executed for treason.
Pros: Our gamemaster greeted us decked out in a red coat and faux British accent. We were introduced to the storyline via a video message from British soldiers informing us of our capture and impending execution. Our leader was escorted into the tent first to face "interrogation." Once we were all locked away in the tent we had one hour to make our escape. The Revolutionary War-themed puzzles were logical and mostly interesting to solve. Cons: Our progress and ultimate escape victory was hampered by the presence of five exuberant and enthusiastic to the extreme pre-teens who though exceedingly jubilant lacked the patience or resilience to focus long enough to be of any help in the game. They did however raise the volume to a delightfully unbearable level. But we digress . . . The game itself was great fun to play. The set added to the ambience making it appear we were really in a Revolutionary War camp. As history buffs, we appreciated a history-themed escape room and enjoyed that the kids playing with us were prompted to remember their history lessons in the process of looking at the puzzle hints. Huzzah for history escape games. We hope it becomes a trend. We did not escape but we loved the set design and game masters at Portland Escape Rooms. We can hardly wait to head back to Portlandia to try more of their games. |
Cover photo taken at Countdown Live .EscapeologistsWe are escape room fanatics who have played over 370 games in the U.S. and Europe. We love the art of escapology and we wanted to share our adventures in playing room escapes with you! Our StatsRooms Played: 370 Categories
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