ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY
Play if… you enjoy horror and suspense, like cheap thrills, and find farts funny.
Avoid if… you don’t like dismemberment, are claustrophobic, or have no sense of humor.
THE BASICS
Deadline Escape Room Games:
Address: 4758 N. Chestnut, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 (click address for Google Map)
Contact and Website: 719-313-9261
https://www.planetdeadline.com/
The Room – A Colorado Slaycation:
Description (from the company website): Welcome to Jay Jayson’s Colorado Vacations, enjoy your slay…
The place is Colorado and the time is now. You and a group of your friends and family find a slammin’ deal on a rental vacation home nestled deep in the Colorado mountains. You imagine all of the s’mores you are going to make under the stars with your loved ones and without thinking twice you book your stay. After all, how could this possibly be the worst decision you ever make?
Shortly after arriving something doesn’t seem right, a menacing note left by the property manager reveals his true intentions and you begin to realize that your life is in danger. However, you are not alone. The spirits of his previous victims remain in the house, and they want to help you to escape Jay’s trap. Can you identify the forgotten belongings of his victims and follow their clues to safety? Or will you meet your fate at the hands of Jay Jayson? Only time will tell…
In A Colorado Slaycation, you and your team will have to work together and stay focused under pressure in order to escape. This type of room is something we like to call a “funnel puzzle” where the objects you find throughout the room all contribute to your escape. Funnel puzzles are great for larger groups as it includes all of the players in the experience. We have incorporated many custom built puzzles, traps, and special effects into this room for the ultimate experience. Will you be able to escape the full size guillotine trap? Can you decipher the electric chair puzzle? Book now to seal your fate and witness a truly memorable escape experience!
Difficulty (1-10): N/A
Time Limit: 60 minutes
Cost: $30
Identifier: R1
Party Size: 2-8
Staging Area: Lobby is mostly standing room, but there’s a water cooler and plenty to keep your eyes busy.
Metro Access/Parking: Parking lot is more than sufficient.
OUR EXPERIENCE
This is the video we took before we entered the room:
This is the video we took just after we completed the room:
Note: The ERG were given the opportunity to try out this room for free, with the understanding that we would continue to provide an honest review and follow the same process we’ve used on all of our other ratings.
Logistics:
Description of the room: The room starts out… small. It’s a super tight squeeze. But it certainly looks like a cabin in the woods.
Understanding of the Mission: Escape the vacation home with your lives by using items and clues left behind by previous victims (and their spirits).
Did We Escape: BARELY
Time Remaining: 30.25 seconds
Our Suggested Party Size: 4, maybe 5/6 (it can get cramped for 5-6 people, but depending on your team, 4 may not be enough brainpower)
Did the room challenge the entire team? Absolutely
Members of our team (other than the ERG): Steph D, Aaron, Andrea, Kera, Seth
Worth the time and money? 100% yes
Where to Eat/Drink Before/After:
- Dublin House Sports Bar and Grill – we went here first but then left because there was a cover charge…
- Overtime Sports Bar and Grill – dive sports bar with decent pub fare
| JASON says: |
|---|
| Overall Expectation (Summary) |
| I had sent a follow-up note to their main email address (posted on their website) and was called back shortly thereafter to discuss said email. After a brief explanation/introduction, we were quickly able to set up this experience. I was…warned…ahead of time that this was Deadline’s original room and was pretty lock-heavy, but that the story is worth the cost of admission. So, with hopes somewhat up, we went forth (with a few ERVs) to try and escape from Jay Jayson and his slaycation home. |
| Story (Rating) |
| The story is this: You decide to spend all your money to book a family vacation at a rental home that looks like it should be the (rental) home of your dreams, in a remote, wooded location. Everyone’s excited to go, and when you get there, you find a note from the owner saying something to the effect of “you’re all going to die”.
WHAT???? That’s NOT what I signed up for! Turns out a semi-notorious serial killer named Jay Jayson (and no, I didn’t make that up nor did they change it just for me) owns the house and he likes to kill people. Why, you ask? I’m not going to spoil that for you. Rating: 8.5/10 |
| Mission (Rating) |
| Using items and clues left behind for subsequent…guests…by Jay Jayson’s previous guests, er…I mean victims…(I mean, they were technically both), combine them all together in some way and you’ll be able to escape through the door you came in to start (it’s an electronic lock with a pinpad and an emergency key if needed).
