Category: 13th Hour Escape Games

The Great Escape NJ – The Garage [Review]

by David Spira, posted in 13th Hour Escape Games, New Jersey, Reviews

Escape & BBQ

Location:  Wharton, New Jersey

Date Played: January 22, 2019

Team size: up to 8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: from $29 per player

Ticketing: Public

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Created as a side project from the people behind the 2-time Golden Lock-In Award-winning company 13th Hour Escape Rooms, The Garage was a themed puzzle game in a fun setting. We were in a garage trying to get the garage door to open.

The Garage exemplified how escape rooms don’t require a complex, epic story to be entertaining and compelling. The substance of The Garage existed in the thematic props and their associated puzzles. It was lovely, challenging, and fair.

In-game: Wide angle shot of The Garage, a small motorcycle sits in the middle of the room, a car door rests on a workbench in the background.

If you’re in the region and enjoy puzzle-driven games in a unique environment, we strongly recommend driving through The Great Escape NJ. The Garagewould be approachable and fun regardless of experience level.

Additionally, The Garage is for sale along with its lease (and, I believe, space for another game). Feel free to contact The Great Escape NJ for details.

Who is this for?

  • Adventure seekers
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Any experience level
  • Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
  • Fans of 13th Hour escape games

Why play?

  • Great puzzles & flow
  • An elegant set with an unusual theme
  • Attached to a BBQ restaurant

Story

We had 60 minutes to reopen the old Hot Rods Garage.

In-game: the heavily weathered garage door with a digital keypad beside it.

Setting

The Great Escape NJ’s The Garage looked as the name advertised. The entire room was built around tools and cars. The puzzles, props, and interactions were rooted within the theme.

Created as a side project by 13th Hour Escape Rooms, The Garage was imbued with their aesthetic and level of detail… without the creepiness of their other rooms.

In-game: Wide angle shot of The Garage, a small motorcycle sits in the middle of the room, and a work bench and large set of cabinets sit in the background.

Gameplay

The Great Escape NJ’s The Garage was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, puzzling, and making connections.

In-game: Closeup of an unusual weathered electronic component.

Analysis

➕ The garage setting was an unusual and welcome theme. The Great Escape NJ’s execution was solid. It felt right.

➕ We had an objective. We didn’t miss the presence of a deliberate story.

➕ The Great Escape NJ made excellent use of automotive props in general, incorporating them into clever, layered puzzles.

➕ The hint system was triggered by beeping the horn on a steering wheel. It was a great detail.

In-game: closeup of a steering wheel.
“Beep” for a clue. We forgot to do it.

➕ The Garage contained a searching puzzle that was legitimately fun. We took turns doing it. When we had reached a point where we could have brute-forced the last digit, we elected not to. We wanted to complete the puzzle naturally.

➕ The Great Escape NJ turned 1-person interactions into full-full team moments.

In-game: Closeup of a large electrical safety switch locked up a directional lock.

➖ While The Garage made good use of traditional locks, we had access to a few too many 4-digit locks at once, creating situations where we had to try solutions in too many places.

➕ The Garage included non-traditional inputs, in addition to 4-digit locks. These added a lot to the puzzle solving.

The exterior entrance/ exit for The Garage. A weathered door and garage door surrounded by car parts.

➕ The Garage gave feedback whenever we solved a puzzle. We always knew whether we were on the right track, or needed to u-turn.

Tips For Visiting

Book your hour with The Great Escape NJ’s Garage, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Book Garage

Disclosure: The Great Escape NJ comped our tickets for this game.

13th Hour Escape Rooms – The Grand Parlor [Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in 13th Hour Escape Games, 2018 Golden Lock-In, New Jersey, Reviews
2018 Golden Lock-In Award features an open REA padlock with a golden ring around it.
2018 Golden Lock-In Award Winner

Earn the urn. 

Location:  Wharton, NJ

Date Played: October 28, 2018

Team size: up to 10; we recommend 5-7

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $29 per player

Ticketing: Public

REA Reaction

The “grand” in Grand Parlor was not an overstatement. 

13th Hour Escape Rooms delivered a creepy interactive adventure, for a larger team, on a large scale. 

