The Postmaster’s Riddle

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Editor’s Note: At the time of our visit, the lobby of Escape the Old Post was under construction, and as such, the Pre Room score reflects the lobby during our experience, but it may not be indicative of yours.

Escape the Old Post is nothing if not an impeccably built and polished historical site. The whole building sticks out when you’re walking by because the whole building is the Old Post! The lobby is white and spacious with gracious seating and a splendid flight of stairs leading up to their debut room, The Postmaster’s Riddle. The opening is a spoken word delivery, and later it’s reinforced in the room with a long parchement containing the cryptic words of Harriston’s first very postmaster.

The props and decor are all solidly made, visually interesting, and well designed. We don’t want to give away any spoilers, but The Postmaster’s Riddle’s room layout and installed features are what really elevates the room quality to the next level. A great amount of attention was put into the details of this room. For example, inside the room there is a beautiful, hand-made, scale model replica of the post office. And that replica sits inside a tank that contains six live poison dart frogs! The execution of all of the technology and mechanics in the room worked perfectly too. Everything opened, turned, pulled, and pushed exactly like it was supposed to, when it was supposed to. The room has speakers out the wazoo; all perfectly placed to give you just the right audio cues at just the right time. And just to top it all off, you’ll have your Game Master dutifully watching over you for the entire hour and a half playing time!

The Postmaster’s Riddle also emphasizes the history of the building; it’s dotted with historical portraits and tidbits of knowledge. After all, why not? The building itself is a historical site! If you beat the game, you literally get to ring the giant iron bell and see inside of the clock tower! But for what the room teaches in history, it lacks in story. The atmosphere is compelling and the set design exudes personality and charm. But the curious player may feel less like they’re in a Postmaster’s home and more like they’re in an astrologist’s or maybe an artist’s eclectic abode. The gorgeous room and decor choices really make the players want to know more. Every prop beckons like it has a tale that’s waiting to be told. Maybe the current Postmaster feels unsatisfied with his job and yearns to study the sun, moon, and stars? Or maybe he’s a Tolkien nerd who married a dirty-dancin’ disco diva? There are so many possibilities for the room to be embellished with narration.

Our entire team agreed that The Postmaster’s Riddle’s puzzles are not only the game’s strongest facet, but also some of best puzzles we’ve ever come across. The sheer breadth, scope, and creativity of these unique puzzles will definitely get your gears turning! The puzzles aren’t just good and plenty — they’re consistently really fun. They’re kind of fun that lets you can keep going for two hours straight without getting bored. (That is an insanely impressive task; some rooms have lulls five minutes into the room!)

How does The Postmaster’s Riddle manage this impressive feat? For starters, the puzzles required little, if any, leaps in logic. In fact, most of the clues, props, or items you need are clearly labeled for your convenience. While at first this might seem counter-intuitive, it works due to the care and ingenuity that has been poured into each of the puzzles. This labelled-coding system also helped us navigate the immense quantity of puzzles that there are in this room. Because there are so many puzzles, you are constantly solving new challenges and constantly keeping your brain stimulated! There are puzzles of every shape, size, and style in The Postmaster’s Riddle, and we guarantee you will leave seeing at least one thing (but most likely two, three, or five things) you’ve never seen in an escape room before. But while all the puzzles were fun, there were only a portion that developed the story or theme of the game. The one improvement we’d like to see from the The Postmaster’s Riddle puzzles would be more immersive or thematic links between the story and the puzzles.

As of publishing this review, a session for The Postmaster’s Riddle Post is 90 minutes long. However, our team took over two hours to beat the game. The game itself spans so many puzzles and activities that most groups will probably not be able to finish within the 90 minutes, and will therefore need to book another session if they want to complete it. But if the length isn’t a concern, check out Escape the Old Post as soon as you can, especially if you’re close by!