Room Escape Artist

Poach me some drama!

Location: Bloomingdale, IL (metro Chicago)

Date played: August 11, 2016

Team size: up to 6; we recommend 4-6

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $29 per ticket

Story & setting

We were investigating embezzlement in the office of a poacher. The Office was loosely safari-themed, but only as a backdrop. The setting didn’t matter. It was an embezzlement investigation in an office that looked like an office.

Puzzles

The puzzles were standard introductory escape room puzzle types. The Office relied on searching and locks. The puzzles drew on a variety of skill sets, but weren’t particularly challenging.

Standouts

The Office was centered around an incredible wooden desk. (It just so happens that David’s great aunt owned an identical one, so he knew its dark secrets.) Challenge Accepted built puzzles into this beautiful set piece. One particular mechanical puzzle was especially fun.

Our gamemaster gave a thorough and hilarious introduction. It was very well done. The folks who run this place are some of the sweetest owners we’ve met.

The ending of this game was adorable and we celebrated the win in front of their elaborate photo booth.

Shortcomings

The Office was an unremarkable game. There wasn’t any excitement in playing it.

It was a basic puzzle game in an uninteresting setting. There wasn’t any scenery and the back story didn’t contribute to the experience. The back story was unique, but it barely factored in. This felt like a missed opportunity.

Should I play Challenge Accepted’s The Office?

This was a basic game from a company that was targeting a non-escape-room-educated mall audience.

If you’re a new player and you’re in the mall, this would be a great choice of activity. It won’t offer much to experienced players.

I’d love to see Challenge Accepted push their ideas farther. There was a brilliant mechanical puzzle in this game. There was unique story setup. However, they need more of these crafty puzzles and they need to work their themes into the game at every opportunity.

This shouldn’t have been a mundane office. It should have been the workspace of eccentric international criminals. Challenge Accepted, please accept our challenge of injecting more drama into your games.

Full disclosure: Challenge Accepted provided media discounted tickets for this game.