The Grand Parlor felt epic and delightful. 

In-game: The two story grand parlor featuring a door chained shut under a a large balcony.

While not every puzzle made sense in the experience, or was on the same level, the vast majority of the gameplay elevated the impressive gamespace… and the majority of our critique is about details that wouldn’t even get mentioned in our reviews of more average games. 

The big brother of the Hayden family with murder in his eyes.

We visited 13th Hour in October to experience the effect of actors on The Grand Parlor. We loved this augmentation, but your mileage will vary depending on your gameplay preferences (see below for a full explanation of the actors and how to get or avoid them).

If you are anywhere near northwestern New Jersey, and can enjoy an eerie and sinister vibe, we highly recommend an excursion to 13th Hour Escape Rooms. We’ve loved many of their escape rooms and The Grand Parlor was no exception. It rivaled The Great Room.

The big brother of the Hayden family choking David.
(Atypical customer service, David had this coming.)

Who is this for?

  • Fans of the creepy
  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Best for players with at least some experience
  • Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

  • Expansive and immersive set
  • Large-scale interactive puzzles
  • Epic and joyous moments

Story

The ashes of Bishop, a notorious killer and beloved member of the Hayden family, had gone missing. If we could help the Haydens find Bishop’s urn, then they would let us leave their parlor unharmed.

In-game: View over the balcony to a wooden box with a faint red glow emanating from it.

Setting

The Grand Parlor was set in the most spacious area of the creepy Hayden family farmhouse. From the dark and foreboding entryway, it opened up into a massive space with height, depth, and hiding places. The props ranged from parlor staples to farmhouse essentials.

In-game: A view atop the balcony, the railing is casting an intricate shadow.

Gameplay

13th Hour Escape Rooms’ The Grand Parlor was a standard escape room with a higher level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, exploration, making connections, puzzling, and communicating.

While the puzzles were not especially difficult on their own, the large gamespace and large-team dynamic raised the level of difficulty of the overall experience.

The older sister of the Hayden family with blood spattered across her face and dress.

Actors in October

13th Hour runs a haunted house in additional to their 5 escape rooms. On October evenings and weekends when the haunted house is operating (sometimes including Christmas & Valentines Day), the escape rooms have an added twist: actors. The 6 actors roam the 5 escape rooms providing character, hints, and the occasional jump scare. They are also the gamemasters.

The father of the Hayden family looking creepy in a torn up suit.

The set, story, puzzles, and gameplay do not change for October. The escape rooms are open year round.

We visited The Grand Parlor during October to experience the actors in the escape room. Our other reviews of other 13th Hour games do not include this discussion because we did not visit those games when the actors were in rotation.

The younger brother of the Hayden family with a large eye wound.

➕ The actors were impressive. They added character to the experience. They surprised us at well-timed moments. They were a ton of fun. If you’re looking for feels and immersion over focused puzzles, I highly recommend playing these escape rooms with the actors.

➖ At times, the actors were heavy-handed. They were the hint system as well as added character for the space. If you want focused puzzle-play, don’t visit in October. You’ll be frustrated by the interruptions. You’ll also have less control over the hinting.

A visit to 13th Hour in October is an individual decision. The actors don’t make the escape rooms better or worse. They make them different. We loved the creepy, playful horde roaming Hayden’s farm. They improvise and have fun with you. It’s also perfectly reasonable to have zero interest in that added layer. 

Animation of the younger sister of the Hayden watching TV while holding her dolls. She occasionally lunges forward and sticks her tongue out.

Analysis

➕ The set was impressive. It was detailed and designed. The vertical scale and the decor were captivating. It was an incredible environment to explore and puzzle through.

➕ The gamespace opened up over the course of play with exciting, grand reveals as well as more surprising, quiet opens.

➖ It was easy to miss the best moments if they triggered while we were elsewhere in the gamespace, working on something different. The Grand Parlor would have benefited from gameflow that guided all players into position to witness the most exciting moments.

➕ The Grand Parlor was creepy, playful, and joyous. Note for the timid: it was creepy, but not scary.

