Escape Artistry - Chicago, Illinois

The Railcar: Trapped on a speeding transit train, we had to figure out how to put the brakes on this choo choo before we plunged to our deaths. In the process, we unraveled the evil plot of a domestic terrorist.

Pros: The game master was awesome. From the moment she walked out to greet us, she exuded an enthusiasm that was worthy of the greatest game masters in the world. She truly set the tone for the game we were about to play. She even managed to skillfully deal with the annoying hungover college kids we had to play with who thought they were ever so funny and clever to the amusement of nobody ever. She was a true master of the art of game mastery, if it was an art. We were then led inside the game play area we stood in awe for a moment at the cool set and pondered the background story as it played on the screen. Once the clock began ticking however, our attitude rapidly changed.

Cons: The puzzles were mostly riddles and math problems, typical of the kind found in any standard puzzle book. This is becoming one of our major issues with many escape rooms, the general lack of creativity and unwillingness to tie the puzzles to the storyline. We found ourselves parceling them out like homework. "Who's good at math?" "Who can do riddles?" "Graphs?" Etc. We trudged through these like a child shoving down their veggies. Even the mechanical puzzle, which I usually jump to do, was tedious and near impossible to complete. We escaped through a default method that allowed us to essentially bypass the difficult puzzles and move forward anyway. All in all, a puzzle design fail. But hey we got to hold a victory sign in the end. Score!

http://www.escape-artistry.com