All posts by Dominique

Rankings, Reviews

Top 5 Escape Rooms of Switzerland

2 Comments

Want to see more of the best escape rooms in Switzerland? See our top 50 escape rooms Switzerland ranking.

Nr 1: AUNT HILDA’S ROOM (Geneva)

I don’t think I have to say much about this room. Not least of all since we already reviewed it at length here.

Suffice to say this: This room is leagues ahead of any other room in this country. It is hard to explain why without giving away any spoilers – which is partly the reason why so few photos exist of this room. But it is what I’d call a perfect combination of beautiful and extravagant decoration and very well done and tricky puzzles.

If you are even remotely in the region of this room (which is Geneva), definitely schedule in a stop. You won’t regret it.

Nr 2: Beutezug 1847 (Baden)

This is a room where you truly feel that the owners are enthusiasts themselves. Not only does the story make sense, the puzzles are also nicely embedded and all kept in theme with the time this story is set in. The love to detail they put into building a replica of an actually old fashioned train is exceptionally noteworthy.

The company, Time Maze, is one of those few companies that we completely trust to never make a bad room – and they did not disappoint with their second room which in our opinion is totally up to par with the first one.

Nr 3: The Pirates of the Blacktrap (Martigny)

If there is any room that truly makes you feel like you’ve left the building that you entered and were transported into a completely different time and space – this is it. They built a whole pirate ship – no, not just the cabine or the deck, they built the whole ship. The ship is surrounded by huge screens that show the ocean and the changing weather that comes with it so that you truly feel like you are in deep waters. The cherry on top are strong fans that emulate the heavy winds on deck combined with an appropriate soundtrack.

This is how immersion is done to perfection. Also the riddles are very well implemented and fit the theme. Have you ever dreamt of becoming a pirate? Then don’t hesitate, this room will make you feel right in the middle of a big pirate treasure hunt!

Nr 4: The Forbidden City (Baden)

I’ve already teased it in Nr 2. This is the second game by the company Time Maze and it is just as good as the first one. One defining detail about their rooms: Both of them are very well integrated into the history of Baden, the city where the room is located. The background stories are always in depth and well thought through.

Here, you can kill two birds with one stone: Where else can you play two top-5-rooms in one location? Time Maze is the place!

Nr 5: Kontinuum (Winterthur)

If you know Technorama, the place where Kontinuum is located, you know that this is not your average shopping mall or industrial area where usually escape rooms are to be found. No, the Technorama is a big science museum which clearly had an influence on how this room was built.

We had played the Kontinuum around our 200th rooms and for the first time in a long time, we were able to say that we had encountered more than one completely unique and new thing inside the room. This is how technology is supposed to be used! Simply mindblowing.

Reviews

The mysterious library – Houdini’s Quest

1 Comment

First play review (July 2018)

Record time acquired by the 3 sharpest minds of Team Black Rose! (by Enric, the missing one)

Why you will like it: It was a bit of luck that we found ourselves in Houdini’s Quest today but what good fortune it was! We played the rooms The Library and Houdini and had a lot of fun with both. The stories were very immersive and all the puzzles made thematic sense. What we liked especially was the hint giving mechanics and the audio or visual responses you got that let you know when you’ve solved the puzzles. Very well executed, great love to detail and with lots of passion! Definitely one of the best companies in the area.

Why you might not like it: There’s really only one reason why you might not have a good time at Houdini’s Quest: You need to be able to understand German well. Otherwise some of the puzzles are not solvable. But if you are a German speaking group, you cannot miss out on this one!

Second play review (Jan 2020)

mysterious library houdini quest frauenfeld Bibliothek

Same as in Houdini’s footsteps, Dominique joined us purely for translations and watched us play, although this time much closer to 30 than 60min.

“It was the first time I watched other people play a room I had previously played and it was a very interesting experience. On top of that, it had been quite a long time since I played the room ( about 1.5 years ago) and I did not remember all of the riddles perfectly or at all. If you ever get the chance to watch your friends play, I’d highly recommend it. I could clearly see strengths and weaknesses that I might not have noticed had I been a part of the group. Also, I realized that sitting quietly and watching the events unfold often led me to make connections and see things I probably would not have seen had I been actively trying to solve the riddles. What I take from this experience is that sometimes it might be worth to take a step back and look at what’s in front of you calmly, simply observing what your teammates are doing.”

-Dominique

Fun fact: At one point, Team Black Rose was #1 in the ranking (D+C+K) but that score was beaten by escaperoomers.de and later dethroned by Team Squared (S2+the guys). It’s great to see that more experienced international groups come to play in Switzerland!

  • Website: www.houdinis.ch
  • Duration: 60min
  • Escape time: 29min 2018 (3p), 36min 2020 (2p)
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Players: 2-5
  • Price: 98-150chf
  • Location: Frauenfeld, 40 minutes by car from Zürich
  • Rating: 6.5/10

Reviews for all their other rooms on: ESCAPE ROOM FRAUENFELD – HOUDINI’S QUEST (5 ROOMS)

Reviews

Mafia on the North Sea – Houdini’s Quest

Leave a comment
mafia on the north sea nordsee houdini's quest

This room is definitely one of the easiest room of this company – which is not a bad thing given that most players that visit an escape room company have never played ERs before. Therefore it’s usually a good sign when a company offers a variety of difficulties in rooms since it means they understand how to cater to beginners and enthusiasts alike.

