Haunting of Grimstone Manor

• What People Say

What people say... Leave your rating

Sort by: Most recent Top score Most helpful Worst score

Be the first to leave a review.

Verified

{{{ review.rating_title }}}

{{{review.rating_comment | nl2br}}}

Show more

{{ pageNumber+1 }}

Leave your rating

Please note: Haunting of Grimstone Manor is a limited-time Halloween theme escape room that is facilitated as part of S. Caper’s Break Out Zone’s Scary Escapes Event. During this event, the S. Caper’s staff modify their existing rooms and essentially create pop-up rooms within their regular line-up of rooms.

When pulling up to S. Caper’s Break Out Zone, I was surprised to see a building that seemed impossibly small for an escape room location. I don’t know what straight-up-magic-trickery S. Caper’s pulled off, but the inside of the building was bigger than the outside; there were five full-fledged rooms complete with two waiting rooms, a briefing room, an air hockey table, board games, and they still somehow found room for the staff to work. The space was slightly limited at times; there was only one bathroom and the stairs and hallways could get a little crowded. The staff was welcoming and provided the most comprehensive, albeit a little long, introductory video I’ve ever seen. Being unable to change the layout of their location, one of the only other improvements they could’ve made was to offer refreshments (although we scored some Halloween candy at the end).

S. Caper’s makes good use of their resources. The Haunting of Grimstone Manor was located in the attic of the building; and it really makes the best use of the space. There were plenty of props, things to search, and a good mix of red herrings and clues. The majority of the decor was great, and fit in with the theme. Other parts of the decor leaned too far towards typical Halloween decoration, and away from the creepy atmosphere they were so good at cultivating. The room also had a surface for teams to work on, which is always appreciated.

The immersion begins the moment you see the old exterior of the S. Caper’s building. The interior of the place set the atmosphere very well (at least for Halloween), the building is old enough to have supernatural investigators use it as their HQ, and everything from the crown trim to the floor boards echoed an old classic creepy feel. The decor and lighting really pull you into the room and the story was incorporated into the room very nicely. The immersion could’ve been improved by better hiding some of the wires and air conditioners in each room and giving the story had a more meaningful conclusion.

The Puzzles of Grimstone Manor required deduction, logical reasoning, and a good amount of searching to solve. One particularly creative puzzle really shined among the rest, but of course I can’t describe it without spoiling it! Perceptive people with an eye for detail will shine in this room, and there are enough puzzles to satisfy a team of four or more, with two or even three tasks occurring at once.

So here’s the thing: I get scared really easily. Entering the front doors of S. Caper’s already had me skittish and nervous. By the time I got into the room I was too scared to touch anything or look too closely anywhere. I screamed at a prop that I thought was moving (it wasn’t moving). I screamed at a shadow that moved across the room (it was Jeremie looking at a clue). At one point I screamed because too many things were going on and I didn’t know what to do. So (at least for me) it was an exciting and thrilling experience. A stronger story would improve the experience, but all-in-all immersion and how well the room unpacked made the room a lot of fun.