Room Escape Artist

HUFF! PUFF!

Location: New York, NY

Date played: July 21, 2016

Team size: 2 to 10; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 60 minutes (+/- 1 second)

Price: $28 per ticket

Story & setting

The Three Little Pigs was a rescue mission escape room set in a cute, playful, storybook scene.

The story was a backdrop for the mission; it didn’t make a ton of sense… I’m still not sure if we were people, pigs, wolves, or some other woodland critter. Regardless, the story wasn’t important in the grand scheme of the game.

Puzzles

While the game space was playful and kid-friendly, the puzzles were adult-challenging.

More than once, they relied on seemingly random pop culture references (we were encouraged to use our phones as needed).

Additionally, there was a critical prop that caused regular bottlenecks in our game.

Standouts

The room escape environment was a bit abstract, and adorable.

The “rescue mission” set up added a bit of fun. This was thoughtfully designed so as not to leave any team members unable to participate in the game for any period of time.

Shortcomings

There was pretense of story, especially with the rescue mission component. However, the game didn’t use the puzzles or the fun, quirky setting to develop narrative. Instead, we solved puzzles – sometimes on theme and sometimes not – while inhabiting a gamespace that felt like a playroom. In the end, it all felt a bit disjointed.

Additionally, we were continuously checking solutions in a number of different input locations. Because the room was more a collection of puzzles than it was a journey though a narrative, there wasn’t anything about any particular puzzle that would clue in to what we’d need next.

The Three Little Pigs looked like a room for kids, but played like a room for adults. The dissonance was jarring.

Should I play 59:59 Room Escape NYC’s Escape of the Three Little Pigs?

Escape of the Three Little Pigs set up a fun environment. This was an adorable staging for this theme, but it offered a game that wasn’t really for kids.

The story, if there was one, was an identity crisis. Three Little Pigs was a game without an audience.

There were some good puzzles worked into the game, but they didn’t work together. Once we derived a solution, we had to input it in multiple locks because most combinations fit in most locks.

The folks from 59:59 are kind and thoughtful, but they are being left behind by the New York market. They should take a tour of the games in the area, and then determine where they want to excel and how they are going to bring something exciting to the table.

We wanted to love their game, but ultimately, Three Little Pigs was a fairy tale without any magic.

Full disclosure: 59:59 Room Escape NYC comped our tickets for this game.