Room Escape Artist

Update 12/6/22: If you enjoy Boda Borg, we hope you’ll check out our interview with President/ CEO David Spigner on The Reality Escape Pod.

As RECON approaches, the team is getting excited to show attendees what amazing things the greater Boston Area has to offer, including Boda Borg. While not a typical escape room experience, there are some important things to note before you go.

Navigation

Maps throughout the facility show where each quest is located. Quests are labeled both on the map and at the quest entrance with one of three colors, signaling what level of physicality is required.

• Green are primarily mental challenges. Any physical activity involved won’t be strenuous.
• Red combine physical interactions with puzzles. These usually require some crawling or climbing, but are not as intense as black.
• Black are physically strenuous challenges. Similar to Ninja Warrior challenges, these require climbing, crawling, balancing, supporting your own body weight, and a myriad of other physical interactions.

Each quest has a screen above the doorway that either displays a red circle, which indicates that the space is occupied, or a green triangle, which means that the door is unlocked and you can go into the quest. Entrance doors lock behind you, but there is always an exit door that is unlocked in every space. If a quest is occupied, it will usually be at most 3 minutes before the next team can enter. 

Preparation

Required Attire

You must wear closed-toe shoes with a closed heel and no big gaps – basically a sneaker or full shoe. Comfortable sneakers are recommended for all questers, as you will be on your feet most of the time.

We suggest comfortable clothes. If you plan on completing some more of the physical challenges, we recommend athletic clothing. If you plan on completing mostly mental challenges, you will be fine with any attire.

Recommended Equipment 

For physical challenges, we’ve found use in the items below. These are not required, but may make some of the physical challenges more accessible: 

• Grippy shoes
• Knee pads
• Climbing gloves/ weight gloves/ hand wraps (These help with monkey bars and climbing challenges.) 

We also suggest a water bottle. There is a cooler and cups on the second floor, but it can be nice to have your water closer to the quests.

Tips for having a great time

You can open a room and bail out of a quest at any time, for any reason. You are never locked in, nor are you ever in a position that you cannot safely leave. Even with the most physical quests, any player can walk in and see what the first space looks like before committing. 

While hyperfixating and playing a single quest over and over and over can be fun, we recommend trying a quest 2-3 times and then bouncing around to a new one. Sometimes solving other quests can help your mindset with the one you were stuck on.

If something isn’t fun, go to another quest! Nothing is forcing you to stay at a quest. It’s good to be persistent, but don’t burn yourself out on the same quest all night. 

You will NOT finish everything or see everything your first time here. I’ve spent close to 30 hours at Boda Borg over the years and still don’t know the solution to every room.

That being said, if you are seriously stuck and want a nudge in the right direction, there will be REA team members like me around during RECON who will be happy to help! We won’t tell you the answer, but we’re happy to jump in a quest with you to show you some things you may have missed. 

Regardless of what you do, you will probably get weird unexpected bruises. It just seems to always happen! 

Know your physical limits and don’t push yourself. You can have a lot of fun at Boda Borg without overexerting yourself. Remember that you want to feel good the next day.

Recommended Quests

Best Quests to Begin with 

• Farm
• Nostalgia
• Sphinx
• Spycatcher 
• Shapes
• Superbanan

Most Escape Room-y Quests

• Alcatraz
• Potions
• Ratz
• Sphinx
• Spookhouse
• Spycatcher 

Mental Challenges 

• Awesome
• Eye of the Storm
• Nostalgia
• Pirates
• Potions
• Quiz
• Shapes
• Sphinx 
• Spycatcher 

Physical Challenges

• 27 Seconds
• Boll Koll
• Bootcamp
• Jungle
• Superbanan

Hybrid (Mental & Physical) Challenges 

• Access
• Alcatraz
• Farm
• Platoon
• Ratz 
• Spookhouse  
• Wumplefrump (new quest that REA hasn’t played at the time of the post) 

REA Team’s Favorite Quests

• Awesome
• Alcatraz
• Farm
• Jungle
• Potions
• Ratz
• Sphinx
• Spookhouse

You can read more about Boda Borg and the other games highlighted at RECON here.