Mobile Escape Room Texas – Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty [Review]

Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty is one of the best escape rooms in San Antonio. Here are our recommendations for great escape rooms in San Antonio.

Roll away the Alamo

Location:  San Antonio, TX

Date Played:  August 7, 2019

Team size: 2-8; we recommend 3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: contact them for event pricing

Ticketing: Private

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

When Mobile Escape Room Texas approached our booth at the escape room conference in San Antonio, we were intrigued by Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty. We’ve generally enjoyed our experiences in trailer-based escape rooms and have been impressed with the ingenuity of these creators.

Mobile Escape Room Texas surprised us, however, by raising the bar. When our gamemaster “locked” us inside this Alamo, we were taken aback by the level of detail and portrayal of the historical space. Whereas most games in trailers lean into the long and thin layout when choosing a theme, Mobile Escape Room Texas did something different, including an unorthodox transition to boot.

In-game: An hourglass sitting on a stack of crates.

Mobile Escape Room Texas designed primarily for a corporate/ party, non-puzzler audience. They can run Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty as a 15-minute, 30-minute, or 60-minute game. They can segment the trailer to run two games simultaneously. The versatility was impressive.

If you’re an experienced escape room player, don’t expect especially novel puzzle-play or interaction design. Expect detailed design and solid gameplay with a few minor hiccups.

The novelty is how this game navigated the arduous spatial and audience constraints. From this angle Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty, is especially impressive.

Who is this for?

  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • History buffs
  • Any experience level

Why play?

  • Great set design
  • Solid puzzle play rooted in history

Story

It was 1836 and we had gone to the Alamo to retrieve a letter on orders from Sam Houston. We’d been misidentified as spies and locked up in the small mission right before the famous battle was set to begin.

In-game: a Mexican flag, coats, and a lantern hanging on the wall of the Alamo.

Setting

Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty was set inside a mobile escape room trailer: all signage on the outside, another world within.

The exterior of Mobile Escape Room's trailer.

Inside the trailer, the walls evoked the old fortress with detailed weathering. The wooden furniture and props felt like they belonged. The dim space was lit by lanterns. There was no resemblance to the modern trailer and no indication that we were on wheels.

Gameplay

Mobile Escape Room Texas’ Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty was a mobile escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and puzzling.

In-game: A musket viewed through cage bars.

Analysis

➕  From the gamespace, you never would have known that Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty was a mobile escape room set inside a trailer. The set was designed and detailed. It looked great. Mobile Escape Room Texas even constructed a transition.

➕ Mobile Escape Room Texas minded the period-specific details of their historical staging. They even crafted custom brass wheels for a word lock.

In-game: The weathered concrete and stone walls of the Alamo.

➕ The puzzles and inputs varied enormously. We enjoyed putting our mark on one puzzle and wrapping up another. If we turned around, we might find a well-hidden input. There were many satisfying solves.

➖ We encountered some severe wear where a puzzle was practically illegible. 

➖ One ghost puzzle marched on.

➕ /➖ Mobile Escape Room Texas triggered a sound to indicate when a puzzle was solved. While we appreciated the feedback, this was frequently lost among the sounds of a team of people in a small space. Spring-loaded doors that pop open would help a team’s forward momentum. 

➕ Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty included cut-scene video interludes. We enjoyed how these added background to the game without disrupting gameplay.

➖ In an escape room that offered great moments, the ending fizzled. We wanted to feel the triumph of success more emphatically.

Tips For Visiting

  • Mobile Escape Room Texas can bring the game to you. It’s a trailer. You can also come to them at their regular parking lot in San Antonio.
  • At least one player will need to crawl.
  • Mobile Escape Room Texas can run this game as a 15-minute, 30-minute, or 60-minute experience depending on a client’s needs and goals.

Book your hour with Mobile Escape Room Texas’ Alamo Escape: The Race to Liberty, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Mobile Escape Room Texas comped our tickets for this game.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: