DISCLAIMER: This post is spoiler-free. Any spoilers will be clearly demarcated and be in WHITE text. There are no answers given about how to solve any of the puzzles, just general hints, which the gamemasters may also give to you anyway when you play. If you want an entirely spoiler-free experience, just don’t read the review/tips!
Brief Intro: If you have played any online room escape games, you would surely be keen on The Escape Artist, a real-life room escape game at the somewhat obscure Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. They have 4 rooms in total, which you can check out on their official website here. The room sizes allow anywhere from 2 – 8 people, depending on the particular room. Each room has a unique theme and a set of puzzles which you have to solve to unlock the door to get out of the room. The success rates are pretty low, probably below 50%, so be prepared for a challenge.
It costs $15 per person for 50 minutes (and an additional $15 for the entire room for a 10(?) minute extension), $12 if you are a student. Pretty reasonable rates for a really great time!
Many puzzles in every room are what I call ‘general lateral thinking puzzles’, where you have to think creatively and figure out how to derive the code from whatever clues you have.
This blog post will be my review of one of their rooms, Dimension Z.
Dimension Z
Theme: Very Japanese, with a tatame mat for the ground and the 'seats' which are more of cushions on the floor where they kneel on to eat. Think the whole theme is meant to be oriental/Japanese and was pretty nice. Not sure why the radio wasn't playing any ambience music like in the other room I've been to.
Puzzles to expect: General lateral thinking puzzles, Sudoku-style puzzle.
Difficulty Level: 3/5
Review + Tips:
–SPOILER ALERT: contains direct hints about how to approach the room–
There is one strand of puzzles - Box 1 leads to Box 2 and so on.
I preferred this room much more than A Wonderfool Dream, for 2 main reasons : 1) No tedious, clumsy large hands-on puzzle to solve; 2) More hidden clues
One disappointing thing the previous time I went (for Wonderfool Dream (AWD)) was how many red herrings there were. There was so many props used that were absolutely unnecessary, and 'clues-hunting' was utterly pointless as the clues were blatant.
However, clues-hunting in this room is probably essential, and you should probably dedicate the first 2-3 minutes combing the entire room and knowing exactly WHAT you have where - even the most insignificant thing may actually be a piece of the puzzle later on in the series of puzzles. Many clues to be found around the room.
Other than that, pretty fun and solvable puzzles in the room, apart from the Sudoku-style puzzle near the start (2nd puzzle I think) which may be challenging for some. But if you're a Sudoku whiz then... no problems.
My favourite puzzles were the one to unlock the biggest cupboard in the room (I just thought it was clever), and the final puzzle with many dots. Pretty creative finisher, though not as 'final puzzle'-like as the one in Wonderfool Dream.
(Just to clarify, what I mean by having a 'final puzzle' feel is one that is something like 'Ok now, use everything you have used in the past 10 puzzles to solve the final one')
-End of SPOILER zone-
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