It was kind of like Legends of the Hidden Temple… Except I wasn’t screaming at the TV because some kid couldn’t figure out how to assemble the three freakin piece statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey.
Location: Queens, New York
Date played: November 8, 2015
Team size: 4-7; we recommend 4-5
Price: $25 per ticket, must book at least 4 tickets
Theme & story
The Dungeon of Elements was an Indiana Jones-style tomb raid. There was an old mystical thingy… and you wants the precious… So you need to solve some puzzles to unlock it.
The premise was simple and familiar. Instead of loading the game up with story, the puzzles, setting, and huge set pieces carried us through the adventure. It worked well.
Setting
The Dungeon of Elements was located in the basement of an older building in Queens. The basement itself went a long way towards achieving that old dungeon feel that so many rooms fail to achieve.
Huge set pieces
The large set pieces set this game apart. There were a lot of impressive fixtures in The Dungeon of Elements. All of the big, sturdy, mechanical, aged components made the game feel like it had a gravitas that many games fail to achieve.
At times the feeling was undermined by obviously modern components and a heavy reliance on color changing LED lighting, but these were relatively minor infractions.
Puzzles
The dungeon was split into a few different areas, each themed on the mythical elements of water, fire, air, and earth.
Each element presented its own challenge in the form of a physically interactive puzzle. It worked well because each puzzle felt intimately tied to the element that it represented (with the exception of the fire challenge… But it’s tough to make a safe fire challenge that actually involves fire).
All of this culminated with a massive conglomerated puzzle that required the entire team to solve.
Team size
As with their other rooms, Mission Escape Games, Queens’ website accurately nails their team sizing: The room maxes out at seven people, but they recommend five or six players.
Should I play Mission Escape Games, Queens’ The Dungeon of Elements?
The Dungeon of Elements was a top tier game. It was elegant, big, brilliantly designed, memorable, and engaged the entire team at all times.
Book your hour with Mission Escape Games, Queens’ The Dungeon of Elements, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Mission Escape Games Queens comped our tickets for this game.
Six of us did it tonight, four relatively new to escape rooms. We had a fantastic time and escaped. Each of us contributes throughout, there were many moments of collaboration, and the final puzzle took us all into one project. Probably the most delightful one we’ve yet done. Beautifully designed, both game-wise and aesthetically.
Woot! I’m thrilled to hear it.
Hmm. This seems to have closed? The link doesn’t lead to a page that has a “Dungeon of the Elements” room.
Yes. This is correct. We need to make a number of updates to our NYC coverage.
I’d call to ask them. They are great on the phone and often make exceptions – perhaps they’re just tweaking it (it’s my favorite room).
Sadly, I believe that it is gone for good.