Room Escape Artist

Something wicked this way comes

Location:  Reno, NV

Date Played: November 3rd, 2024

Team Size: 4-12; we recommend 4-6

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $35 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration:  4 team members must step up onto a platform

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit and [B] Emergency “unhook” (from enclosed spaces within in room)

Physical Restraints: [B] Two players handcuffed together with no emergency release from each other

REA Reaction

Who doesn’t love going to the circus? The bright lights, popcorn, acrobats, clowns, and even psychotic ring masters. Wait… psychotic ring masters doesn’t sound right. Welcome to the worst carnival ever. We were the main attraction and it wasn’t by choice. The faded canvas, dilapidated signs, and half-lit strings of light enhanced our concern as we were placed inside cages that were supposed to be our new lodgings. As soon as we were left alone, we immediately started planning our escape.

Though rundown, the circus didn’t ever truly feel dangerous or scary. We found it strange to never come face to face with the crazed ring master. The ring master was almost a silly phantom that poked fun at our intellect and progress until we bested him and escaped.

There were a multitude of puzzles in Freakshow of a wide variety of puzzle types. Our team was busy from beginning to end. Many of the puzzles were themed to match up with classic circus tropes or carnival games and were a delight to solve. In the ever expanding space, the decorations and set pieces maintained the old and rundown atmosphere. That consistency reinforced the tension and pushed us forward as we searched for an exit.

We had such a spectacular time uncovering mysteries and piecing together the history of this circus. Though the finale was a little underwhelming we were still encouraged to celebrate our escape. Freakshow is a puzzle solvers dream and really packed in a lot in one hour.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• Logical puzzle flow
• Carnival games that doubled as puzzles

Story

Come one! Come all! Set your eyes on the freaks under the big top. Just step into these cages and wait for the show to begin.

After quickly realizing we had been bamboozled into being the show, we had limited time to find a way out of the rundown circus before the psychotic ring master carved us up and turned us into his newest set of gruesome freaks.

Setting

The tent was currently empty, but we could peer out from our cages and see the carnival games and the rooms of other performers. Nothing here was in perfect shape; the wall paper was stained, the string lights had darkened bulbs, and the hay was certainly not fresh. The scenery offered a sense of foreboding as we attempted to escape from the circus.

Gameplay

Deadline Escape Rooms’ Freakshow was an in-person escape room with a hard level of difficulty.

Freakshow included a great variety of puzzles including dexterity, logic, visual connection, and spatial.

Analysis

➕ From the start all team members needed to work together to escape from our cages. We were also required to use teamwork to solve a few other puzzles throughout Freakshow.

➖ The ring master taunted us as we progressed through Freakshow, but never presented as a real threat and didn’t add much tension to the gameplay.

➕ We felt as if we had just stepped into an old rundown circus tent. The gamespace was well designed, and attention to detail added to the dilapidated feel.

➕/➖ Freakshow began with a split start, where team members were assigned to the three “attractions” (which required a minimum of four people) and the “audience.” Due to our small team size, we had been directed to ignore the well-marked audience puzzles. We were informed that the audience puzzles are typically only in play with nine or more team members, with a preference to double up on each attraction before assigning players to the audience. However, for experienced puzzlers, we recommend asking to introduce the audience puzzles starting with the fifth team member. We appreciate that Deadline Escape Rooms can scale the content in this game, although we found it slightly irksome that we missed out on a couple of the puzzles with our smaller team size.

➕ There were a plethora of puzzles throughout the room. There was a significant variety to the puzzles and they were logical. Typically two puzzles were available at a time and due to the large number of puzzles in the room, non-linear puzzling was necessary to escape in time. It was refreshing to never be bored during the escape room.

➕/➖ There were only a few opportunities to input puzzle answers outside of a combination lock. However, the appropriate lock was either close to the puzzle or was indicated with symbols leading to relatively easy lock mapping. While the locking was all thematic, we felt there was an opportunity to add excitement and intrigue with more interaction variety.

➕/➖ There is a hard mode for Freakshow. It adds two puzzles that aren’t normally present.

Tips For Visiting

• Ample parking

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