Location: Durham, NC

Players: 2-10 (We recommend 2-4)

Price: $26 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Airline travel done dirt cheap

Theme:

You’re on a flight to Raleigh Durham International Airport, and everything seems to be going well, until the pilot gets himself locked out of the cockpit! It’s up to you to figure out why and unlock the door before the plane runs out of fuel! All in a normal day here at Dirt Cheap Airlines, where safety comes last!

First Impressions:

Escape on Purpose’s mission is to use their business to help promote charities in the area, which is a very noble cause! We were allowed to select from the three charities they’ve partnered with when booking and a part of the game fee was donated to that cause. This is a fantastic idea, and really hoped the rooms would be as excellent as this idea as well!

High Points:

There has been effort made with the set, and though it doesn’t quite become fully immersive, some very true to life props have been used in the making of this room. The seats, overhead compartments, and drink cart are all convincing and likely real decommissioned parts from an actual plane. There are good spots of humor inside, whether its finding a pop culture themed prop or reading a particularly silly note, which is fairly rare in most rooms. Staff is very personable and warm, and provided a good introductory and GMing experience.

Low Points:

Puzzles overall were sparse, as most interactions involved scavenging around the room for a hidden code or key, which wears thin after a while. The actual puzzles themselves ranged from entirely too banal, (think puzzle books you can find at the grocery store,) to vaguely clued and weirdly hidden. In fact, for one extremely vague interaction, we not only had to find what amounted to a needle in a haystack, but our tallest person was the only one able to find it using a fairly unstable stool. In fact, I was worried, as I’d already fallen off said stool once! The room is filled with 3 and 4 number locks, as well as a few keyed ones, forcing a lot of guess and check with codes. While effort was made to present a believable set, it still fell short, coming off more as a office space that included some plane bits rather than a full fledged airplane. There is also a lot of junk to sort through, and while some random props are funny when you find them, very quickly does the room feel extremely cluttered. A maximum of 10 people in this room is entirely too many, as the space and game flow would not be sufficient for that many people, even less if you are bringing a group of enthusiasts! The ending is highly unsatisfying, leading to an escape that barely feels like one, leaving us all to wonder if we had even finished and what the purpose of our last action was.

Verdict:

We brought some new players to this room, and they seemed to enjoy the experience, having fun with the searching features and basic puzzles. Once you have a few games under your belt, though, you’re really looking for something a little more engaging. Hopefully we’ll be able to take these new players along to some more exciting rooms in the future! (T)Error in the Sky is a very basic experience, with little to excite, so I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you’re hard pressed for adventure or are brand new to the hobby. Which is a shame, since their mission to help out local charities through their business is an admirable one. You can book your time in the cabin here!

4.5/10 (Subpar)