Criminal Mischief

At Least There Was a Blonde Bombshell in the Room… – Room: Bombshell – October 18, 2020

~ Jason

ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Play if… you’re interested in the Mafia, bombs, and cold hard cash.

Avoid if… you’re scared of tigers, don’t like enclosed places, and find sewers disgusting.

THE BASICS

New Mexico Escape Room – McLeod (there are 2 locations):

Address: 4401 McLeod Rd, Suite B, Albuquerque, NM 87109 (click address for Google Map)

Contact and Website: 505-289-1002
https://nmescaperoom.com/

The Room – Bombshell:

Description (from the company website): For decades, the city’s greatest criminal syndicates have answered to one man, Vittorio Bosargio. He is known as the Don of Dons, holding power over multiple criminal organizations, but lately his judgement has been questionable and unstable. He is slowly slipping into madness. You’ve been summoned, along with other organizational heads, to meet in a secret location and discuss the fate of the highly respected, but faltering Don. Unfortunately, your betrayal doesn’t go unnoticed. Someone has double crossed you, and now it’s a race against the clock to survive. Don’t end up ‘sleepin’ wit’ the fishes.’ Can you outsmart Don Vittorio Bosargio?

CAUTION: This game requires some physicality where players may have to kneel into low positions, crouch, and climb up and down steps. There are also uneven and moving floors, and small spaces. Please feel free to contact us directly with specific questions regarding the physical aspect of this game.

Difficulty (1-10): 6/10

Time Limit: 60 minutes

Cost: $28 per person (all bookings are now private)

Identifier: R1

Party Size: 4-6

Staging Area: LARGE open lobby area; I don’t recall there being any seating, but there are vending machines and hand sanitizer available.

Metro Access/Parking: Parking available right out front and additional along the side of the building. Unsure about public transportation.

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:

I’m apparently really terrible about taking post-room videos… ~Jason

Logistics:

Description of the room: You start in a room with a large animal crate, a some other scattered crates, and an elevator door towards the back.

Understanding of the Mission: Escape with your life before the explodes and kills you while you’re in the warehouse.

Did We Escape: No, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it.

Time Remaining: FAIL :'(

Our Suggested Party Size: 4-6 is fine, though it WILL be a little cramped.

Did the room challenge the entire team? Yes, and not always for the right reasons. (Read below)

Members of our team (other than the ERG): Stephanie D (and Oreo)

Oreo is a black and white kitten in the carrier next to her little purple purrrrr-buddy.
Oreo is a black and white kitten in the carrier next to her little purple purrrrr-buddy.

Worth the time and money? For the visuals and experience, yes. For the gameplay, no.

Where to Eat/Drink Before/After:

We did not stick around for grub after, so we don’t have a recommendation.

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Where’s Ben Stiller When You Need Him? – Room: Night at the Museum – April 15, 2018

~ Jason

ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Play if… you’ve ever wanted to throw a raging after-hours party at your job.

Avoid if… the idea of being locked inside a museum makes you want to die of boredom.

THE BASICS

Escape Artist DC:

Address: 720 I St SE, Washington, DC 20003 (click address for Google Map)

Contact and Website: 301-502-2043
https://www.escapeartistdc.com

The Room – Night at the Museum:

Description (from the company website): Oh snap. You and your restoration specialist colleagues got a little out of hand. Now, you are going to be in trouble with the big boss if you don’t remedy the situation you made – but you have limited time to rectify your mistakes.

Not your usual Night at the Museum.

So, what happened to set you off? Perhaps you and the other restoration specialists cannot quite remember why you got so rowdy during your visit to the museum. You were just trying to let off some steam. Then, the unthinkable happened: You destroyed a piece of artwork.

The valuable painting is lying around you in tatters, and you are well aware of the faux pas. Fortunately, your supervisor is not due back for a whole hour. That should be time enough for you to work your magic, right? At least, you hope it is! Regardless, you and your team must figure out how to piece the priceless “victim” back together to keep your jobs and reputation intact.

Now get going and find those clues: That painting is not going to restore itself!

Difficulty (1-10): N/A

Time Limit: 60 minutes

Cost: $20 (for adults; $16 with Student ID)

Identifier: R1

Party Size: Up to 12

Staging Area: Decent sized waiting area with plenty of things to keep you occupied while you wait. FYI, to access the site you’ll have to go up half a flight of stairs.

Metro Access/Parking: Eastern Market is a few blocks away. We recommend that or Lyft/Uber unless you want to roll the dice on driving and finding street parking.

OUR EXPERIENCE

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: A small room that appears to be a section of a museum exhibit.