This is a good room if you like a good story. I don’t think I’ve EVER said that before. Sounds simple. It isn’t. There’s a ton to do, so I definitely recommend 4 people, at a minimum. Rating: 10/10 |
| Puzzle Diversity (Rating) |
| For the way this room was designed, there are minimal pad/combo locks involved. (There were still 3 or 4 that I can count in my head, but it’s supposed to be a cabin in the woods, so I wouldn’t expect oodles of tech.) There was a dip-switch puzzle (if you don’t know what a ‘dip-switch’ is, go and Google it; I’ll wait), some black light (in the bad way, but I still liked it), multiple ciphers (different kinds), some association combined with another thing (can’t give everything away), and a few other surprises for you. I have already said too much, so you’re on your own for the rest.
Regarding lock types, it was mostly mechanical stuff. There was the dreaded digital lock, some number and pad locks (see items 5d and 5c, respectively, here), and some…other locks. Actually now that I’m running through it in my head, it was all locks. Well, crap, guess I was just having too much fun laughing at farts to notice… Rating: 8.5/10 |
| Puzzle Complexity (Rating) |
| Whooo boy. There’s a lot going on here, so this is gonna be tough trying not to give away spoilers.
I will start by saying I’m usually pretty thorough with a black light. I don’t know why I just utterly failed the team on this front this time, but shit happens and I owned up to it after. My bad, y’all. That said, there were a number of tricky puzzles (the least of which is figuring out how to turn the lights on…aka Rule #5) . Some made you laugh, some were more the what-the-fuck-just-happened type. There are jump scares in this room (that’s a hidden-in-plain-sight-spoiler right there), so you’ve been (kind of) warned (and one is surprisingly funny). The most difficult puzzle, by far, is the final one (uh…duh). So keep an eye on your time and ensure you read everything you find carefully, for some things are not as they seem. Oh, and the spread of difficulty…3-8. Rating: 9.5/10 |
| Flow/Cohesiveness/Uniqueness (Rating) |
| This room is pretty well crafted, aesthetically and puzzle-wise. I’ll try to keep the spoiling to a minimum (you’re all welcome?). You walk in and (warning) it’s probably going to be a bit cramped. There are a few puzzles to sort out before the room really…opens up. And that’s when (IMO) the real fun begins. There are multiple pathways with distinct endings that all feed into a final puzzle (which is, quite honestly, my favorite way for puzzle design/flow to work) and it all works really well.
I’d say about 95% of what you find in there works for being a cabin in the woods where someone could…work…uninterrupted. And the, um, thing you find that explains to you why what happened has happened is pretty hilarious (that was one of my favorite parts of the escape). Now, I’ve done a number of serial killer themed rooms in the last few years, and this is my third favorite (behind The Apartment and One Eyed Jack (in that order)). But that’s not a knock, AT ALL, on this room. (Those other two were just that damn good, as was this one!) What set this one apart from those is the humor that’s inherent in its design. You don’t get humor in many (if any) serial killer rooms. Rating: 10/10 |
| Fun/Amusement (Summary) |
| This escape was a lot of fun. Considering how “lock heavy” we were told it was (it really didn’t feel that way…), I had a lot of fun.
Also, farts will ALWAYS be funny. |
| Game Master (Summary) |
| Arienne knew about the ERG and only gave us clues/nudges when we asked for them. |
| How Helpful Were Any Clues Given, if any (Summary) |
| We used all 3 clues and all of them made me feel stupid… lol |
| RAGE Meter OR ERG (pronounced URG, as in “we should have known better”) Score |
| So, I was pretty pissed at myself for not using the black light as I normally would have, costing us a few minutes of backtracking and such. All I will say.
Rating: 👊👊👊 |
ESCAPE ROOM GUYS’ OVERALL SCORING: 9.3/10
Final Thought: I was a little worried when told this was a lock heavy, Generation 1 escape experience, but it holds up surprisingly well. It’s entertaining (not to mention fun), and I look forward to trying out their newer rooms because this one was so good.