Tag: Asheville

A-Escape  – Mystery Lodge (Review)

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By: Cassandra Smith

Location: Asheville, NC

Players: 2-6 (We recommend 2-4)

Price: $25 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Theme:

Great Uncle Lou’s Mystery Lodge is full of all sorts of wondrous and bizarre collections! UFOs? Bigfoot? Ghosts? You name it! When a greedy businessman hatches a plot to tear down the Mystery Lodge and open a car wash, it’s up to you and your friends to solve the riddles within the Lodge and save the day! Work through cryptids, magic DVDs, and mesmerizing puzzles in this fun-filled room!

First Impressions

I’d been to A-Escape back in 2017, and had an absolute blast in their Selachi Research Lab room, long before I started reviewing rooms. Despite having a more “home-made” feel, it was a brilliant little room, with loads of interesting interactions and a mysterious vibe that stuck in my head five years later upon my return to Asheville on a couple’s retreat with my wife. I was excited to return, and I loved the idea of a room based on a cryptid “museum” of sorts. At first, we were only going to play Diner 51 (which the wonderful Johnathan Byerly reviewed here,) because there were no other time slots available, but we contacted the folks at A-Escape on a lark, hoping for a miracle, and they were more than happy to have Mystery Lodge ready for us to play as well!

High Points

The Mystery Lodge promises a wide array of cryptids and supernatural enigmas to explore, and it absolutely delivers! The decor of the room is on point, and I really loved the strange and wonderful exhibits that really seemed to take time and care to create. From jackalopes to my personal favorite, Mothman, this little lodge has it all. But what is a cute theme and well decorated room without puzzles? Luckily, this lodge is filled to the brim with them! The room was semi non linear, and despite our experience in escape rooms we found that we were given an appropriate challenge to conquer, and never felt like anything was too elementary or overly obtuse. In fact, the only hint we needed was in order to overcome our Achilles heel of finding items left out in the open. We really need a remedial class on “spotting things hidden in plain sight.” Several of the interactions in the room resulted in some interesting results, and one in particular is really well done, producing a magical result we certainly weren’t expecting! All of the puzzles in the room have some sort of way to tie the clues together, with icons or similar motifs allowing us to make connections between the plethora of clues we had at any given moment, which was a nice touch. Despite the room being full of crazy props and exhibits, there weren’t any items that stood out to us as extraneous, or as red herrings, and the game flowed very smoothly from point to point. One of the focal points of the room is the hint system, which is well delivered, and a really fun, integrated way to dole out hints without detracting from the immersion. All in all, I’m very glad we added this room on to our trip, and had an amazing time saving Great Uncle Lou’s Mystery Lodge!

Low Points

One of the items we needed in order to solve the room was broken. Luckily, it could be worked around, but it always stinks to miss out on part of the room, despite this not being 100% the fault of the business. It would probably be a good idea, however, to have some duplicate props on hand for future unfortunate events. Some parts of the room felt a little worn, and despite the theme, this wasn’t the kind of worn that looks as excellent in an escape game. There is one particular part of the room that looks really cool, keeping something truly mysterious under lock and key, but feels like a missed opportunity once it is revealed. It’s not all that bad by any stretch, but we were really hoping for more.

Verdict

We had an awesome time in what is now my favorite room at A-Escape! I loved the theming and the inclusion of loads of interesting cryptid and supernatural exhibits housed within the Mystery Lodge, not to mention the slate of excellent puzzles to solve. I absolutely recommend checking this one out, and you can book your time in the Lodge here!

8 out of 10 (Great)

A-Escape  – Diner 51 (Review)

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By: Johnathan Byerly

Location: Asheville, NC

Players: 2-6 (We recommend 2-4)

Price: $25 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Theme:

A nondescript diner in the middle of the desert.

A missing scientist.

A decoded signal from light-years away.

On the eve of humankind’s first contact with an arriving extraterrestrial fleet, you may be Earth’s final hope for discovering how it’s all connected.

First Impressions

Booking was easy and the staff were quick to respond to emails. Stopping in was a last-minute decision, so we were really happy with their responsiveness.

No video intros or instructions, the staff member is there to answer all your questions and tell you the story in person. A warm throwback to earlier days of escape rooms and happy to miss the often cheesy video introductions. After a very simple lobby and exterior, the game master led us into the diner and we were off!

Immediately we were impressed with the level of effort and detail put into the set design and theming. It was clean, shiny, and bright, much like you would expect a road-side diner.

High Points

This first room was amazing -. Bright colors, old-school diner booths, even a counter and register. It’s their newest room and their effort to make a quality room shows.

Many of the props were interactive and there were some great reveals. I loved there’s a final puzzle that you work on throughout the entire experience and the story leaves you with a critical choice that’s both fun and very thematic. Lots of backstory for those who like reading and reviewing props not directly related to solving a puzzle.

The design varied from being linear to bring us together to letting us each work on a puzzle in smaller groups or alone. There’s also some great hands-on puzzling.

Low Points

Sadly another major reset failure (and the use of a power-related prior puzzle in Abandoned Submarine) led to us turning off the power to half the building. Seriously, if no room ever asked me to interact with a breaker box, fire alarm, interior of wall sockets/light switches, or other obvious electrical systems it would be great. To their credit, the staff leaped into action and got everything up and running again within minutes. Still, we left feeling a bit embarrassed.

