Category: Dallas, TX

Can You Rob the Bank? – Alien Blood Bank Robbery (Review)

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Editor’s Note: Today’s review comes to us from Texas correspondent, Cathy Nanni! Thanks Cathy for another great review!

Players:  Up to 10 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $28.00 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

I Just Took A DNA Test, Turns Out I’m 100% That Alien!

Theme

Eddie, the human loving alien, has had it! He’s tired of his alien superiors taking and experimenting on the DNA of humans. With his help, you must break into the Alien Advancement Laboratory and steal back your DNA.

First Impressions:

After boasting about the great experience I had at Can You Rob the Bank? to my girl friends, we decided to head there for our monthly Moms’ Night Out. The owner, Jill, was once again very easy to work with in booking our room. Her employees were very helpful in getting us signed in and we were even able to start the room early. We were also given costumes to wear to play the parts of humans pretending to be aliens. I love any excuse to wear a costume! Also, as a plus size woman, I appreciated that they had lab coats in a large variety of sizes.

High Points:

When we stepped into the room, we immediately felt as if we were in a space age laboratory. Everything from the white walls to the reflective ceiling tiles fit the alien blood bank theme perfectly. One of my favorite parts of the room was Eddie our “alien on the inside”. He has a very quirky personality a his character shines through via the clues to the puzzles. Eddie is very passionate about something that adds a really fun twist to the room; I promised I wouldn’t spoil it, but I will say it is an addition that adds so much whimsy to the room, differentiating itself from your typical alien spaceship escape room. I really felt like it was very important to the designers that the story was integrated well into the puzzles and props for this room, and it absolutely shows throughout the experience. You have engaging scientific equipment to investigate, including a giant microscope, as well as nods to Eddie’s janitorial career such as his locker and cleaning supplies. There is an enormous variety of puzzles in the room that are sure to excite players new to the hobby as well as enthusiasts. Even though it is a sci-fi themed room, there is a good mix of tech and non-tech puzzles. All of the technically based puzzles worked flawlessly which I know is something enthusiasts will appreciate!

Can You Rob the Bank? does an impressive job of scaffolding their puzzles. They start players off with easier puzzles to build confidence before hitting you with so more challenging ones that take a little more time to figure out. As an educator, I do this with my students as well, helping them feel successful so their confidence is raised when things get a little more challenging. This confidence boost and smooth difficulty curve ensures that when the going gets tough, things stay fun, and it takes them longer to reach their frustration level. This really communicates to me that Can You Rob the Bank? understands that this hobby is meant to be challenging but fun.

Low Points:

If you are color blind, this is not the room for  you. There were at least four color based puzzles in the room, one of which involved varying shades that became quite challenging due to the mood lighting in the room. There is also one puzzle that caused us to miss a clue that would be needed in a later puzzle because it was too easy to just guess the answer.

Verdict:

With a challenging, yet entertaining room that boasts a wide variety of excellent puzzles, Can You Rob the Bank? presents another amazing room! If you’re looking for a really entertaining twist on an alien themed room, definitely check out the Alien Blood Bank here!

9/10 (Excellent)

Full Disclosure: Can You Rob the Bank offered a discount and private room to our group.

 

Can You Rob The Bank? Dallas, TX – Wild West Bank Robbery (Review)

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Editor’s Note: Today’s review comes to us from Texas correspondent, Cathy Nanni! Thanks Cathy for another great review, and for making us jealous about this room!

Location: Dallas, TX

Players:  Up to 10 (We recommend 3-5)

Price: $28.00 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Get the gold and get out before the white hats arrive!

Theme:

Strap on your chaps and put on your ten gallon hat. It’s time to rob the local bank. Following the footsteps of Billy the Kid, can you and your team of bandits grab the gold and ride off into the sunset before the sheriff catches you?

First Impressions:

Jill, the owner of Can You Rob the Bank?, was incredibly warm and welcoming, and her passion for her business and the hobby of escaping was evident from the minute I walked in the door. If you recall my last review, I experienced one of the worst rooms I’d ever played, (also a Western Bank Heist,) with some friends who were new to the hobby. Jill assured me that we would have a much better time at “Can You Rob the Bank?” so I invited a few of those friends back to join me. I’m so glad I did because we had a fantastic time!

High Points:

In the spacious lobby, there is an interactive wall display of all the various locks used in the rooms at Can You Rob the Bank? As an educator, I appreciate this because many people are tactile learners and would therefore benefit greatly from learning how to use the locks before entering the room. Though several escape rooms do demonstrate how to use their locks during their briefings, having a hands on experience is much more beneficial. It was a small touch but another indicator of how important it is to Jill that her players have fun and aren’t bogged down by mechanical errors.

