Tag: Southern Pines

Southern Pines Escape – Wizard Thief (Review)

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Location: Southern Pines, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 2-3)

Price: $27 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Magic Mirror on the wall, who’s the greatest escapist of them all?

Theme:

From the Southern Pines Escape website:

The Evil Wizard has stolen artifacts from your favorite childhood storylines. He is gone for the next hour gathering supplies for his final evil spell and you have found yourself in his castle tower. It is up to you and your team to retrieve each artifact before he returns, to thwart his evil plan and to save everyone’s ‘Happily Ever After’!

First Impressions:

Wizard Thief was the last room we experienced at Southern Pines Escape, and though the previous three rooms varied a bit in quality, I can definitely say that we saved the best for last. This room easily had the best set, and it showed from the very start.

High Points:

As stated, Wizard Thief has the best set of any of the rooms at Southern Pines Escape, no contest. The design, lighting, and sound effects are implemented very well, and show a marked evolution from earlier rooms. Everything is very responsive, and when tech is involved, it is easy to know when a solution is working or not. The story line is simple, but sets up the tasks in the room well, presenting a great start, and ensuring that the overall mission is intuitive. As we puzzled through the room, gathering various fairly tale items, our progress was excellently signposted, so we always knew about where we were situated in the game flow. Speaking of game flow, this room definitely had the most smooth game flow of the bunch, with an intuitiveness that held up throughout, and a diverse run of puzzles that challenged without resorting to logical leaps or red herrings. One particular puzzle used well hidden tech, lighting, and a very satisfying tactile solve to present one of my favorite “crafting” puzzles I’ve seen in a room. With a mostly non-linear set up, some surprising reveals that we absolutely did not see coming, and, (I think most enthusiasts will appreciate this one,) ample flashlights for everyone, Wizard Thief is easily my favorite room at Southern Pines Escape.

Low Points:

To start off the room, we found a pair of pliers, which seemed out of theme, but also seemed very useful for one particular puzzle we had identified. While it was tricky, we were able to solve the puzzle, but weren’t quite able to use what we found immediately. Later on, we found a prop that seemed much more suited to this task, revealing that the pliers may have been left in the room on accident during the reset. For this room’s climax, there was again a lock to the side of the door, which remained anticlimactic, especially since this seemed very unnecessary due to the task based nature of the room. There were many similar lock types used within this room, but for the most part, it didn’t involve as much guess and check as previous rooms here, and each level contained mostly diverse lock types. One particular set piece was a great idea, and seemed like it would be a very cool way to evoke magic, but the projector that was used to pay this magic off was fairly unfocused, making for some very difficult reading.

Verdict:

Wizard Thief is a fun experience, especially for new escapists and families looking for an engaging hour of puzzling. While some of the experience could be refined in order to create an even more magical experience, overall, it is a good time, and has just enough surprises to keep veterans on their toes. I recommend this one, but do think enthusiasts will be happiest with a smaller group. Book your time recovering the stolen fairy tale artifacts here!

7.5/10 (Good)

Southern Pines Escape – Ninja Team Six (Review)

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Location: Southern Pines, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 2-3)

Price: $27 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Chuck Norris once finished an escape room before the briefing began.

Theme:

From the Southern Pines Escape website:

Nobody says NO to legendary martial artist and all around badass Buck Morris, so when he decided to bid on a cursed diamond at an estate auction, nobody tried to outbid him. Unfortunately, that jewel has turned Buck to the dark side. Now he’s roundhouse-kicking anyone who gets in his way as he embarks on a crime fueled rampage. The super-secret vigilante group known as Ninja Team 6 has been tasked with breaking into the military bunker where it’s been rumored that Buck is keeping the jewel.You are members of Ninja Team Six. Your mission is to 1) Infiltrate Buck Morris’ bunker; 2) Figure out where he is keeping the diamond; 3) Retrieve the diamond and escape within one hour, when Buck is expected to return.

First Impressions:

Ninja Team Six is certainly one of the most creative themes we’ve come across, with Chuck Norris’s evil twin serving as the main antagonist and granting his strange eccentricities to the room’s theme. This was also the newest room at Southern Pines Escape, so I was interested to see how their rooms had evolved over the years!

