Escape Hour – The Dollhouse (Review)

Location: Charlotte, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 4-5)

Price: $25 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

“No, sir! I did not see you playing with your dolls again!”

Theme:

You and your friends were wandering around the neighborhood when you came across a seemingly abandoned home. On a lark, you’ve decided to check out the weird cottage when you start to realize that someone is still living here. Someone who’s weirdly interested in dolls. When you try to leave, you notice the door has locked behind you! Solve the mystery and get out before whoever lives here adds you to their collection!

First Impressions:

That… is a LOT of dolls. The room gave off that creepy vibe that only mannequins and weird porcelain dolls can provide. Which, in this case, is a good thing! After a short intro video outlining your basic room escape rules, we started going through this oddity of a home.

High Points:

Many different threads wove through the room, giving our fairly large group plenty to work on, even near the end when we were almost done. There was a red herring on one puzzle, but it was easy to determine what was unnecessary, so it felt more like it belonged than your usual red herring. There were quite a few interesting puzzles around, some of which involved interacting with some pretty creepy props, which was a lot of immersive fun.

Low Points:

We had 7 players and were fairly packed into the room before we opened up another space, making it difficult to coordinate well. One room was completely pitch black and did not give us any access to light other than dragging parts of the newly found puzzles into the first room, so while we had more space to work in, we were still limited to the original small space if we wanted to see properly. One puzzle was destructible, but optional.

Verdict:

The Dollhouse is a good beginner’s room barring the lack of flashlights. I feel like adding that to the second room would remove a lot of frustration and allow groups to refocus on the puzzles. Otherwise, a good flow and fun puzzles make this a great introduction to escapes. Enthusiasts may want to try to come with a smaller group, as it wasn’t quite as difficult as other rooms, and they may find themselves breaking out quickly. However, there’s no shortage of puzzles to be had, so a fun time can be had by all. Book your time in the Dollhouse here!

7/10 (Good)