Trapped in a Room with A Zombie

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Trapped in a Room with a Zombie is a great option for Escape Room seekers wishing to challenge their escape room skills with tough puzzles and the added thrill of live actor interactions. This establishment presents opportunities for corporate get-togethers, fun for friends and family groups, and boasts of an opportunity to experience “ample amounts of adrenaline, laughter, and epic family fun into 60 minutes of amazing team building.”

The location is somewhat “no frills”, tucked up on the third story of a common Manhattan building blocks away from many subways, Penn Station, and PATH Trains. The bonus of the location is that the area provides a variety of post-game options to grab a drink and a bite, or head out quickly to catch a train home. The entry is fairly nondescript although, keep in mind, this location may present issues as there are not ADA accessible points of entry. Once inside, the waiting room sets the mood with lime green paint, directions for how to play, and a restroom. A benefit to the small entry is that once your party is accounted for, the outside door locks leaving your bags secure in the cubby’s provided. This storage space is beneficial as many people report riffling through purses and bags looking for clues in rooms where you must take personal belongings inside. You also might want to bring your own water or refreshments because the options are limited inside the room and you will have to leave the building to grab a water or soda.

On the day of our escape, we were warmly greeted by our host who established the parameters of the game, filled us in on the history of the room and mentally prepared us for what we were about to encounter. Room Escape Adventures is part of the of a larger corporation although the rooms differ according to location. The story line is as follows: Dr. Oxy was working in the lab when an accident occurred causing the good doctor to morph into a zombie. In the last moments of consciousness Dr. Oxy was chained to the wall in the hope that someday a cure could be found. Like most escape games, if you do not complete the room within 60 minutes, you too will become zombie prisoners.

Once inside, the door closed, we were left with the task of finding the escape while avoiding a zombie encounter. The room itself, while on-theme (e.g., blood on the walls, medical devices), has demonstrated a bit of the wear-and-tear that accompanies thousands of players passing through. Elements like raised floor panels and furniture that was duct-taped together detracted just a bit because our team expected the more pristine or medical setting that would have aligned with the story. The room boasts an 18% successful escape rate and without revealing too much, our team can definitively say that the game is filled with challenging puzzles for all types of room escape players. If you are a numbers player, a puzzle player, a clue player, a scavenger, amused by technology, this room has something for everybody. This room relied on a great number and variety of puzzles so even if there was a larger group, there would still be opportunities for smaller coalitions with varying skill sets to solve as the game progresses. Do be cautioned as there are unexpected ways in which clues are presented that force players to double back and check their work. While we were diligent in seeking out puzzles and artifacts, the room is heavy on the scavenging clues angle and light on the technology angle. In some instances, our players felt that there were too many cues that were hidden in ways that were not obvious to escape room format. Given that this room was a challenge, experienced gamers will enjoy this room while a brand new escape game novice might find this room overwhelming. The creators of Room Escape Adventures thought about the mix of experienced player and novice and have provided a unique interactive feature: Live actors.

This room features two live actors and one of the distinctive and surprising elements was the funny and interesting interactions with them. Not only is the zombie present, but the host who shows you to the room becomes the lab assistant who occasionally guides you through the escape during times of difficulty. There were moments when the zombie was intense, but then again, there were also moments where the zombie interacted with us in real time providing levity to the room in tense moments. This leads us to believe that no two shows are the same. While some found our zombie funny, charming, and occasionally mischievous, some of the players were looking for the scary zombie that one might find in horror movies and as a result, felt that immersion in the room suffered. Our zombie interacted in a way that provided additional challenges to figure out beyond the expected keep-away dodging that we anticipated. This room escape game also provides a bonus learning opportunity for groups who are looking for team-building opportunities. At the end of the game, the lab assistant who provided helpful hints along the way shared notes that were taking during the duration of the game, filling in specific strengths of our team members. Groups that attend this room with the purpose of learning (like students in a class, or corporate team) will particularly enjoy this added moment of debrief.

On the whole, taking into account the awkwardly presented (and challenging) puzzles, the quality of the room, the no-frills entrance way, and the interaction with the actors, our team decided that this experience as a whole from a “fun” perspective was more than the sum of its parts.