Room Escape Artist

The Wizard’s Curse is one of the best games in the Chicago area. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms around Chicago.

We’re off to see the wizard…

If you enjoy The Wizard’s Curse, we hope you’ll check out our interview with creators Anne & Chris Lukeman on The Reality Escape Pod.

Location:  Urbana, IL

Date Played: March 12, 2022

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 2-3

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $35 per player for 2 players, $30 per player for 3-4 players, $25 per player for 5-6 players

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: stairs for at least 1 player

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Wizard’s Curse was clever, compact, and thoroughly charming. The smallest of CU Adventures’ current offerings, it was best suited for smaller teams, but had no shortage of delightful interactions.

CU Adventures has a talent for putting original twists on common themes, in both their in-person and virtual/ tabletop games. In The Wizard’s Curse, we encountered a familiar story: we had to find a way to defeat the evil wizard who’d cast a spell over our kingdom. Even if this story was nothing new, the room’s polished puzzling, multi-level set, and fun characters made this a memorable experience.

If you’re choosing amongst the rooms at CU Adventures, you can’t really go wrong. Especially for small teams, newer players, and magic lovers, I recommend playing The Wizard’s Curse.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Any experience level

Why play?

• Clever use of a small space
• The puzzles

Story

An evil wizard had cast a spell over our kingdom. We snuck into his inner sanctum and had to find some way to defeat him before it was too late.

Setting

The Wizard’s Curse was set in an evil wizard’s library-workshop. Mystical artifacts and imagery filled the space, and a small library awaited up a short flight of stairs.

Gameplay

CU Adventures’ The Wizard’s Curse was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around puzzling and making connections.

Analysis

➕ The Wizard’s Curse efficiently used a small space. The set transformed as the game went on, with sneaky reuses of surfaces. A low-clearance second level made the set feel much bigger than it actually was.

➕ The gameplay all looked and felt like it belonged in the wizard’s world. Tactile interactions guided us through the space in novel ways.

➕/➖ The wizard was a distinctive character, though at times his presence could have been better contextualized in-room. He generally felt quite lifelike, but the illusion broke in moments where his image froze in place.

➕ A punnily named raven balanced out the evil wizard’s character and was an entertaining in-room presence.

➕ Crystalline torches were attractive, thematic light sources.

➖ A directional lock looked visually out of place and was sticky to operate.

➕/➖ An LED hourglass served as a unique game clock. Though attractive, it wasn’t quite consistent with the rest of the set aesthetic.

➕ The Wizard’s Curse had a satisfying final boss battle with a fair difficulty progression.

Tips For Visiting

• There was a parking lot.

Book your hour with CU Adventures in Time & Space’s The Wizard’s Curse, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: CU Adventures in Time & Space provided media discounted tickets for this game.