Room Escape Artist

Touching tribute

Location: Murfreesboro, TN

Date Played: July 26, 2018

Team size: 2-4; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $26 per ticket

Ticketing: Public

REA Reaction

Apartment A was tribute to one of Murfreesboro Escape Rooms’ own. After friend and employee Adam Love passed away suddenly last year, this small, intimate escape room was created in his honor. Each puzzle was created by one of his friends from Murfreesboro Escape Rooms and themed according to his interests.

Apartment A was puzzle-centric and played quickly, despite a rough difficulty curve. We emerged from this escape room happy that we had played it, both as escape room players and humans who felt like Adam must have been a pretty special guy to have inspired this game in his friends.

Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from Apartment A go to a non-profit in Adam’s honor.

If you’re in the area, and like puzzle-driven games or want honor a guy who certainly seemed worthy of it, please give this one a shot. We’re glad that we did.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Players with at least some experience

Why play?

• Apartment A was a lovingly crafted tribute
• Part of the proceeds go to a non-profit
• Creative puzzle play

Story

Apartment A was a tribute to Adam Love, a clearly beloved friend and employee of Murfreesboro Escape Rooms who unexpectedly passed away in 2017.

This escape room didn’t have a traditional scenario. It was a collection of puzzles made by his friends and themed according to his interests. We all left with a sense of who Adam was and absorbed a story that was far more touching.

Setting

Apartment A was a staged in a small one-room space. It was brightly painted, and well lit…

Seriously, this was probably the most brightly lit escape room that I’ve ever been in. I don’t think it was possible to cast a shadow. This helped make the tribute room feel warm and loving as opposed to dark and sorrowful.

Gameplay

Murfreesboro Escape Rooms’ Apartment A was a standard escape room with a lower level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around puzzling and building connections.

Analysis

+ We came away from Apartment A with a sense of Adam Love. He was a person we would have liked to know.

+ Although this was a tribute, it was joyful. We knew it was ok – more than ok – to have fun. We were impressed with how Murfreesboro Escape Rooms kept the experience upbeat through lighting, color, props, and gameplay.

– There was no on-ramp to Apartment A. It was too difficult to figure out how to get started.

+ As tabletop gaming fans, we loved seeing Ticket To Ride turned into a puzzle.

+ Our favorite moment combined Adam’s love of board games with his love of cooking in a humorously clever connection.

– While the linear gameflow worked well for this collection of puzzles, the difficulty curve was a bit off.

– There were multiple locks with identical digit structures. Some input locations could have used a bit more cluing.

+ Apartment A was decorated with photos of Adam. They came together beautifully to punctuate our escape.

+ We could tell that Apartment A was cathartic for Murfreesboro Escape Rooms… but that didn’t make it any less fun to play through.

Tips for Visiting

• There is parking out front.
• We enjoyed the muffins (and other delicacies) at Mimi’s Cafe.

Book your hour with Murfreesboro Escape Rooms’ Apartment A, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Murfreesboro Escape Rooms comped our tickets for this game.