Category: Rabbit Hole Recreation Services

Paradox is one of the best games in Denver. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms in Denver.

Lightning Ride

Location:  Louisville, CO

Date Played: September 8, 2019

Team size: 2-8; we recommend 5-6

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: 2 players – $40 per person; 3 players – $35 per person; 4 players & up – $30 per person

Ticketing: Private

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Paradox was another fantastic escape room from Rabbit Hole Recreation Services. Set in a steam-punkish time machine with Tardis overtones, Paradox was puzzley in the best kind of way.

Each challenge came with a new interface and tools and asked us to think in a different way. The puzzles were tangible. Solving each felt like an accomplishment.

From a set and tech standpoint, Paradox was about as on-point as Mystic Temple. Rabbit Hole Recreation Services knows how to build an energetic and engaging escape game.

If you’re choosing between Paradox and Mystic Temple, I think that most will prefer Mystic Temple… if only for the ending. If you’re more into puzzle-driven gameplay, I’d go with Paradox. That said, if you’re already visiting, dive all the way down the Rabbit Hole and play both.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Sci-fi fans
• Dr WHO fans
• Players with at least some experience
• Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

• A large volume of fun and engaging puzzles
• The set had some fantastic interactions
• It was a strong all around experience

Story

As a powerful electrical storm passed over the lab, we had to complete the construction of our time machine and harness the power of lightning to traverse space and time.

Setting

Paradox opened in an elegant study that seemed influenced by the video game series The Room. There was a massive device hooked up to barrels by large wires. That device was an appetizer teasing the contraptions that lay ahead.

As with Mystic Temple, the game was loaded with embedded technology. In this escape room, however, the tech was a bit louder as it was supposed to function as a steampunk-ish Tardis.

Gameplay

Rabbit Hole Recreation Services’ Paradox was a standard escape room with an higher level of difficulty.

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

Analysis

➕ Paradox was beautiful. From the opening moments, the set was elegantly designed, intricate, and interactive. Later on, it was breathtaking. We loved exploring the world of Paradox.

➕ Rabbit Hole Recreation Services used effects brilliantly. They felt connected to our interactions and they belonged in the world of the game. They brightened the playthrough.

➕ Rabbit Hole Recreation Services minded the details, not just visually, but in every sense of their interaction design. One prop was especially cool to touch.

➖ Given the ingenuity that went into every inch of this set, there was one set piece that we really wanted more from – partially because we loved it – and also because it just didn’t seem to have a significance that matched its coolness.

➕ We’d never seen a radio interaction quite like this one. The puzzle concept worked beautifully. 

➕ Paradox included an unusual reflection of a standard puzzle concept that we especially enjoyed.

➕ The gameplay branched well. We gravitated toward certain puzzles with an understanding of how they would fit together in the end. We reunited for the finale.

➖ In the late-game, we followed written instructions on a sheet of paper. The clarity was appreciated, but that single sheet felt out of place in this world. There was an opportunity to build native cluing.

➕ There were a lot of challenging puzzles in Paradox. They were difficult in different ways and required different skills to solve. We enjoyed the variety.

Tips For Visiting

• There is a parking lot.
• This game contains flashing lights and strobes.

Book your hour with Rabbit Hole Recreation Services’ Paradox, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Rabbit Hole Recreation Services comped our tickets for this game.

Disclosure: Our trip to Denver was sponsored by the Denver escape room community. Contributions were anonymous.

Mystic Temple is one of the best games in Denver. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms in Denver.

A god’s treasure.

Location:  Louisville, CO

Date Played: September 8, 2019

Team size: 2-6; we recommend 4-6

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: 2 players – $40 per person; 3 players – $35 per person; 4 players & up – $30 per person

Ticketing: Private

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Rabbit Hole Recreation Services’ Mystic Temple was a beautiful, thrilling, and player-friendly escape game. It’s the kind of game that would get a new player hooked… and spoil them at the exact same time.

This is what a premium escape game looks like in 2019.

As experienced players, we whipped through Mystic Temple although it contained some meaty, layered solves. We enjoyed the puzzles immensely nonetheless. If I could do it again, I might slow down.

Mystic Temple was one of the Denver area’s must-play escape games. While you’re visiting Rabbit Hole Recreation Services, play Paradox and when Frost Base Z opens, play that one too. We peeked in while it was under construction and we’re sold already.

Who is this for?

• Adventure seekers
• Puzzle lovers
• Scenery snobs
• Indiana Jones fans
• Players with at least some experience

Why play?

• A freaking gorgeous set
• Memorable interactions
• A few clever layered puzzles
• A fantastic ending

Story

Our archeological team had discovered an artifact that we believed could lead us to an ancient Mayan treasure. We had to use it and our wits to explore the ruins and navigate their mysteries and traps.

Setting

Sculpted from concrete and magnificently painted, Mystic Temple was gorgeous from beginning to end.

The technology was carefully embedded to feel magical. Rabbit Hole Recreation Services maintained the level of detail from the opening moments to the finale.

Gameplay

Rabbit Hole Recreation Services’ Mystic Temple was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

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

Analysis

➕ Rabbit Hole Recreation Services designed every inch of the set of Mystic Temple. It was detailed and beautiful. They enhanced the staging with light and sound, which really sold the world.

➕ The puzzles flowed well. They varied from quick solves to deeper layered puzzles. Each teammate had a different favorite solve, which says a lot about the puzzle quality.

➖ Although a journal fit into this Indiana Jones-eque world, we spent just a bit too much time focused on its pages instead of the set and props. This wasn’t exactly a runbook, but it still felt like a crutch for cluing that could be more fully incorporated into the set and props.

➕ We liked how Rabbit Hole Recreation Services built upon one early concept with a later puzzle. This lit up our experience.

➕ When we had to make a sacrifice, the mechanism was set up brilliantly to avoid injury (to body or possessions) but still deliver a thrill.

➖ In one instance, we encountered some finicky tech. With the correct solution, we were moving items too quickly (or too slowly?) and we were unable to trigger a response from the set. (We swapped out teammates and eventually got the puzzle to accept our solution.)

➕ Mystic Temple delivered a finale. It was spectacular, surprising, and joyous.

Tips For Visiting

• There is a parking lot.

Book your hour with Rabbit Hole Recreation Services’ Mystic Temple, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Rabbit Hole Recreation Services comped our tickets for this game.

Disclosure: Our trip to Denver was sponsored by the Denver escape room community. Contributions were anonymous.