Escape Room in A Box: The Werewolf Experiment
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Escape Room in A Box is the perfect party game and a must buy for room escape lovers and puzzle solvers. It’s also a great introduction to escape rooms if you have friends who have never tried one.
Posted
February 5, 2016 by admin
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A few weeks ago I got an interesting e-mail titled, “A New Escape Room Experience For You.” Curious I popped it open and it was an invite try an at home escape room experience called Escape Room In a Box. The cofounders, Juliana Patel and Ariel Rubin, describe Escape Room in A Box as:
“A 60-90 minute cooperative game where 2-6 players solve puzzles, crack codes, and find hidden clues in order to escape from a mad scientist’s plot to turn them into werewolves.”
I was pretty excited to see how this would work and was more than happy to agree to playtest it in anticipation of their Kickstarter (which is now live and can be found here: http://kck.st/1WSIj1n). I gathered my escape room friends and sat down at a round table in a diner called Jerry’s Famous Deli where we were presented with a small square box. We set our timer, lifted the lid and then the game was on.
The story isn’t terribly complex but it helps set the scene and the Kickstarter rewards comes with a party planner with helpful tips for decorating your home and getting everyone in the mood. Basically you find yourself in a lab with just one hour to discover the antidote or you will all be turned into werewolves. The mad scientist responsible hasn’t made is easy for you though.
For the puzzles make sure you’ve got your reading glasses and your pencils ready to go as there are a ton of word and paper based puzzles in the box. That being said there’s a fair amount of physical puzzles and locks to play with too. This part really surprised me because I was really curious how this game would pull off that the final “unlocking” moment that all escape rooms have. There were several tins and jars with various locks including the final jar that held the much desired werewolf antidote. We were definitely cheering in anticipation as we keyed in the final combo and popped it open.
We were playing essentially a “beta” version of the game so a few of the puzzles need a little fine tuning but I’m sure they’ll be tightened up by the time everything ships. The puzzles were also meant to be divided and conquered, so there weren’t any bottles necks where we had six people sitting around and twiddling their thumbs while one person solved something. We ended up beating it in about 45 minutes and while it had some challenging puzzles it’ll be good for beginners too.
Escape Room in A Box is being marketed as basically a “party experience” as opposed to a board game which can be played over and over again. While I understand this approach I still want some replay value out of something I’m buying and bringing into my home, especially when it costs a bit more than I personally pay to go to an escape room as just a single person. There is no real way around the fact that Escape Room in A Box is a single use game, but the creators have found at least one clever way to get you a little more bang for your buck. They’re creating a guide for “hosts” or “game masters” so you can invite over a different group of friends and play it again, this time guiding the game instead of solving it. It doesn’t solve the replay problem completely but it certainly gives you options and honestly it’s so damn fun the first time around it might not be that big of a deal after all.
Escape Room in A Box is the perfect party game and a must buy for room escape lovers and puzzle solvers. It’s also a great introduction to escape rooms if you have friends who have never tried one.
Interested? You can back Escape Room in A Box’s Kickstarter here: http://kck.st/1WSIj1n
