Room Escape Artist

Diversions Amid Several Hamlets

Location: New York City, NY (but playable in 25 cities)

Date Played: September 13, 2025

Team Size: up to 4; we recommend 4

Duration: 6 to 8 hours

Price:  $80 per team, regardless of size

Ticketing: Teams are booked privately, but this is a public puzzle hunt and you will be crossing paths with other teams.

Accessibility Consideration: DASH is a puzzle hunt throughout a city. Players need to travel, typically by walking, to multiple locations with unpredictable levels of accessibility in regions that have different laws regarding accessibility.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

This year saw the return of DASH, a formerly annual puzzle hunt that had not run since 2019. DASH stands for “Different Area, Same Hunt,” and that name also describes its charm. Rather than being constrained to one place and time, over two dozen cities participated simultaneously in DASH 12 this year. They ran the same puzzles using the same platform, allowing players from all around the world to have the same puzzle experience, separated only by the individual quirks of their local geography and urban design.

This year’s theme was “Delightful Animal Sanctuary Holiday.” Our day started with a rules debrief where we were handed our area map with locations marked, and soon we were off to the nearby first puzzle location. In addition to the first puzzle sheets, we were given a spiral-bound guidebook to the Bewilderness, the nature preserve that we would be exploring in puzzle form. This guide book served as part of every puzzle throughout the day.

There were eight puzzles and a meta at DASH 12. The series ran the gamut of many of the major puzzle types – logic, word, code-breaking, audio, cryptic clues, and so on. And they utilized different media; while many were solved on paper, there was also an audio puzzle, a pile of custom cards, a 4-player trivia-ish game, and an AR puzzle. The AR puzzle was powered by Zappar, which was helpfully built into Cluekeeper. If you’re not familiar with Cluekeeper, it is a phone app built for puzzle hunts. It’s very useful, and it was a simple to use and understand companion for the entirety of DASH 12.

The problem with having a wide variety of puzzles was that our team eventually ran into a type that none of us enjoyed. We did what we could, but when the burden of trying to solve outweighed the fun we were having, we were thankful for the ability to skip a puzzle. Skipping brought our score for that round down to 0, which was a fine tradeoff to be able to move on to more enjoyable puzzles. And there were plenty of enjoyable puzzles. For the rest of the weekend, I had conversations with other players and almost every puzzle (including the one my team disliked) was someone’s favorite puzzle. Our team favorite was “This Trivia’s Gone to the Birds.” It was chaotic and confusing in a very funny way, and it felt like magic when it all came together in the end.

If there was a downside to DASH being location agnostic, it’s the lack of interplay between a puzzle and its location. Compare that to a location specific puzzle hunt like the Great Gotham Challenge, where the puzzles and the experience of puzzling were thematically and inextricably linked to specific locations, creating a long-lasting memory. This is not to say one method was better than the other; it’s a tradeoff between allowing more people to play and creating something site-specific.

DASH puzzles are made available online a few weeks after each event runs. If you want to play live, know that team slots sell out fast, so be sure to join the mailing list to get important updates. Or you can volunteer for the day instead, which will help more teams have a chance to sign up and play. However you choose to participate, DASH is a great way to spend your day.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle hunt fans
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs (if your city has good scenery to look at while puzzling!)
• Any experience level, but some experience on a team is very helpful

Why play?

• The chance to explore the city of your choice while solving great puzzles.
• Compete with players from around the world!

Story

This year’s DASH theme was Delightful Animal Sanctuary Holiday. Our team was taking a trip through the Bewilderness, a nature park. On our way, we uncovered a menace creeping in and sought a solution for it.

Setting

The special thing about DASH events is that there is no singular setting. My team played in New York City, moving about midtown for a few hours and finishing in Central Park. But there were over two dozen cities participating, each adding their own unique charm to DASH.

Our experience playing in New York City was as good as we could have hoped for. Not only was the weather perfect but the choice of locations was truly inspired. The NYC team did a great job finding spots around midtown that were conducive to puzzle solving. We found ourselves in many wide open atria, or other usually outdoor public spaces with ample seating and table space.

Gameplay

DASH 12 was available in two difficulty levels, standard and expert. We played on expert, which included the same puzzles as the standard difficulty but with less explanation. Expert puzzles require players to infer rules and information that were more explicit in the standard version.

Mechanically, DASH was a standard puzzle hunt. Teams arrived at a puzzle location and were handed a puzzle, typically paper-based. Once the puzzle was solved, we verified our answer in Cluekeeper, which was also the hint platform. If our answer was correct, we were given instructions on how to get to the next puzzle location. The last puzzle was a meta puzzle, using everything learned throughout the rest of the game to construct a final answer.

DASH scores were based on time spent solving each puzzle. Points were earned based on how long the team took to solve the puzzle compared to its par time.

Analysis

➕ The ability to choose between two difficulty levels was very helpful in attracting both newbies and veterans.

➕ The NYC team picked some amazing locations that were perfect for a lot of teams arriving at different times. We were never short on tables and chairs.

➖ Our least favorite location was the final location. While finishing at the entrance to the Central Park Zoo made excellent thematic sense, it was getting dark by the time we arrived and the lack of lighting and tables encouraged us to find our own more workable location.

➕ Using Cluekeeper was a smart idea. Experienced solvers were likely already familiar with it, and newer players were able to familiarize themselves with it in the days before DASH started.

➖ Not every puzzle was a winner, and our least favorite of the day felt even more expert level than the others. It was very open-ended and needed more constraints to make it more enjoyable for our tastes.

➕ The map we were provided was extremely helpful. Apart from showing us our route for the day, it was helpful to know how many puzzles were in the game so we knew how to best pace ourselves and space out breaks.

Tips For Playing

• DASH sells out quickly, so get on their mailing list to get notified of their next event.
• Take your time! Points are earned only after checking into a puzzle location and starting, so there is no need to rush from location to location.
• Wear comfortable clothes and dress for the weather. Expect to walk two to four miles during the game.
• Read the DASH FAQs to know what to bring to help solve puzzles (tape, scissors, etc.).
• Don’t forget to eat and drink throughout the day. No one should solve puzzles while hangry.
• You can practice for DASH by downloading past hunts from the website and playing at home.

Book your day with DASH, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.