➕ 13th Hour Escape Rooms produced layered, but approachable puzzles. We had to connect elements across the large gamespace, which forced communication and teamwork. This structure worked really well.

➖ The gamespace echoed a lot. With a large team of players – and the actors as well – the space was full of commotion. Communication became frustrating.

The 13th Hour Hallway
The entire facility is themed. This is their main hallway.

➕ 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ entire facility is themed. Their lobby and hallways look more aesthetically impressive than most escape rooms. 

➕ For one simple puzzle, 13th Hour designed an original take on a common escape room trope. It was phenomenal.

➖ We spent a lot of time trying to solve one puzzle before we had all the information. We would have appreciated additional gating here, especially because the eventual solution didn’t feel like adequate payoff for the wasted time.

➖ A few interactions seemed to belong in a different game. One in particular didn’t make sense – conceptually or aesthetically – in the Hayden family’s parlor.

➕ One standard parlor prop surprised us with an impromptu, silly, and playful interlude. It was delightful. 

➕ The large-scale interactions supported the grandeur of the set. These contributed to nifty and satisfying puzzle solves that felt great in the gamespace.

Tips For Visiting

  • There is parking available.
  • We recommend Hot Rods BBQ.
  • Most of the team needs to be able to climb stairs. While it is possible for a player or two to play The Grand Parlor without climbing any stairs, if you play this way, you’ll miss significant components of the game.

Book your hour with 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ The Grand Parlor, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Book The Grand Parlor

Disclosure: 13th Hour Escape Rooms comped our tickets for this game.

A special thanks to the Hayden Family for allowing David to photograph them and live.

13th Hour Escape Rooms – John Hayden’s Room [Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in 13th Hour Escape Games, New Jersey, Reviews

I’m never going to remember the name of this room.

Location: Wharton, NJ

Date Played: July 16, 2018

Team size: up to 8; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: from $29 per ticket

Ticketing: Public

REA Reaction

John Hayden’s Room was 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ first foray into the puzzle entertainment genre. As far as initial outgoings go, this was an impressive opener.

This was a solid old-school escape room with an above average set. Knowing that this was their first made John Hayden’s Room that much more impressive.

If you’re in the area and looking for a traditional puzzle-driven escape room in a creepy (not scary) setting, this will be great. If you’re looking for something more immersive or unusual, try The Great Room or The Dungeon.

In-game: a heavily weathered wall and door.

Who is this for?

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

Why play?

  • Old-school, puzzle-driven escape room gameplay done well.
  • A detailed set.
  • 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ lobby and overall vibe.

Story

Hayden Farm House had been home to many a gruesome murder. Anyone who had ever found themselves within the home left in pieces. Could we escape with our lives?

In-game: an old rundown and weathered living room with a fireplace and CRT television.

Setting

John Hayden’s Room was the first of 13th Hour’s escape rooms. Aside from being a little smaller with fewer dramatic set pieces, it would be hard to tell from the aesthetics. The environment may have been an office-like setup, but the level of detail was far higher than we’ve come to expect from rookie outings.

John Hayden’s Room was essentially the office and work space of a serial killer. It was strangely banal with the intensity coming from the work that Hayden did in this space. All of this gave it a good dose of character.

In-game: half of a creepy portrait of a woman beside a shelf with jars labeled

Gameplay

13th Hour Escape Rooms’ John Hayden’s Room was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, puzzling, and making connections.

Analysis

+ The decor was outstanding. It was weathered such that it felt lived in and ominous.

+ This was a puzzle-driven escape room. It had a lot of content and invited parallel (non-linear) puzzling.

– One basic puzzle swapped out the most reasonable solution for another, but it was unclued. We thought this was a mistake, but it was intentional.

– John Hayden’s Room had a lot of locks with identical digit structures. Each time we derived a solution, we’d need to try it in many different locks before anything opened. Varying input digit structure or adding iconography to the locks would improve game flow.

– The triggered opens didn’t provide enough feedback. We were constantly looking around for what we’d triggered. Sound or light cues could improve these moments.

+ As the game progressed, we found the wallpaper especially attractive.

