Beefnappers from outer space
Location: Québec City, Québec, Canada
Date Played: October 22, 2022
Team size: 3-5; we recommend 2-3
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $32 CAD per player
Ticketing: Private
Accessibility Consideration: Players spend part of the game on an inclined floor. The game also includes a steep ramp down, a step up, and another not-so-flat surface.
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
What a zany game.
We simultaneously loved and hated every minute of 2002: The Bovine Odyssey.
The theme was udderly ridiculous… and the opening set made this bizarre fiction come to life. We were fully bought in.
Then the puzzle solving started. Everything about it was frustrating. Everything.
Then the AI character started making fun of us for our ineptitude.
This is where the experience can go from frustrating to infuriating. Unless you say “yes, and” to the AI and dish the insults right back. We leaned in. When the game bottlenecked or the puzzles became tedious, the banter flowed.
If this sounds like fun, bring teammates who play well together and won’t jump down each other’s throats when the challenge ramps up.
We’ve never played a game like this one. And I recommend it on the strength of the scenario – and its realization – alone. If you’re in Québec and you can appreciate this style of play, don’t miss 2002: The Bovine Odyssey. Whether you love to hate this game, or hate to love it… there is nothing else like this mad cow adventure.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Challenge lovers
- Scenery snobs
- Sci-fi fans
- Best for players with at least some experience
- Players who want to be made fun of… best if you can dish it back
Why play?
- The absurd scenario
- To let an AI make fun of you and your friends for an hour
- The unusual exit sequence
Story
It was futuristic 2002 and our beloved cow had been beefnapped! It was aliens. So we’d done the only reasonable thing: we’d turned our silo into a spaceship and gone in search of her.
Setting
The set was preposterous. It was a wood-paneled cylindrical room, on an angle. There was no doubt we’d boarded our silo-turned-spaceship.
It was a stark transition to the clean, white, futuristic look of the alien spacecraft where we’d ultimately recover our cow.
Gameplay
Cabinet Mysteriis’ 2002: The Bovine Odyssey was an unusual escape room from the theming to the interactions, but standard in gameplay structure.
It had a high level of difficulty, mostly due to certain challenging puzzles that could take a long time to solve.
Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, solving puzzles, completing tasks and challenges, collaborating… and not getting frazzled by an AI that wants to wind you up.
Analysis
➕ We were in our silo-turned-rocket ship searching for our abducted cow. Enough said.
➕/❓ The AI character was hilarious. They bantered with us… and they didn’t let up. We found this amusing, but we know it’s not for everyone. Bring teammates who can take a joke and won’t lose their cool.
➖ /❓We wanted the gameplay to be clued better. We know it’s not meant to be because the character is going to clue it in due time. But even understanding that, we just wanted better cluing.
➖ /❓The gameplay was deliberately torturous… but solvable. While at times this made narrative sense, and we appreciated that… it was still torturous.
➕ The sets were wonderful. They were starkly different, but the transition made complete sense. Each space was the right amount of ridiculous.
➖ During the main scene transition, the noise of the set interaction drowned out the character and any story beats or witty banter. This scene change was also far too slow.
➖ Some of the interactions were utterly uncomfortable.
➕ We loved when a prop simply belonged in the world and later became the key to an extraction. Also, the props were just funny.
➕ We especially enjoyed one layered puzzle that engaged visual and spatial reasoning.
➖ The gameplay bottlenecked a lot. On multiple occasions, we were waiting on 1-2 teammates trying to execute on something everyone knew how to do, but it just took a lot of time (or a lot of tries) but not too many minds or hands to accomplish. Determination and perseverance will be your friends.
➕ The final interaction tossed us out of the game into an unexpected bonus reveal.
Tips For Visiting
- There is a parking lot.
Book your hour with Cabinet Mysteriis’ 2002: The Bovine Odyssey, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Cabinet Mysteriis comped our tickets for this game.
