Room Escape Artist

A Tourist Trove

Location:  Tulsa, OK

Date Played: August 25, 2024

Team size: 2-8; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 65 minutes

Price: ranges from $32.50 to $65 per player depending on size of team

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: They have designed their facility on the main level to be wheelchair accessible, but contact them with specific concerns.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Tulsa Time walked an interesting line between nostalgic goldmine for people familiar with the region and a potential overview for tourists and wayfarers. As a native northeastern Oklahoman myself, it felt like a homecoming of sorts, and even my non-Oklahoman husband could appreciate the sentiment.

The onslaught of Tulsan memorabilia under the guise of a warehouse was visually quite remarkable but also overwhelming at first, particularly without an actionable narrative goal until the end of the game. We floundered for a bit, perusing the engaging oddities, until our in-character gamemaster set us on track, perhaps by design, perhaps out of the kindness of his heart. From there, we quickly grasped the design pattern behind the puzzling and were struck by how ably the game indicated what to focus on and when. This was all the more impressive given how cohesive the aesthetic was between in-play items and mere ambiance.

The tasks themselves offered significant variety and generally followed their aha moments with quick completions, yielding a satisfying pace of solves. The only potential bottleneck came from a runbook journal, which, though not textually overwhelming, was small enough to make its information difficult to share.

From a thematic perspective, I really wanted to be able to tout this game as a tourist attraction, introducing players to the highlights of the town. Truthfully, one COULD get pleasantly lost in exploring the highlights of Tulsan history here. However, most players will rightfully focus on their tasks at hand, leaving the local references more as background color. Thus, although the game might not inspire anyone to seek out its landmarks afterwards, I suspect most people will at least sense the hometown pride.

Ultimately, Tulsa Time was a love letter to locals and a solid escape room to boot. I wouldn’t recommend it over Eleventh Hour Escape’s other offerings unless you’re into Tulsa for any reason, but it deserves a visit if you have time alongside the others.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Tulsa locals and the Tulsa-curious
• Any experience level

Why play?

• For a dose of Tulsa nostalgia served up puzzle style

Story

Our SWAT team had received a tip that an attack was imminent on Tulsa, focusing our investigation on an abandoned warehouse where the culprit had been collecting all manner of Tulsa memorabilia. We had roughly an hour to rummage through this trove of local history to identify the threat and disarm it.

Our gamemaster played the role of team leader, offering advice from just off-premises.

Setting

The warehouse under investigation contained an extensive collection of Tulsa nostalgia grouped into vignettes of local history and landmarks. Aside from the actual game pieces, the space was covered from floor to ceiling in historical photographs and notes. The division between ambiance and gameplay was clear, but it was tempting to veer off into tourism mode in such an informationally rich environment.

Gameplay

Eleventh Hour Enigma’s Tulsa Time was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Gameplay consisted of observing, making connections, some math, and some puzzling. No knowledge of Tulsa was necessary, but it may be vaguely helpful.

Analysis

➕ The historical and geographical references in this room were overpowering, in a good way. It was easy to pay attention to them as much or as little as we wanted, allowing the experience to be anything from puzzling amidst a Tulsan ambiance to a full-fledged tour of the city.

➕ Clues were well-mapped to their puzzles using proximity and cueing effects. This was extra impressive given the aforementioned abundance of ambiance. Despite the similar aesthetic across everything in the room, we felt confident about which materials were in play.

➖ A runbook journal created a bottleneck in accessing information.

➕ The sheer volume of detail made the set feel rich and endlessly explorable. Although there was an actual end to the puzzling, I would have loved to spend time just studying the set.

➕ Eleventh Hour Enigma went to great lengths to immerse us in the world of their games even before we began. It was titillating to watch other teams scurrying through the waiting room after their in-character gamemaster, and even moreso when it was our turn.

➕/➖ The final sequence was suitably climactic and cleverly staged but also felt out of place with the rest of the experience. It fulfilled a narrative that seemed mostly incidental to the environment.

❓ We couldn’t figure out why the Golden Driller mannequin had a preposterously long neck.

➕ Having grown up in the greater Tulsa area, I enjoyed this on a visceral level. I would love to see more cities offer self-promoting experiences like this…as long as they do it just as well.

Tips For Visiting

• Parking: There is street parking that was easy to access even on a Saturday night.
• Food: Eleventh Hour Enigma offers a list of staff favorite restaurants in the area. We enjoyed East Village Bohemian Pizzeria.

Book your hour with Eleventh Hour Enigma’s Tulsa Time, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Eleventh Hour Enigma provided media discounted tickets for this game.