Understanding of the Mission: Well, now you’ve done it. You and your co-workers threw a huge party in the museum one night after closing while your boss was out of town. Now, as you come to, you realize that you’re locked in the museum… and someone trashed one of the prized paintings.

Now, you have to find the pieces of the painting, restore it, and find a way to get your supervisor’s key and out of the locked museum before the museum opens in the morning (in 60 minutes).

Did We Escape: Yes

Time Remaining: 13:30

Our Suggested Party Size: Around 8, depending upon your escape room experience

Did the room challenge the entire team? Yes

Members of our team (other than the ERG): Steph, Eric, Steph, and Heather

Team Disturbed Friends (Steph, Jason, Eric, Mike, Steph, and Heather)

Worth the time and money? Yes

Where to Eat/Drink Before/After:

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Let’s Take Another Crack at This – Room: The Heist (Redux) – June 2, 2017 – SECOND ATTEMPT!

~ Mike K.

ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Play if… you get pissed off at not completing the mission and have the cojones to go back for round 2.

Avoid if… you think things should always be easier the second time around.

THE BASICS

Brain Storm Adventure: LOCATION CLOSED

Address: 312 Victory Drive, Herndon, VA 20170 (click address for Google Map)

Contact and Website: 571-375-1123
email: [email protected]
www.brainstormadventure.com

The Room – The Heist: RETIRED

Description (from the company website): An extremely dangerous, criminal mastermind and his crew have stolen Johnny’s – my top client – very valuable diamonds, gold, and more. Johnny has given us the information necessary for you and your team to complete this operation…

Dimitri Chechenkov:

  • Wanted by all International Security Agencies
  • Considered Extremely Dangerous
  • Professional Thief/Assassin:
    • Historic Art & Jewelry
    • Precious stones, diamonds, and gold
    • Classified Documents
  •  Beware:
    • Travels with highly trained bodyguards
    • Many connections
    • Security on Premises

WARNING! THERE HAVE BEEN MANY AGENTS BEFORE YOU THAT HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL. ALL HAVE FAILED THE OPERATION TO RETRIEVE MY CLIENT’S STOLEN ITEMS.

Protocol:

  • Assemble your team
  • Report to location

BE PREPARED • BE DILIGENT • BE FOCUSED

Be ready:

  • Find the clues
  • Solve the puzzles
  • Search all rooms
  • COMPLETE EACH TASK AS DIRECTED!
  • Don’t set off the silent alarm
  • Find all stolen items
  • Follow THE directions
  • Be careful of the lasers

Difficulty (1-10): not listed, but no one (to date) has ever successfully escaped with all 10 items

Time Limit: 55 minutes

Cost: $30 per person up to 4, and slight price breaks after that. We paid $22 each for 7 people this time vs. the $18 per person discounted rate that was offered. On your second attempt, if you pay $22 up to full price, you are eligible for the whole pot of prize money if your team is the first to complete the room. If you take the $18 per person discounted rate, you are only eligible to win back half of the prize money.

Identifier: R1 (but this room has the clues and puzzles reset every week, allowing you to come back and try again)

Party Size: up to 10 (max), but at least 6 is suggested

Staging Area: This is located in an indoor game room facility (indoor golf simulator, anyone?), and has plenty of seating on couches and chairs. Restroom is right next to the seating area. Food and libations are also available in the Bar-n-Lounge area.

Metro Access/Parking: Not metro-accessible, but it’s out near Dulles Airport and easy access from the Dulles Toll Road.

OUR EXPERIENCE

NOTE: We suggest you read about our first attempt on this room (Better “Safe” Than “Dead”) before continuing with this post.

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: You start in your mission briefing area outside of Dimitri’s house with your handler (handlers for this mission, not Game Masters). After your briefing, you enter the first room…

Understanding of the Mission: Go through Dimitri’s house and accomplish the objectives for each room, solve the tasks assigned, avoid security, make your way to the safe room, and find and escape with all 10 of your boss’ stolen items within 55 minutes, PLUS two secret documents of Dimitri’s that your boss now wants because you didn’t complete the mission last time. So, now you have 12 items to find, and only three clues available to you (versus five on the first attempt).

If your time runs out, you get captured and executed (even if you have found some items). Otherwise, you can abort your mission and escape with what you recovered.

Did We Escape: Well, we escaped this time by the skin of our teeth (aborted said mission) with six items, so we definitely got better this time. And, we did make the leader board again because we recovered 50% of the stolen items and escaped with those.

Time Remaining: 1 second

Our Suggested Party Size: We had 7, and that worked pretty well, but 6 would work too.

