Location: Greenville, SC
Players: 2-7 As a one team experience, 4-14 for a competitive experience (We recommend 3-4 per room)
Price: $27 (Public Booking) or $30 (Private Booking) or $21 (Private Party of 10+) per person
Time to Escape: 60 minutes
Ain’t never liked them no good Bluefords anyways!
Theme:
The Redfields and the Bluefords have been at each other’s throats ever since… well, ever since that falling out their great great great grandpappys had with each other over… something or other! Either way, each family thinks of the other as a bunch of no good, lyin’, cheatin’, son of a gun scoundrels, and now that the nuclear apocalypse is on its way, they’ve got an excuse to blow them to smithereens! As a member of one of the colorfully named families, it’s up to you to arm your dynamite and blow up the other team before they can do the same to you! Then you should probably take cover in your fallout shelter. You know, on account of the bombs!
First Impressions:
I always love it when an escape begins outside of the room itself, and though this one is only technically “outside,” it’s still a lot of fun to start by breaking into your own fallout shelter! While we elected to do this room together rather than compete against ourselves in a 2v2 experience, we can definitely see how fantastically chaotic this initial breaking in sequence could be for competitive groups!
High Points:
The set design is great, giving off the feeling of being deep underground, ready to endure the coming nuclear fallout, while still giving off a somewhat goofy vibe via the competitive theme. The set up of the game allows for plenty of interaction with the other team, socially. Progress can be tracked easily between the two, and with the main room being shared by both teams, I’m sure you’ll hear about it from the opposing family! The game flow is fairly non-linear to start, which makes sense for a head to head escape, allowing the team to frantically divide and conquer in order to beat the clock and the other team. We stayed engaged throughout due to this, and when the game did slim down to the linear climax, we were still immersed within the puzzling flow. The climax to the fight between the Redfields and Bluefords is excellent, and I’m sure with the addition of another team to blow up, it’d be even more awesome.
Puzzles themselves are a great mix between code breaking, brain teasing enigmas, and tactile interactions, including a pretty large dexterity game to tackle. Bits of the room come together to become bigger interactions intuitively, and allow for a fair few ah ha moments throughout. Clues are hidden well around the room itself, and are challenging without being unfairly hidden or too obtuse in their presentation. Though the theme of the room is blowing up an opposing family while the nukes fall from the sky, things stay light hearted and fun the whole time, which kept the experience enjoyable.
Low Points:
Once we were in our fallout shelter, it was a pretty standard escape experience from there. The room itself wasn’t too surprising, and what we saw was mostly what we got from then on. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the potential for hidden stashes or another bunker (or toilet,) via a secret room would’ve been a nice surprise. A particular dexterity puzzle was a large frustration for a couple of our teammates, as while we worked on a different puzzle, they were trying to mitigate bad luck and timing that was required on top of the dexterity. While they eventually got it figured, it was expressed that they wished there wasn’t so much luck involved with parts of the interaction. We were able to skip one puzzle entirely due to our experience in previous rooms with a particular technical item, which confused us. It’s always sad to miss out on a puzzle, even if you solve it in a non-standard way!
Verdict:
While The Fallout is a fun game for a solo group, a duel would definitely up the stakes, making things more intense and exciting. Beginners will definitely enjoy this room, as the competitive nature allows for a large group of friends to face off while still enjoying the thrill of escape. For enthusiasts, this one will feel a lot more standard, but everything is still presented within a great game flow and enjoyable set. You can book your time as the warring families here!
7.5/10 (Good)
Full Disclosure: Escape Artist Greenville provided media discounted tickets for our team.
Escape Room Adventurer 