Escape Room Review: 60out Presents ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Welcome witches and warlocks,

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Alice in Wonderland by 60Out Escape Rooms and thought I would offer up some thoughts for my fellow escape room enthusiasts. To best describe the story, I will use the summary from the website:

“Alice is about to go to trial, a very unfair one that may end up with the sentence, “Off with her head!” Your sole duty is to make sure Alice is safe and sound in Wonderland.”

The prelude to the storyline is surprisingly not handled by a video or a voiceover, but is instead given to us by the game master as we are led into the room. While it was definitely odd to be introduced to the story in such a low key manner, the design of that initial room more than makes up the difference. This first room was such a visual wonder that it made the second, more court themed room, seem like a bit of a letdown by comparison. That is not to say that there was anything wrong with the design of the finale, just that there was such a high bar set by the beginning that any subsequent room was going to look much less by comparison.

Either way, both rooms housed a myriad of Wonderland themed puzzles that allowed us to participate in the quirky surroundings. From making tea, to knocking on crazy doors, to having a cat sniff out clues, to misdirecting the guards, there were plenty of well themed riddles to occupy the guests. Along the way there were also a few physical tasks that did a good job of engaging the less puzzle focused members of our group.

One thing I did notice was that there was one puzzle in particular that seemed to have no purpose. We were told that it unlocked a particular capability, but there was no way to tell that it had triggered any other event within the room. The task it unlocked for us to undertake was also spotty as we had trouble getting a particular object to interact with what we knew to be the answer. So much so that we walked away to try something else (something illogical) only to have the thing we had been trying to unlock finally open up about one minute after we had turned our backs. Everything ended up working out okay (we did escape), but I feel it worth mentioning that this particular task could use a little rejiggering.

All in all, those who love Alice in Wonderland will find the escape room structure rather clever. The puzzles were a good mix of problem solving and physical tasks that kept everyone engaged. Fans of Lewis Carroll’s classic or just escape rooms in general should not be late for this very important date.