Did the room challenge the entire team? Hell, f#$&ing yeah!

Members of our team (other than the ERG): Tara, Eric, Steph, Heather and Mark

Worth the time and money? Absolutely

Where to Eat/Drink Before/After: Try Google. This time, we headed back to Kingstowne for drinks at Fiona’s Irish Pub.

Continue reading →

Better “Safe” Than “Dead” – Room: The Heist – May 26, 2017

~ Mike K. ~ 3 Comments

ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY

Play if… you’ve always wanted to re-enact that scene with Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment (get your mind out of the gutter… THIS scene… well, on second though… maybe not ALL the way out of the gutter).

Avoid if… you are claustrophobic or get freaked out by Russian criminal masterminds.

THE BASICS

Brain Storm Adventure: – LOCATION CLOSED

Address: 312 Victory Drive, Herndon, VA 20170 (click address for Google Map)

Contact and Website: 571-375-1123
email: [email protected]
www.brainstormadventure.com

The Room – The Heist: RETIRED

Description (from the company website): An extremely dangerous, criminal mastermind and his crew have stolen Johnny’s – my top client – very valuable diamonds, gold, and more. Johnny has given us the information necessary for you and your team to complete this operation…

Dimitri Chechenkov:

  • Wanted by all International Security Agencies
  • Considered Extremely Dangerous
  • Professional Thief/Assassin:
    • Historic Art & Jewelry
    • Precious stones, diamonds, and gold
    • Classified Documents
  •  Beware:
    • Travels with highly trained bodyguards
    • Many connections
    • Security on Premises

WARNING! THERE HAVE BEEN MANY AGENTS BEFORE YOU THAT HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL. ALL HAVE FAILED THE OPERATION TO RETRIEVE MY CLIENT’S STOLEN ITEMS.

Protocol:

  • Assemble your team
  • Report to location

BE PREPARED • BE DILIGENT • BE FOCUSED

Be ready:

  • Find the clues
  • Solve the puzzles
  • Search all rooms
  • COMPLETE EACH TASK AS DIRECTED!
  • Don’t set off the silent alarm
  • Find all stolen items
  • Follow THE directions
  • Be careful of the lasers

Difficulty (1-10): not listed, but no one (to date) has ever successfully escaped with all 10 items

Time Limit: 55 minutes

Cost: $30 per person up to 4, and slight price breaks after that. We paid $26.88 each for 8 people. If you pay full price, you are eligible for the prize money if your team is the first to complete the room. Otherwise, you can search their website for a hidden code that will give you a discount off the price when booking the room (and, no, we didn’t find the code, but we didn’t really look, either). [Update: Jason found the code right after completing his part of the review.]

Identifier: R1 (but this room has the clues and puzzles reset every week, allowing you to come back and try again)

Party Size: up to 10 (max), but at least 6 is suggested

Staging Area: This is located in an indoor game room facility (indoor golf simulator, anyone?), and has plenty of seating on couches and chairs. Restroom is right next to the seating area. Food and libations are also available in the Bar-n-Lounge area.

Metro Access/Parking: Not metro-accessible, but it’s out near Dulles Airport and easy access from the Dulles Toll Road.

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: You start in your mission briefing area outside of Dimitri’s house with your handler (handlers for this mission, not Game Masters). After your briefing, you enter the first room…

Understanding of the Mission: Go through Dimitri’s house and accomplish the objectives for each room, solve the tasks assigned, avoid security, make your way to the safe room, and find and escape with all 10 of your boss’ stolen items within 55 minutes. If your time runs out, you get captured and executed (even if you have found some items). Otherwise, you can abort your mission and escape with what you recovered.

Did We Escape: Well, we escaped (aborted said mission) with two items, so we didn’t exactly fail, but were told that the client was pissed that we didn’t recover everything. However, we did make the leader board in recovering 20% of the stolen items and escaped with those.

Time Remaining: 10 seconds

Our Suggested Party Size: We had 8, but we’d probably recommend 6 since it got a little crowded (and loud) at points.

Did the room challenge the entire team? Hell, f#$&ing yeah!

Members of our team (other than the ERG): Tasha, Tara, Mark, Eric, Matt, and Steph

Team Disturbed Friends (Tasha, Tara, Mark, Eric, Mike, Matt, Jason, and Steph) recovered only two stolen items, but escaped without being captured. The client was pissed, but at least we got him back something!

Worth the time and money? Absolutely

Where to Eat/Drink Before/After: Try Google. We headed back to Alexandria (our home base for most of the Disturbed Friends) for drinks at Portner Brewhouse.

Continue reading →