Competitive Room

Losing is Never an Option – Room: The Lost Ruins – June 30, 2018

~ Jason

ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Play if… you enjoy a challenge and don’t mind getting a little dirty.

Avoid if… you hate losing, have a fear of flying, or are claustrophobic.

THE BASICS

Red Door Escape Room:

Address: 8103 Rasor Blvd Suite #100, Plano, TX 75024 (click address for Google Map)

Contact and Website: 972-787-0085
https://www.reddoorescape.com/location/plano

Room – The Lost Ruins:

Description (from the company website): You’ve received a rather cryptic journal from your missing graduate professor, Dr. Summerlee. Gather your classmates, travel to his last known coordinates and locate him before the jungle… or, perhaps something worse, claims him.

Difficulty (1-10): Medium

Time Limit: 60 minutes

Cost: $32

Identifier: R1

Party Size: Up to 6v6

Staging Area: Lobby has plenty of seating, some games to keep your hands busy, and a brain teaser that, if I recall correctly, nets you 10% off.

Metro Access/Parking: It’s in a shopping center, but I don’t know anything about the public transit system down there. Drive or call a Lyft/Uber.

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 (apologies for the wind):

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: You start off your (competitive) adventure in the remnants of a crash site and need to find your way out and through the series of rooms before the other team.

Understanding of the Mission: Find your Professor, or what he was searching before, before it’s too late and you become one with the jungle.

Did We Escape: Yes. We both won and lost, too. Read on.

Time Remaining: I don’t actually know but the other team beat us out of the room, but because they used a 4th clue (you only get 3), they lost 3 minutes off their time. So, we beat them, time-wise, by 90 seconds. (And we only used 2 clues.)

Our Suggested Party Size: We were a group of 6 (with 4 ERVs) against a group of 4 novices. I would highly recommend 4 as your minimum.

Did the room challenge the entire team? Yes

Members of our team (other than the ERG): John, Rosemary, Jayden, Julian, Steph D.

Worth the time and money? Absolutely

Where to Eat/Drink Before/After:

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Good will always TRIUMPH! – Room: Good vs Evil – May 7, 2017

~ Jason

ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Play if… you like beating your friends at any sort of game.

Avoid if… you’re a sore loser.

THE BASICS

Laurel’s House of Horror:

Address: 935 Fairlawn Ave, Laurel, MD 20707 (click address for Google Map)

Contact and Website: 240-278-4545
http://www.laurelhaunt.com

The Room – Good vs. Evil: RETIRED

Description (from the company website): “Good vs. Evil” is a brand new escape room that challenges groups to race each other. The winning group will be rewarded a special prize at the end: a gift card! Join us for this 45-minute game and find out…who is the smartest group?

Difficulty (1-10): not listed

Time Limit: 45

Cost: $25 per person

Identifier: R1

Party Size: Minimum of 6; max of 8

Staging Area: It’s in an old movie theater that is supposedly haunted, so pretty damn creepy.

Metro Access/Parking: Not metro accessible at all. The theater is in a strip mall so there is plenty of parking.

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:

Logistics:

Description of the room: Each team starts off divided into 2 groups with a shared wall between them. You have to help your teammates get out of their room while they help you do the same. The opposing team has the same types of puzzles, but different solutions.

Understanding of the Mission: Get through to the final room to secure your own exit. And let your opponents out if you feel so obliged.

Note: Because we paid to do the other three rooms, and had a lengthy discussion about who we are and our thoughts on the rooms, the GM (this time that’s General Manager…) wanted to get our take on the competitive room and allowed us to go through it for free, provided we give him feedback at the end. We ended up pointing out a few issues with the Evil set of rooms that would have delayed or prevented the team in that room from completing the mission altogether.

We also feel that it is not fair to do the standard rating scale on this room, since each of the different teams would have different experiences, but we have provided our feedback on the experiences in those categories below.

Did We Escape: Jason’s team did (and eventually let Mike’s team out)

Time Remaining: The experience lasted about 35 minutes until Team Good solved the last puzzle and won the game.

Our Suggested Party Size: We had 8 (2 teams of 4). That was pretty perfect.

Did the room challenge the entire team? Yes

Members of our team (other than the ERG): Alphonzo, Mark, Katheryn, Eric, Eric.

Team Good: Jason, Eric, and Alphonzo

Team Evil: Mike, Eric, Mark and Katheryn

Worth the time and money? Yes, especially if you’ve got a group that’s done a few rooms before and is really competitive. Like ours.

Where to Eat/Drink Before/After: We’re not familiar with Laurel, so we’re going to have to leave you to Google for a recommendation. But we did go to a Five Guys for lunch beforehand that’s 2 blocks away.

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