+ John Hayden’s Room was 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ first foray into escape room design. While it played like it was a few years old, when compared with most older escape rooms, it far surpassed them in aesthetic appeal. Furthermore, it was well maintained. Although we preferred 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ newer designs, we were impressed with this company’s origins and we still had a ton of fun escaping the original nemesis of the Hayden farm.

Tips for Visiting

Book your hour with 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ John Hayden’s Room, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: 13th Hour Escape Rooms comped our tickets for this game.

13th Hour Escape Rooms – The Dungeon [Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in 13th Hour Escape Games, New Jersey, Reviews

The stairway to hell.

Location: Wharton, NJ

Date Played: July 16, 2018

Team size: 4-6; we recommend 4-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: from $29 per ticket

Ticketing: Public

REA Reaction

Dungeons might be a classic theme but 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ The Dungeon was anything but ordinary.

13th Hour Escape Rooms’ split-team beginning was unusually balanced. The two-story set was spatially interesting and repeatedly incorporated into puzzle craft. While not every puzzle wowed us, there was a lot of intrigue in the design choices in The Dungeon.

Note that The Dungeon was creepy, but not scary.

If you’re anywhere nearby, The Dungeon is worth checking out.

In-game: a stairwell going up in a dark dungeon.

Who is this for?

  • Puzzle lovers
  • Scenery snobs
  • Serial killer aficionados
  • Players with at least some experience

Why play?

  • An exciting split-up opening sequence.
  • Two floors of gameplay.
  • A grimly beautiful set.
  • Some well-earned puzzle solves.
  • 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ lobby and overall vibe.

Story

Blindfolded, led into individual cells, and then restrained, we had no idea what we were getting into, but we needed to come together and escape before the Hayden family had their fun with us.

In-game: a fingerprint scanner secured with a padlock.

Setting

Blindfolded and restrained in individual cells, we began in dark, confined, and isolated spaces. Once freed, we were released into a wide-open, two-story macabre prison/ shrine to infamous American serial killers.

In typical 13th Hour Escape Rooms fashion, the entire set was heavily weathered in the creepy murder farm motif that all of their escape rooms, hallway, and lobby follow. It looked great.

In-game: a closeup of a cell door with a rusty grate.

Gameplay

13th Hour Escape Rooms’ The Dungeon was a standard escape room with an individualized split beginning and a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, puzzling, and making connections.

Analysis

+ The split beginning played really well.

– The Dungeon involved substantial searching in low light. While the darkness enhanced the ambiance, we would have preferred stronger flashlights.

+ The Dungeon was spatially fascinating. 13th Hour Escape Rooms crafted a two-floor experience that delivered memorable spatial aha moments.

+ Many of our favorite moments in The Dungeon made use of its depth.

– One layered puzzle felt a bit boring and burdensome. There was a good puzzle in there, but it felt incomplete.

+ From the split-up beginning, to the multi-level design, The Dungeon fostered teamwork.

+/- 13th Hour Escape Rooms uses the same gimmick to conclude all their games. If you play The Dungeon first, you’ll get a kick out of this entertaining conclusion. That said, The Dungeon begged for a more dramatic ending to punctuate such a dynamic escape room.

Tips for Visiting

  • There is parking available.
  • We recommend Hot Rods BBQ.
  • Every player must be comfortable in their own space for a short portion of the experience.

Book your hour with 13th Hour Escape Rooms’ The Dungeon, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: 13th Hour Escape Rooms comped our tickets for this game.

13th Hour Escape Games – The Cookhouse [Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in 13th Hour Escape Games, New Jersey, Reviews

[At the time of this review, 13th Hour Escape Games was called Haunted Scarehouse.]

Where you’re on the menu.

Location: Wharton, NJ

Date played: September 11, 2017

Team size: 2-10; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $29 per ticket

Story & setting

The murderous Hayden family cannibalizes their victims in the The Cookhouse. We’d been caught trespassing on their property and now we had to figure out who had been killed there last in order to win our freedom… or become their next meal.

In-game: An old and disgusting blue refrigerator from the 1960s. It's chained and padlocked shut.

In The Cookhouse, the old appliances hadn’t been touched or cleaned in years. The set looked exactly the part. It was a small and uninviting, but oddly charming 1960s kitchen.