The room itself was decorated excellently with many “wild west” touches, including pictures of outlaws on the walls, cowboy boots, and wood paneling.  Even though the room contained all the props that I’ve come to associate with a wild west bank themed room, (safety deposit boxes, poker table, and a vault,) the puzzles and clues were so entertaining that it didn’t feel overdone.  The clue delivery system was also on theme which I always appreciate. When a hint is needed, players use an antique wall mounted phone providing a fun and immersive way to interact with the GM. I appreciate it when a room has a thematically appropriate clue system especially when it runs smoothly as this one. The puzzles were fun, intuitive, and on theme. My favorite was one that gave you a chance to test your quick shooting skills allowing you to feel like you truly are participating in a bank heist. The puzzles are also a good mix and easy and challenging. Even with the more difficult puzzles, we didn’t reach a level of frustration that lessened the fun we were having and our party of three felt fully engaged with the room throughout the experience. I appreciated how on theme the puzzles where, as even when looking for codes for numeric and alpha locks, the clues were crafted in a way that ensured everything remained in theme.

Low Points:

There really weren’t any low points for this room, but if I had to be nit picky, I’d say there is one puzzle involving pictures that caused a bit of a time suck due to our team having different interpretations of the clue. My only other low point was that I enjoyed the room so much I was ready to do a second room after, but unfortunately, my friends needed to eat dinner. Next time, I’ll bring snacks!

Verdict:

My friends and I can’t wait to return to Can You Rob the Bank? to try their other rooms! Jill, the owner and our GM, was a wonderful host and the room was fantastically engaging for veteran players those new to the hobby. If you’re in the Dallas area, I recommend checking out this local business! You can attempt your Wild West Bank Robbery here!

10/10 (Phenomenal)

Full Disclosure: Can You Rob the Bank offered a discount and private room to our group.

 

Escape the Room Dallas, TX– Western Bank Heist (Guest Review)

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Today’s review was graciously written for us by Texas correspondent, Cathy Nanni! We thank her for enduring this room so that we don’t have to.

Location: Dallas, TX

Players:  Up to 10 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $28.00 on the weekdays, $30 on the weekends per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Git along lil’ doggies and rob that bank!

Theme:

Round up your best Huckleberries and put on your black hats. In this Western, you’re playing the bad guy. You have 60 minutes to break into the bank, grab the loot and get out of Dodge.

Impressions:

I was excited to check out Escape the Room. I was bringing along three friends who had never done an escape room before. I wish I hadn’t.

Escape the Room did not offer up a great first impression. In hindsight, this should have been a major red flag, as the sparsely decorated lobby only had a folding table set up for the receptionist who didn’t even offer us a greeting as we walked in. After getting her attention and checking in, we were told to wait for the rest of the people signed up to do the room with us. Our room was scheduled to start at 7, but we weren’t invited back to the room until almost quarter after. The GM guided us right into the room for our safety talk and introduction to the room. There was a large TV on the wall that myself and another room veteran thought would show the backstory for the room but it turned out to be the clock and the means of communication between us and the GM.

We were not offered a locker or basket to place our things in. Along the wall under the TV was a wooden bench. The GM told us to place our things on this bench (remember this, it will become important later!) We set our things down on top of the bench and began the game.

High Points:

The set was well done and felt like the inside of an old timey bank. The walls were covered in wood paneling, there were antique looking safety deposit boxes, and even a creepy banker mannequin.

Several of the puzzles allowed you to  use items you’d expect to find in a Western movie which was a fun touch that added to the theme. They even had several antique items you could manipulate which made the room feel more authentic.

western-bank-heist-1

At least the set is nice?

Low Points:

This is the only escape room I have ever played that allowed people to join after the rest of the group had already begun the game. A couple joined our game about 10 minutes in, breaking the flow. This couple had also never done an escape room before and had missed the GM’s introduction, further confusing things.

The hint system was incredibly frustrating. It should be simple, players ask for a hint out loud and the GM submits the hint via the large TV mounted to the wall. I’m guessing that Escape the Room doesn’t really trust their GMs to be able to run a room because it took a very long time for the GM to respond and when she did, it was very obviously a scripted response that never really answered our questions, just gave a general hint.

The puzzles were so poorly clued that even with half of our group being experienced players, we had to ask for hints for almost every puzzle. One puzzle even required outside knowledge of pop culture. Then there was the bench. Remember the bench the GM directed us to place all of our personal items on? Turns out that bench had a puzzle on it and now we were required to lose precious time moving all of our personal items to access the puzzle.

Another time sink we encountered was a puzzle that required us to use an antique machine that unfortunately didn’t work. We lost a lot of time trying to get help through the hint system, especially since the only responses our GM could use were automated and not actually pertinent to our conundrum. Eventually, a staff member had to come into the room and fix the machine. We were not compensated for the time lost due to this even though the room was strictly linear. This tech fail left our group of 10 standing around twiddling our thumbs for over 5 minutes!

Verdict:

Don’t waste your time with this one unless you want to deal with late guests, a horrible hint system, frustrating puzzles and broken tech. In case you’d like to sate your morbid curiosity, you can do so here. We’d recommend against it, however.

1/10 (Rubbish)