Wait… wait… wait… Go! Wait… wait… wait… Go! Wait…
Location: Morristown, NJ
Date Played: October 29, 2018
Team size: 2-8; we recommend 5-7
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $30.50 per player on weekends, $100 for teams of up to 4 (plus $20.50 for each additional person) on weekdays
Ticketing: Public
REA Reaction
In Last Minute Escape’s Jewel Heist, the heist was far from the focus of the experience. The escape room was staged around travel to and from the heist location.
This staging added a new dynamic to the escape room: a layer of timing and communication challenge that substantially increased the difficulty of this puzzle-focused game. Unfortunately, it also added down time, disbelief, and a nagging feeling of missing out. Although Last Minute Escape introduced a fantastic concept, the execution could use a little more refinement. A tough, creative challenge is good, but not at the expense of fun and flow.
If you’re in northern New Jersey, play escape rooms for the puzzles, and are interested in another layer of challenge, we recommend Jewel Heist.
Who is this for?
- Puzzle lovers
- Players seeking challenge from different types of game mechanics
- Best for players with at least some experience
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
- Inventive game mechanic
- Interesting puzzles
Story
As jewel thieves blackmailed into one last job, we had traveled to Antwerp, Belgium to steal a world-renowned diamond from its appraiser. We needed to get to the jewelry store, break in, steal the diamond, and make our exit.
Setting
We began our heist in a train station. It had a platform, lockers, a ticket machine, and a phone booth. From there, we traveled by train to a simple, small-town jewelry shop with bright lighting, a security system, and jewels in a glass case.
The set design was uneven. Portions of the space – like the train – looked compelling; other sections required more… imagination.
Gameplay
Last Minute Escape’s Jewel Heist was a standard escape room with a high level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, puzzling, and communicating.
The high level of difficulty came from navigating the game’s train travel mechanic, which time-gated travel between the two main areas of the game. Moving from one end of the game to the other required waiting for a few minutes. This profoundly changed the gameplay experience.
Analysis
➕ Last Minute Escape introduced a novel timing and communication challenge in Jewel Heist. We commend the concept, which forced split-team gameplay and added new a dynamic to a timed puzzle game. This was a clever concept.
➖ In practice, this game mechanic created a ton of downtime in an hour-long timed-game. We spent far too much time waiting to play.
➕ Jewel Heist started us well before we were in position to steal the gem. This staging added intrigue, adventure, and some brilliant and unexpected moments. We especially enjoyed the train-station-inspired interactions.
➖ Last Minute Escape didn’t build any onramp to Jewel Heist. It presented a challenging puzzle series in the opening moments. It was a good puzzle, but a harsh opener. We expect that this puzzle flow will add frustration for many teams before they even get to the main event.
➕ We enjoyed the heist-inspired moments of breaking in and the interactions necessary to facilitate this.
➖While it had its moments, for the majority of the hour, Jewel Heist didn’t feel like a heist. It felt like an escape room. Last Minute Escape went out of their way to set up a scenario that included getting to the heist, but as the game played out, it became impossible to suspend our disbelief… which isn’t terrible… but this Last Minute Escape was clearly striving for more.
➕ Jewel Heist was studded with clever puzzles that incorporated interactive props and sucked up our attention, in a good way.
➖ The execution was messy and at times misleading. Imprecise execution created unnecessary frustration for otherwise fun and inventive concepts.
➖ Throughout Jewel Heist, I always felt like I was missing out. I was waiting while my teammates experienced something fun without me. Sometimes this was true, and sometimes it wasn’t, but regardless, the feeling nagged at me for the entire hour.
Tips For Visiting
- There is a parking lot.
- We recommend The Morristown Diner for a bite to eat, even late on weeknights.
Book your hour with Last Minute Escape’s Jewel Heist, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Last Minute Escape provided media discounted tickets for this game.
I appreciate what the designers were trying to do and like that folks are not afraid to push the envelope. An unwelcomed but ever present variable that comes with every venture into the “unknown” is that sometimes IT DOESN’T WORK. OK, so failure is part of the march towards innovation and success. As a designer trying something outside of proven formulas, accept this and use it (modify/abandon) to advance the game further. Not letting go of something that is not working is very human, yet very annoying. I am not trashing the designers – just saying Bravo! for trying something new and “Go Team” for the process of changing the non-working portions with a sense of earnest.
As far as the review; regarding the uneven nature of the set, “required more… imagination.” is an example of REA succinctly communicating everything needed to be said about that topic in a kind AND humorous fashion. This is why I respect/read REA so much. They do not trash people/places yet they are HONEST/FAIR/CONSTRUCTIVE and they are definitely humorous in obvious and sublime ways.
Thank you David. These reviews are always the hardest yet most interesting for us to write.
It matters a great deal to us that creators continue to explore unsafe territory, and we don’t believe that anyone should be crapped on for trying something new… even if it doesn’t all come together.
Lisa and I have a lot of respect for the folks behind Last Minute Escape.