Puzzles

The puzzles required us to closely observe the set and connect these observations to tangible interactions.

Standouts

The incredibly weird and quirky kitchen set a fantastic tone for The Cookhouse. The look and feel of the space were impressive.

In-game: An old 1960s kitchen with a disgusting blue cooking range.

There were transitions and surprises hidden within The Cookhouse that delighted us.

Two different tech-driven interactions were unexpected, fun and funny.

Haunted Scarehouse added a brilliant extra touch with their introduction and conclusion.

Shortcomings

The Cookhouse included many locks with the same digit structure. It then relied repeatedly on a similar puzzle design for each of these locks. Thus in the beginning we had to try every solution in multiple places and by the end the gameplay felt repetitive.

One area of The Cookhouse focused on a single set piece and consequently felt under-utilized.

Should I play Haunted Scarehouse’s The Cookhouse?

The Cookhouse was an unusual interpretation of a mundane space. The aesthetics made us want to both shy away and also interact. It was strange like that.

The Cookhouse was more funny horror than actually scary, but to enjoy it, you had to be ok with a bit of gore, of the not-too-realistic variety.

If you’re new to escape rooms, The Cookhouse will show you how to observe, connect, and open. If you’re looking for more creative and complex puzzles, we recommend The Great Room.

Enter The Cookhouse for an entertaining space and the particularly fun moments within.

Book your hour with Haunted Scarehouse’s The Cookhouse, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Full disclosure: Haunted Scarehouse comped our tickets for this game.

13th Hour Escape Games – The Great Room [Review]

by Lisa Spira, posted in 13th Hour Escape Games, 2017 Golden Lock-In, New Jersey, Reviews

[At the time of this review, 13th Hour Escape Games was called Haunted Scarehouse.]

The name doesn’t lie: the room was great.

Location: Wharton, NJ

Date played: September 11, 2017

Team size: 2-10; we recommend 3-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $29 per ticket

The 2017 Golden Lock-In award, the REA logo turned into an open padlock with a golden ring around it.
2017 Golden Lock-In Award winner

Story & setting

When the Hayden family of murderers caught us trespassing on their property, they locked us in The Great Room of their farmhouse. We needed to escape in order to survive.

In-game: A dilapidated banister, a door beyond reads "Dave" written in blood.

The Great Room was a grand ballroom-esque space with a high ceiling, a large dining table in the room, and smaller furnishings along the walls. The open space was dim and eerie, but not scary.

Puzzles

The puzzles in The Great Room facilitated teamwork. Any given puzzle might engage different parts of the space in different ways. Many of the puzzles were more complex than they originally appeared.

Standouts

The Great Room surprised us. It was exciting when the space revealed something entirely unexpected.

The set looked phenomenal.

In-game: 4 skulls resting on a small table in an old rundown room. The largest skull has a knife protruding from it.

The layered puzzles flowed well, connecting set pieces and encouraging teamwork. They were also designed so we couldn’t cut corners.

The puzzles engaged the full space. The gameplay was interactive and tactile. It was hands on puzzling.

Haunted Scarehouse went the extra mile. They used both the introduction and conclusion to The Great Room to add levity and fun.

Shortcomings

Since most of the puzzles were presented or revealed, we found a single search element to be unnecessarily challenging by virtue of it being out of context.

Haunted Scarehouse designed an interconnected set and puzzle room escape, but it didn’t convey narrative. The next level for them will be to use the gameplay to take players through a story.

Should I play Haunted Scarehouse’s The Great Room?

The Great Room was pretty great. It was a series of fun, tangible, interconnected puzzles. These solved into some exciting reveals.

The Great Room took place in low light (with adequate flashlights). It was a little bit creepy, but not scary.

Make sure that at least one person on your team is agile.

We recommend The Great Room for the puzzle-minded, regardless of experience level. It will be pretty challenging if you are new to escape rooms, but the gameplay is approachable. It still has new intrigue to offer more seasoned players.

Book your hour with Haunted Scarehouse’s The Great Room, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Full disclosure: Haunted Scarehouse comped our tickets for this game.