High Points:

While the story line is fairly light overall, it is definitely an interesting conceit for a room in practice, and all areas of the room have a well integrated set design, setting up a fun dichotomy between the levels of the game. There is a really dense set of puzzles to engage with as well, and the connections within Ninja Team Six are some of the best at Southern Pines Escape. Coupling this with a mostly non-linear game flow, even larger teams will have something to do at all points during the adventure. The difficulty curve is pretty smooth for the most part, with the late stages of the game holding the best and most challenging conundrums. One puzzle I thought was really great involved some great Chuck Norris themed word play and had a smooth mechanical interaction that was a fun touch. Though the climax of the room was marred somewhat for us (see below,) it was a cool reveal once the game master was able to get it working, and provided an interesting way to cap things off. Hidden items and surprising reveals are done well, keeping us on our toes through their great presentation. On the whole, this is a reasonably entertaining room to work through, though there is nothing overly mind blowing for veteran escapists.

Low Points:

One of the most noticeable parts of the room is a big red herring, and though we kept coming back to it thinking that it would eventually reveal itself to hold some important clue, it was one hundred percent just a random red herring that had nothing to do with anything. One particular puzzle was an out of theme, “because escape room” time waster that we have been seeing pop up quite a bit lately after not seeing them around much since the escape room early days. Several times, keys did not open locks, not because they were the incorrect key, but because the prop was already worn and finicky, and one late game lock misfired totally, ruining the climactic surprise because it just did not work. One particular escape room sin, (black light, it’s almost always black light, isn’t it?) tripped us up for a while as the use for this item was unclued. One prop was incorrectly reset, causing us to lose a fair bit of time before the game master realized what had happened and came in to correct the problem. Overall, the room is cute and portrays a fun theme, but Chuck Norris’s meme currency is fairly dated, so it’s going to be very hit or miss with players.

Verdict:

Ninja Team Six is a great idea, and the presentation is overall done well, though it is not without it’s issues. However, the game is a little better than average, and will definitely be a good time for those new to the hobby. Enthusiasts might have more fun with a limited group, but should not expect anything too out of the ordinary. I can recommend this one if you’re really itching for an escape, though it wouldn’t be my first choice. Book your enlistment with Ninja Team Six here!

6/10 (Alright)

Southern Pines Escape – Doomed to Die (Review)

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Location: Southern Pines, NC

Players: 2-8 (We recommend 2-3)

Price: $27 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Escape Noir

Theme:

From the Southern Pines Escape website:

It’s 1940 and prior to P.I. Peter Ingles murder and there’s a crooked cop inside the precinct. Peter has been asked to help find the murder weapon that has disappeared from Evidence. Peter is away working on a new case and has asked for your gumshoeing. There is an hour before trial, and the evidence needs to be present before the trial begins – without it, the murderer won’t swing.

First Impressions:

Southern Pines Escape was recommended to us a couple years ago when we visited The Great Escape Cameron, which has, unfortunately, closed down. It took us a while to get back out to the area, but we were excited to take on all four rooms as part of an escaping day trip!

High Points:

If there’s one thing that stood out to me about Doomed to Die, it is that there is a large density of puzzles within the room, in fact, there are quite a few more than I originally expected upon our entry into the room. There is a good variety in these enigmas and interactions, though sometimes it can feel as though there is no real thematic connection between the overarching story and the tasks within the room. For example, for a room that takes place within the 1940s, one particular item feels completely out of place, but the puzzle that it presents is a lot of fun to complete. The game flow is mostly linear with a few exceptions, and the connections made good sense within the puzzles themselves.  Set design is competent, rising above “converted office space,” but isn’t overly mind blowing. However, the design works within the theme, presenting a private investigator’s office well enough. Overall, this is a fairly basic, but enjoyable, first generation room that will appeal mostly to new players, and delivers a serviceable introduction to those who want to experience escape rooms for the first time. The whole package presents a game that may not be overly impressive to hardened enthusiasts, but is certainly an above average room that is good for an hour’s puzzling.

Low Points:

One particular interaction was actually a really cool moment of revelation, but the cluing is very light, and we only figured it out due to having a fair amount of experience with escape room technology rather than due to anything in the room cluing us into the method of solving. One puzzle requires the use of a fairly ubiquitous escape room prop, which is fine for the interaction it is involved in, but some of the clues have been rewritten, and some that are meant to have been removed aren’t quite gone, confusing the puzzle and leaving some red herrings around the area. There’s a fair amount of guess and check, as similar locks are used throughout the experience, and the answers don’t direct to any particular lock. There is no real story to the room after the initial briefing, so the whole room mostly feels like a “because escape room” experience, and while having a puzzle room isn’t necessarily bad, it’s always better to have a story to support the adventure. The final escape is a bit weird as the required lock is just placed to the side of the door, leading to a fairly anticlimactic end. The room can fit up to eight players, but I’d recommend a smaller group, as even a lightly experienced team is going to have a few folks standing around at the max group size due to the general linearity.

