For my next trick…
Location: New Braunfels, TX
Date played: January 8, 2017
Team size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $25 per ticket, $20 per ticket if booking for 5 or more players
Story & setting
After landing our dream job as magician’s assistants, we had unfortunately locked ourselves in the prop room. We had to escape with enough time to prepare for the show.
Backstage at the Magic Show’s set was a hodgepodge of performance magic-related items. The centerpiece was the “saw the lady in half” prop, an object that I had never actually touched before. This one was more be-glittered than I was expecting.
The set made a good first impression, but as the game wore on, it felt a little shallow.
Puzzles
The puzzling in Backstage at the Magic Show was a bit choppy. While some elements of the game had excellent nuance and attention to detail, other elements felt bewilderingly forgotten.
Standouts
Escape Haus created simple yet effective blacklight interaction.
Everything in the game pulled on the theme and related props.
Shortcomings
The puzzles felt disconnected from the story and weren’t memorable.
The set made a great first impression, but it didn’t go anywhere.
There were far too many locked boxes with similar digit structures. It became tedious constantly trying the same combinations over and over until we found the correct lock.
Should I play Escape Haus’ Backstage at the Magic Show?
From the set to the puzzles, I wanted more magic.
Backstage at the Magic Show was a functional game. It didn’t have much that was absolutely wrong with it, but it also didn’t have anything that was especially right either. We struggled to find a favorite moment because so much of the game felt so similar.
If you’ve played all that Escape Haus has to offer and need a puzzle fix, you could do worse, but if there’s anything else to play at Escape Haus, I’d book it instead.
Book your hour with Escape Haus’ Backstage at the Magic Show, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Escape Haus comped our tickets for this game.
