Room Escape Artist

Plight at the Museum

Location: Paris, France

Date Played: April 19, 2026

Team Size: 2-6; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: €30-55 per player depending on team size

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: None

Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

The Heist of the Century was far from your typical heist-themed escape room. For starters, we were not the ones perpetrating the heist, but rather innocent students tasked with retrieving a stolen item — at any cost. That’s not to say that The Heist of the Century didn’t still make us feel like the cool protagonists of a heist film, and we were delighted to use a variety of sleek spy gadgetry to navigate and unlock our environment.

Lock Academy is not just an escape room company; it bills itself as the world’s top detective school. Each of their experiences takes players (/students) to a different part of Lock Academy, and for The Heist of the Century, we were invited to tour the Academy’s private museum. This collection was home to various one-of-a-kind pieces related to famous detectives, as well as the priceless Detectives’ Guide, an encyclopedia of wisdom compiled by the top detectives of all time. Unfortunately, this legendary tome had been pilfered just in time for our visit!

The environments throughout The Heist of the Century were stately, charming, and full of detail. As a violinist, I particularly enjoyed viewing Sherlock Holmes’ actual violin in the gallery, though I was sad I didn’t get a chance to play it myself. (I’ve heard it’s excellent at making men dance.) Amidst the seriousness — large glass displays, floor-to-wall bookcases, hefty security systems — there was a steady undercurrent of playfulness, such as a series of elaborate polyhedral sculptures comprised of vintage playing cards that would make any math-art nerd drool.

The Heist of the Century flowed remarkably well, and for experienced players, it’s ideal for a duo. There were a wide variety of layered puzzles, thematic tasks, and precision communication challenges. As the newest game at Lock Academy’s older Chatelêt location, The Heist of the Century held up surprisingly well compared to Lock Academy’s newer three games at their nearby Sebastopol location. It’s clear that Lock Academy has been making magic throughout their entire journey in designing escape rooms, and The Heist of the Century is well worth a visit.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Heist movie fans
• Any experience level
• Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

• Cool spy gadgetry
• You’ve always wanted to be a detective
• A deeper dive into Lock Academy’s unique world

Story

Someone had stolen the Detectives’ Guide from the Lock Academy museum! We pursued the thieves to get it back before it could be used for nefarious purposes.

Setting

The Heist of the Century took place at Lock Academy’s private museum. The space was filled with paintings, pedestals, and display cabinets housing various artifacts relating to famous detectives.

Gameplay

Lock Academy’s The Heist of the Century was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles, making connections, and communicating.

Analysis

➕ Lock Academy’s museum was a small, private collection that was densely packed with entertaining humor and references to a range of famous detectives. Our exploration of the gallery was augmented with an informational brochure and an audio guide, with language options in both French and English.

➕ Our exploration of the museum mirrored how we would tour an actual museum. The gameplay required detailed observation, but provided a structured framework to easily record the relevant details we uncovered through inspecting each and every exhibit.

➕/➖ An intricate piece of furniture served as a creative and thematic alternative to a more standard lock. Perhaps due to its age, certain inputs were a bit finicky or didn’t offer consistent feedback.

➕ The Heist of the Century creatively turned some classic spy hacking gadgets into puzzles, truly making us feel like we were in a heist film. One particularly cool interaction seemed safe yet required a high degree of precision.

➕/➖ A layered language puzzle might have been a step easier for French speakers, yet was well designed to work with any language background. However, we wished that an output had more clearly signposted that it also doubled as an input.

➖ While all the core elements of The Heist of the Century were available in English, some auxiliary flavor was only in French. While this didn’t affect the gameplay, we felt like we missed out on some colorful worldbuilding.

Tips For Visiting

• The Heist of the Century is at Lock Academy’s location at 25 Rue Coquillière.
• Limited street parking is available nearby, or it’s a short walk from the Les Halles metro station.
• The Heist of the Century is playable in English or French.

Book your hour with Lock Academy’s The Heist of the Century, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Lock Academy comped our tickets for this game.