Organized Chaos is one of the best games in Boston. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms in Boston.
Update March 2022: Organized Chaos has overall been tightened and streamlined to provide much cleaner gameplay. The case files full of information are now almost entirely removed and lack red herrings, requiring little to no reading to solve any of the puzzles. These do not impede gameplay anymore, and our gamemaster clearly explained to us that they were just story fluff. Thankfully, no outside knowledge is required, and the set has been elevated from the original build. Still chaotic, but in a good way, Organized Chaos no longer includes the unnecessary clunkiness of the past.
Accurately named.
Location: Boston, MA
Date Played: July 14, 2018
Team size: up to 12; we recommend 4-6 (more for a different experience)
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $30 per ticket
Ticketing: Public
REA Reaction
Organized Chaos was all about collecting evidence of crimes. There was a silly number of crimes to solve and a massive heap of evidence to collect in our attempt to collate the evils of an organized crime family… and doing so was chaotic.
While Room Escapers introduced innovative gameplay and some fun moments, the entire experience felt uneven. The quality of the puzzles, cluing, story, and set were all over the map. Some of it was great. Some of it fell short of what we know Room Escapers is capable of producing.
Organized Chaos is worth playing if you’re looking to keep a large group occupied or are interested in exploring an innovative approach to escape room design… even if some of it doesn’t quite gel.
Who is this for?
- Searchers
- Armchair detectives
- Any experience level
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
- A massive amount of content
- Deliberate chaos
- A couple of memorable moments
- A few strong puzzles
Story
It was the 1990s and organized crime was running rampant through Boston. Our agency had finally caught a break in our investigation and we had a brief span of time to investigate Spanky’s Pub, a notorious front business. Our goal: find evidence to close as many unsolved cases as we could before we were stopped by the mobster’s lawyers and their rolls of red tape.
Setting
The starting area of Organized Chaos was split in two. Spanky’s Pub, a Boston bar complete with a beautiful old beer tap and New England sports insignias took up about two thirds of the gamespace. The remaining third of the gamespace was dedicated to evidence collection with a whiteboard-painted wall, evidence bins, case files, and a listing of missing evidence for each case.
The level of set detail fluctuated depending upon where we looked. Some portions were on point; others were a bit on the bare side.
Gameplay
Room Escapers’ Organized Chaos was an atypical escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.
The goal was to find the evidence needed to close as many cases as possible. There wasn’t a traditional win/ lose scenario. We were given a score based on our case close rate. Closing a case required the recovery of three pieces of evidence per case.
Core gameplay revolved around searching, puzzling, and remaining organized.
Analysis
+ Room Escapers’ new School Street location had a spacious, comfortable lobby where they opened up the experience.
+ Our objectives were crystal clear and much of what we needed to accomplish was accessible to even the greenest of escape room players.
– While waiting for our game to start, we were presented with a selection of case files that would be relevant to the gameplay. While more competitive players might want to familiarize themselves with the material ahead of time, many teams will likely find these files dense, overwhelming, and filled with red herrings. We liked the concept, but as it was set up, the pre-game felt like homework and didn’t build up energy for the main event.
+/- There wasn’t any reason to read the case files; we could solve almost all of the crimes with just the evidence checklists. On the one hand, this made the gameplay itself less tedious than if we had had to read the case files. On the other hand, we were sitting on books of needless red herring detail.
– One puzzle couldn’t be solved without either a thorough case file reading or specific outside knowledge. This opened us up to a entire file of red herrings. It also deviated from the pattern learned throughout gameplay that we didn’t need to read the case files.
+ There was a lot to tackle in Organized Chaos. Players were never lacking things to do.
– We didn’t get a sense of the characters or the crimes from the focused search for evidence. Even after solving all the cases, we left with no emotional investment in any of characters or the crimes.
+ Room Escapers provided a dedicated evidence organizing workspace. We especially enjoyed the whiteboard wall.
? Successful teams will likely designate an “evidence cataloguer” to manage the chaos. This person likely won’t experience the rest of the gameplay. Depending on your group, this could be the perfect role for someone… or no one.
+ Room Escapers built a number of fun puzzle interactions and releases into thematic set pieces.
– The point system felt anticlimactic and tacked on because we were only truly introduced to it after the clock had stopped. As a result, the concluding moments of the game felt muddy.
+ Organized Chaos was aptly named. It could keep a large group busy. It was utter chaos managing all that we needed to do. Organizing it was the goal.
Tips for Visiting
- Organized Chaos is at Room Escapers’ School Street location.
- It is easily accessible by subway. Get off at Park Street or Government Center.
- If you’re driving, the Pi Alley Parking Garage is right nearby.
Book your hour with Room Escapers’ Organized Chaos, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Room Escapers comped our tickets for this game.
