“Better than Award Winning Musical CATS!” -David Spira
Location: Morristown, New Jersey
Date Played: December 17, 2019
Team size: up to 16; we recommend 4-6
Duration: 120 minutes
Price: $40 per player
Ticketing: Public
Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
REA Reaction
What do you do when you’re an escape room creator with a small child who watches Disney movies on endless loops? You make an escape room musical; that’s what you do.
When I heard the concept I didn’t know what I was getting into. Were there going to be actors? Was this a show? Was this an escape room?
The answer: It was an escape room through and through. While it had actors artfully projected and displayed, and included recorded performances, it was a 2-hour escape room in a large space, as Trap Door is known to build.
This was very much a Trap Door production. By that, I mean it was innovative, big, thoughtful, and in need of much stronger puzzle content.
This escape game was lovable in so many ways, but the one that mattered most to me personally was the emotional message and a moment that tied into it. It was honestly innovative. The level of commitment and investment in this game was undeniable; just the square footage alone is costly. It just needed much stronger gameplay.
If you’re in the area, I recommend The Greatest Freakshow because it does a lot of truly interesting and unusual things… and I love that… even though it’s frustrating how regularly this escape room undercuts brilliant moments that are unlike anything that I’ve seen from any other escape room company.
Who is this for?
- Adventure seekers
- Story seekers
- Scenery snobs
- Carnies
- Players with at least some experience
- Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
- It’s quite large and contains many different scenes
- The escape room as a musical concept was clever
- There were some compelling moments
Story
Xunder’s Freakshow was ensorcelled by the song of the evil siren Atina. We had to free the minds of the freaks and team up with them to put a stop to her sinister serenade.
Setting
Dating back to their first game, Trap Door has always created big escape games (in terms of square footage). A small Trap Door game is still big… and The Greatest Freakshow was big compared with their other big games. I think it might be smaller than Cure Z: Quarantine, but they are both at a size where it just doesn’t matter which is larger.
The Greatest Freakshow’s world included a stage, fair grounds, carnival games, and dressing rooms or trailers for nearly all of the main characters. There was no shortage places to visit. Throughout, Trap Door minded plenty of details. They covered the ground in convincing rubber wood chips. They used a large television and projections selectively to add life to the space. As a timer, they had the various scheduled stage performances by the Freakshow’s characters. It was a novel and cool space to explore.
A few of the spaces felt too empty or underdeveloped, but on the whole, Trap Door filled the large space.
Gameplay
Trap Door’s The Greatest Freakshow was a standard escape room with a large set and musical interludes. It had a moderate level of difficulty.
Core gameplay revolved around observing, making connections, and puzzling.
Analysis
➕ Trap Door’s commitment to large scale is admirable. It is undeniably fun to traverse a sprawling gamespace.
➕ On a conceptual level, I absolutely loved the escape room musical as a genre. I also truly respect the way that Trap Door brought this concept to life in an affordable, repeatable way through video and projection.
➕/➖ The use of the performance schedule and musical numbers as the game timer was a great idea. This was undercut by the lack of audio in the space where we spent all of the second act. This is a fixable problem.
➕/➖ The emotional climax of The Greatest Freakshow was brilliant and the cinematic execution was smart. From a gameplay standpoint, this interaction suffered because most of our team was struggling to see the information that we were supposed to work with. Again, this is fixable.
❓ The opening interaction left our whole team baffled, but we tried to play along. We weren’t sure what the game wanted of us, or if there was a point to the performance… or why it ended when it eventually did.
❓ While I’m no theater critic, and I am certainly no singer, to me, the performances felt more like spirited community theater than a professional production. Most of the performances were charming, not wowing.
➖ The funhouse was undercut by either unclued challenges or janky tech.
➖ The puzzles were painfully lacking. For the most part, they involved identifying information in one place and more or less transcribing it into a corresponding input mechanism.
➖ A key setpiece in the concluding sequence was visibly unfinished and bludgeoned an otherwise great moment to death.
➕ The Greatest Freakshow contained a great sequence that carved itself into my memory.
Tips For Visiting
- EPILEPSY WARNING: There are flashing lights used during this game to simulate circus stage lighting.
- This is at Trap Door’s Morristown location.
- There street parking and a parking garage nearby on Cattano Ave.
Book your hour with Trap Door’s The Greatest Freakshow, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Trap Door comped our tickets for this game.