The second part of the experience clearly doesn’t have as much love and attention as the first part. While we loved the “E.T. Phone Home” style capstone puzzle, it was a little flimsy and touchy to use.

Verdict

A unique take on the alien trope! I don’t know why more places don’t explore the classic diner experience, but it really made for something memorable. This is also one of the rare experiences that lets you make a choice on how your room ends.

You can book your experience by clicking here.

8 out of 10

Full Disclosure: We received a media discount on our ticket purchases

Enter the Conundrum – Dr. Wunderbruggen’s Brewery Brouhaha (Review)

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Location: Asheville, NC

Players:  2-10 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $25 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

A rare comedy room that delivers laughs and puzzles in full.

Theme:

It’s time for a visit to the eccentric Dr. Wunderbruggen’s newest brewery in Asheville! The secretive brewer has opened his operation up to a select few for the tour of a lifetime. Everything is going wonderfully until your guide notices that The Super Secret Brewing Recipe (you know, the one posted on the wall under Super Secret Brewing Recipe?) has gone missing! It’s time to go into full panic mode and find it before it falls into the hands of Dr. Wunderbruggen’s nemesis!

First Impressions:

The high energy actress took us down the hall to begin our tour, bantering with us and giving us a great way to begin getting immersed into the theme. We were then given access into the brewery and our tour began! More great interactions with our guide revealed something was amiss, and it was time to begin our frantic search for the lost recipe!

High Points:

The room was colorful and fun; a great break from the sometimes dour theming of serial killer and mystery rooms. Props begged to be interacted with, and the feeling of the room was light and comedic. The actress was very high energy and was integrated into the game in fun and interesting ways, interacting with her was a real treat. Puzzles flowed well from one to the next, and this may be the only room in which a red herring or two felt like they belonged and added to the experience. The silly nature of the room was fantastically weird and truly entertaining, but didn’t feel jarring or out of place.

Low Points:

One puzzle felt laborious in it’s execution, as completing it required a small bit of tedium in it’s accomplishment, and another had many moving parts but did not clue us into which were important. A different interaction was whimsical in it’s idea, but the prop was too delicate and had been busted by a previous group. This was quickly addressed in a glorious bit of improv, and didn’t become much of an issue.

Verdict:

Enter the Conundrum built on the technological and storyline based ideas from the Attic of Abigail Falkirk, and created a zany room with great flow. Enter the Conundrum has pulled off a great feat in creating a comedic room that still has good focus on the puzzles and stays weird without losing sight of it’s storyline. Stylishly meshing a theatrical experience with an escape room, Dr. Wunderbruggen’s Brewery Brouhaha is a must see when in Asheville. Book your brewery tour here!

8/10 (Great)

Enter the Conundrum – The Attic of Abigail Falkirk (Review)

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Location: Asheville, NC

Players:  2-8 (We recommend 4-6)

Price: $25 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

An uneven, but high tech, haunting.

Theme:

There’s something wrong with the Falkirk attic. The family has been hearing strange noises and experiencing phenomena that can only be described as supernatural. They won’t let anyone investigate, however, so the family maid has taken matters into her own hands and hired a “cleaning crew” to find out what’s going on.

First Impressions:

Enter the Conundrum has a wonderful lobby that includes a bar, lounge area, and various board games for before and after your escape experience. In fact, they’re a private club, and you’ll get a membership card when you visit! I was told this was so that they could have the bar and serve absinthe. Once it came time for us to begin our exploration of the attic, we were greeted by Mrs. Applebottom, the family maid, who ushered us, the cleaning crew, into another room and briefed us on our mission in character. It set up the story nicely, and informed us of what we needed to do. We were given a way to get in contact should we need assistance, and were sent to the attic to begin.

High Points:

There was a good amount of technology that allowed for some innovative puzzles and interactions to take place, even if the cluing for some of these tended to be uneven. An early game puzzle led to a really surprising reveal after a fun interaction. Props were hidden interestingly, and made the attic a lot of fun to search. The storyline was well woven through the room and made good use of hidden technology to pop up at unexpected times. A couple of the puzzles are solved in exciting and non-traditional ways.

Low Points:

The actress didn’t seem to add much to the story once we’d entered the room, and I couldn’t tell if it was just that her character was sarcastic and short, or if she was just having a bad day. A couple times we needed help due to puzzle parts being movable when they should not be, and having to call for help in those situations was frustrating. The overall initial vibe seemed to be Victorian, but certain puzzles were out of place for the time period and theme, and anachronistic props and story elements kept showing up, breaking the immersion. One of the main objectives was made quite a bit harder due to very important parts of the story being printed in an extremely small font. Some of the haunts overstayed their welcome, and due to their nature, we couldn’t do anything else while they played out. The ending felt anticlimactic and a little forced due partly to the setup of the room and partly due to unclear objectives.

Verdict:

I really want to like The Attic of Abigail Falkirk more than I did. It seems like there is so much to enjoy, but the unevenness and constant speedbumps to immersion make it harder to recommend. The current flow is jarringly interrupted constantly enough that the adventure feels really rough, though I do think that if those were ironed out, it could easily be one of, if not the, best rooms in Asheville. For it’s ideas, though, I think it’s still a good experience, generally and worth a look. Book your investigation into the Attic of Abigail Falkirk here!

5/10 (Mediocre)