Room Escape Artist

Cat Cafe: The Escape Room 😺

Location: Paris, France

Date Played: February 17, 2025

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: €74 for a team of 2 to €138 for a team of 6

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: All players must be comfortable being around cats

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Planet of the Cats: Part 2 was an escape room about cats, with cats. Yes, you heard that right. This escape room was home to a dozen adorable cats who freely roamed the environment as we solved puzzles. Most of these cats were also available for adoption, and in partnership with Les Chats Bohèmes association, over 100 cats have been adopted throughout the past 5 years through this meowvelous escape room experiment.

At the start of the experience, we were given clear guidelines around cat safety. We could pet and play with the cats, but we weren’t allowed to pick them up. Any cat toys and structures around the space were just for the cats, not part of a puzzle. And the cats themselves were also never part of a puzzle.

This all created an optimal environment for happy and healthy felines. The room was clean and didn’t smell strongly of cat. The cats had a private room to hide in, yet impressively none of the cats were using it during our visit (which one of my teammates noted is rare even at normal cat cafes.) The gameplay avoided any physical components which might be unsafe for cats, like loose strings or shaky furniture. As an escape room, Planet of the Cats: Part 2 was solid but not particularly remarkable. Yet in a sense, this experience was designed as much or more for the cats than it was for us humans, as it should be.

In Planet of the Cats: Part 2, the primary difficulty emerged not from the puzzles but from the cute creatures surrounding us, and occasionally even sitting on puzzle components. As one of my teammates remarked: “How do you top a room where there are actual cat footprints on the boogie board?”

Sadly, Planet of the Cats: Part 2 is closing on March 9, 2025, but I hope that this unique concept will inspire other responsibly pet-filled or pet-themed puzzle experiences in the future.

Who is this for?

• Cat lovers
• Any experience level
• Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

• ACTUAL CATS!!

Story

Cats had taken over the world and kicked the president out of the White House. These cats had become extra powerful due to some mysterious virus. We infiltrated the White House’s situation room in an attempt to find the antidote and save the world.

Setting

Planet of the Cats: Part 2 took place in an austere government room. A massive world map sat on a long wooden table, ready for world domination. Portraits of United States presidents had been defaced in an appropriately catty fashion. The cats had also transformed the space into a fantastical cat playground, with posts to scratch, high beams to climb, comfy beds to lounge in, and a myriad of fun toys.

Gameplay

Le Triangle’s Planet of the Cats was a cat-filled escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles while trying not to get overly distracted by the cats.

Analysis

➕ Planet of the Cats: Part 2 delivered on their core concept: cats. A dozen playful felines filled the escape room, and they appeared happy and healthy. Almost all these cats were also available for adoption. Above all else, this experience succeeded in functioning as a cat cafe, but with puzzles instead of food. I also appreciated that we were given some extra time following our game to play and take photos with the cats.

➕ It was consistently clear which items in the environment were part of the gameplay and which were intended for the cats. Every element of the design prioritized the cats’ safety.

➕/➖ Everything in the room was rugged enough to hold up reasonably well to years of cat scratches. However, this also meant that the environment felt quite heavily worn.

➕ While the gameplay itself wasn’t as novel as the overall concept, the puzzles and interactions were varied and clearly signposted.

➖ There was an opportunity to further develop our role relative to the cats. Could the puzzles serve as a defense system against humans and thus require us to think or act like cats to progress? Could some interactions invite, though not require, playing with the cats, like a puzzle using a laser pointer?

Tips For Visiting

• Planet of the Cats was playable in French or English.
• If you are allergic to cats, plan accordingly and take some allergy meds in advance. That said, the room was very clean and barely smelled of cat for having a dozen cats living there.

Book your hour with Le Triangle’s Planet of the Cats, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.