Room Escape Artist

It will be __ in the __ with the __

Location:  Indianapolis, IN

Date Played: September 24, 2022

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $24.99 to $44.99 per player depending on player count

Ticketing: Private

Game Breakage: One element was out of commission, but was clearly marked and handled well.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Breakout Games’ CLUE was a fantastic implementation of the original board game, keeping true to the slapstick humor and deduction we’ve loved for years. With incredibly family friendly nature, CLUE delivered an experience true to the original mechanics by implementing an overarching deduction meta-puzzle to stop the murder from ever happening.

Breakout threw everything but the kitchen sink into this experience, with numerous callbacks to the board game and great set design. The attention to detail and the high tolerance for alternate puzzle solutions shined. With the high quality of many of the puzzles, interactions, and characters, there was only one run down and out of place puzzle that could easily be swapped for something more charming.

The space felt larger than it was due to placement of doors within the set as well as the narrative incorporation of other rooms within the vast mansion. This space was decadent until it wasn’t – CLUE showed us inaccessible parts of the mansion that were much more lush and polished than the game space, making the set feel worse in comparison.

We’d like to think that every time someone wins Breakout’s CLUE, someone doesn’t open the board game, as we, the players, have stopped the murder from actually happening in the first place.

CLUE is a great option for a family fun experience at the Breakout locations that offer it in their lineup.  

Who is this for?

• Families 
• CLUE (the board game) aficionados
• Aspiring detectives
• Any experience level
• Puzzle lovers

Why play?

• To have your favorite board game come to life 
• Adorable and delightful gameplay, characters, and interactions
• To stop a murder, once and for all!

Story

A murder had been planned for tonight. Our team has been called to deduce who the murderer would be, what weapon they would use, and in what room it would take place… before anyone could get hurt. 

Setting

CLUE was set in multiple rooms inside of Mr. Boddy’s mansion, starting in the foyer and further opening up through subsequent discoveries and deductions.

Gameplay

Breakout’s CLUE was a standard escape room combined with an overarching logic deduction puzzle. It had a moderate level of difficulty. 

Core gameplay revolved around puzzling, observing, making connections, and teamwork. Instead of a typical win condition, we complete the game by correctly deducing who the murderer would, where they would commit the murder, and with what weapon.

Analysis

➕ Breakout integrated some complex interactions with adorable character voice-overs and full lighting and sound cues. The cheekiness of CLUE (the board game) shined throughout the escape room experience.

➕/➖ Breakout used highly effective tech which required a light touch. Our team had a great time interacting with this input mechanism. While we loved this tech interaction, there were two very similar colors that were difficult to differentiate, no matter how good your color vision is. 

➕ One slapstick chain of interactions had our team in hysterics. Breakout threw everything into this puzzle, and it paid off. 

➖ An old and beat up puzzle felt out of place in the set and theme. This did not fit with the clean aesthetic and smooth interactions in the rest of the experience. 

➕ CLUE felt much larger than it actually was by utilizing clever spatial tricks. We had no idea how much the set would open up until had completed the game.  

➖The set was uneven. We entered one room of the mansion later in the experience that was less designed, and less thematic than the spaces that had previously been revealed. While the set design was largely on point throughout the escape game, a “peek”view” into other parts of the manor made the set feel less impressive in comparison.

➖/➕ The deduction sequence felt a bit clunky. While we could easily pick two of the three elements; one was a bit more of a logic leap than we would have liked. That said, we appreciated the interface for tracking the deduction mechanic throughout the gameplay.

➕ CLUE offered an incredibly strong implementation of the board game and the Boddy mansion. Every element we expected to see showed up, including fun Easter eggs for fans of the board game. 

➕ The overall game and puzzle flow was strong, offering vastly different puzzle types for all kinds of players. We loved how interactive and hands-on CLUE was.

Tips For Visiting

• There is plenty of parking on-site

Book your hour with Breakout’s CLUE, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Breakout Games provided media discounted tickets for this game.

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