Verdict:

Doomed to Die is a fairly enjoyable puzzle room for a couple or small group, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for much larger than a group of four. However, it is a fun experience, especially for newer players, as it contains some clever puzzles and interactions, and is a competently designed adventure. More experienced players will want to further limit their group size, and those who prefer good story integration may want to look elsewhere. That being said, we enjoyed our time as a group of two within this room. You can book your time seeking the incriminating evidence here!

6/10 (Alright)

Southern Pines Escape – Da Vinci’s Office (Review)

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Kara’s Note: This review is brought to you by me! 😀

Location: Southern Pines, NC

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

Price: $27 per person

Time to Escape: 60 minutes

Da Vinci’s Other Code

Room Description, from the Southern Pines Escape website:

Leonardo da Vinci was one the greatest minds the world has ever known. He invented, painted, sculpted and did so many things that we are still trying to figure out. We can’t do it alone. Many have tried and failed. Time and time again Leonardo’s riddles baffle us. You and your friends have been granted a rare private viewing of Leonardo’s own private quarters. Now it’s up to you. You’ve got an hour. Can you do what many before you have tried and failed time after time?

Pre-Room Thoughts

Surprisingly, I have not done a Da Vinci themed room before. There are so many possibilities that such a room can cover – art, science, math, history, etc. – so I was excited to see what this one would hold!

Yay Points

When I first walked into the room, I immediately appreciated how big it was. It is definitely able to hold the maximum of 8 people the entire time! It had great and large on-theme decorations, and I could tell there was a lot of effort put into the creation of some of the props in this room.

There were interesting ideas behind some of the puzzles, and we really enjoyed one in particular early on in the game.

Pondering Points

I was told this was one of Southern Pines Escapes’ oldest available rooms, and unfortunately, that made our experience make a lot more sense.

Even though I liked the ideas behind many of the puzzles, the execution of them was marred by the fact that they seemed worn. This slowed us down because we had to repeat some puzzles multiple times or make guesses to some of the answers because the puzzles did not always get their placement exactly right, which was pivotal to solving them. One puzzle was held up by locks, of which some were broken so that they were coming off the wall. It was a potentially interesting idea, but its broken state made it hard to solve and confusing to approach. Another puzzle also got in its own way by accidentally obscuring its own clues, which was a shame because it was also a more unique idea. The directions to both of these puzzles were also a little confusing, and we ended up needing to guess and check at the right answers.

Those puzzles weren’t the only ones we had those issues with as there seemed to be more than a few logical leaps within this room, sometimes due to incomplete directions or just a general lack of cluing, which made a number of the puzzles more difficult to solve, but in the worst possible way. There were also some intentional (or perhaps unintentional) and unnecessary red herrings. While I do admit my bias against red herrings, this definitely made an already tiring room more frustrating, and made it harder to figure out what was actually important to solving a couple of the puzzles. (That being said, one of the puzzles to which I am referring likely had a lot of great effort that went into it, and I do appreciate the information it otherwise contained.)

A couple of times, we had to guess at which set of clues went with which puzzle, as the style of the clues overlapped with each other. The room also contained many of the same-type locks without an easy way to match locks with puzzles, which made us need to try our answers on multiple locks until we found the right one.

I do not often see destructible state puzzles, which become impossible to solve if you move things around (and therefore mess up the information you need to solve it), but we had to use a hint on one because that is exactly what we did. (Editor’s Note: Also, there was no indication that there was a destructible state puzzle in play, further muddling things.)

Despite some great uses of the theme, there were a couple of missed opportunities with some of the room’s decorations – and I mean that literally because they didn’t serve more than an aesthetic purpose. Of course, this is not inherently a bad thing (as most rooms have amazing decorations that solely serve to exhibit the theme of the room), but is surprising given the prominence of the props, the types of props they are, and the effort it likely took to build them when there were likely easier ways to do them.

Final Verdict

The Da Vinci room has a lot of potential, but would certainly benefit from some updates and added cluing. It was not the best room we did at Southern Pines Escapes, so I would definitely recommend their other ones first – in particular, the Wizard Thief (review to come!) However, you are definitely welcome to check the room out for yourself here.

2/10 (Bad)