This is well done in the Mafia room. The riddles are quite straight forward yet still very imaginative. It is definitely one of those rooms that give you a lot of “eureka”-moments. On top of that, it includes one classical logic problem that especially math enthusiasts will appreciate a lot and it will make people who randomly start trying things despair.

The only critique we could think of after the room is that the theme of Mafia really seems out of place. There is not much of a Mafia atmosphere going on inside except for one little part of the story. Apart from that, it’s a really nice room that’s well suited for beginners.

  • Website: www.houdinis.ch
  • Duration: 60min
  • Escape time: 30/60 min.
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Players: 2-5
  • Price: 98-150chf
  • Location: Frauenfeld, 40 minutes by car from Zürich
  • Rating: 7/10

Reviews for all their other rooms on: ESCAPE ROOM FRAUENFELD – HOUDINI’S QUEST (5 ROOMS)

Reviews

The Prison – Houdini’s Quest

1 Comment
“Let me out.” Literally what I said, for far too long. At “Das Gefängnis”.

The prison starts off as you’d expect it from this environment: Handcuffed and in seperate cells. Cooperation is key at this point of the game and also where we messed up quite a bit. I managed to do something during the first part that basically made it impossible for Enric, who was in the other cell, to escape. Unfortunately, this lead to him being stuck in his cell for the first 20 minutes of the game while our friend and me were starting to solve the rest of the room.

Eventually, the GM realized what was happening and managed to help us out in a subtle but very effective way, by providing a spare part. Enric freed himself and we were able to continue the room normally.

Naturally, this was a bit of a frustrating experience for him. Apart from that, the room was really nice. Well done small riddles that all fit together in the end. We also saw something that we had never seen in another escape room before: One riddle made use of the outside world of the Escape Room… beyond the walls… but let’s keep it at that.

So all in all, this was one of the nicer done and better prison rooms we’ve played – and not only because it literally kept one of our players locked in.

  • Website: www.houdinis.ch
  • Duration: 60min
  • Escape time: 50/60 min.
  • Difficulty: Medium-hard
  • Players: 2-5
  • Price: 98-150chf
  • Location: Frauenfeld, 40 minutes by car from Zürich
  • Rating: 7/10

Reviews for all their other rooms on: ESCAPE ROOM FRAUENFELD – HOUDINI’S QUEST (5 ROOMS)

Reviews

The Forbidden City 1901 – time maze, baden

2 Comments
Die verbotene Stadt 1901

This game takes you to the “Forbidden City” in the workers’ district in Baden where unauthorized people were not allowed to enter back in the early 1900s. The atmosphere in the room makes you forget that you are playing an escape room and the props are just superbly done. They told us they carefully hand-picked very specific pieces in vintage shops. A personal small touch they customized for our group (ohhh <3) made us feel very welcome early on in the room. Don’t be jealous, you will also get it! On top of outstanding decoration, you get to experience the magic of the room without almost seeing any of the tech behind it.

We also really enjoyed the puzzles, repeatedly failing only on the dexterity part (our nemesis). They will have your team cooperating, and this room will test the limits of your team’s communication. You will face the mighty “Wall Of Easy Riddles™”, although they probably got more complicated than they initially planned for. Advice for all rooms, but specifically for this one: communicate clearly and accurately. Eventually, we managed and escaped with 17,5 minutes to spare.

From beginning to end: This is how escape rooms should be done. You can see how the creators have a vast knowledge about the subject matter and how they don’t shy away from going the extra mile for making it an unforgettable experience. Definitely go and play the room as soon as you can. Bonus points if you spot the duck in each of their rooms! The room is clearly designed with German as the main language and fully playable in English, although they had to keep some untranslated words, but you don’t need to be able to understand.

The negative side? They don’t have a third room yet.

– Dominique & Enric

  • The Forbidden City 1901 / Die verbotene Stadt 1901
  • Website: Time Maze
  • Duration: 60min
  • Escape time: 42:36
  • Players: 2-5
  • Languages: English, German
  • Rating: 9/10

Reviews

Narcos – Operation Safehouse

1 Comment

Looking for rooms to play close to the city of Zürich, we stumbled across a new company in Kloten, that is currently only offering one room: Narcos- Operation Safehouse. After a very immersive and for Switzerland quite unique introduction, we entered a safehouse of Pablo Escobar with a clear mission: securing incriminating evidence for upcoming shady deals.

Solving riddles and collecting clues about potential suspects, we made our way deeper into the safehouse, eventually discovering stashes of drugs, money and weapons! Evidence that put the final nails in Pablo Escobars coffin.

The game was a lot of fun, and even a minor mistake the game master made while setting up the room for us did not take anything away from that – especially since we got offered a discount as an apology without even asking for it (their customer service really is on point!).

Playing Next Level Escape’s first room and talking to the owners made us very excited for the second one they are currently working on! True to their name, the company is trying to create a new level of escape experiences. Narcos is a room built by enthusiasts, with a lot of love for details and with elements that really improve on a standard escape game, especially in the beginning. For the second room however, they want go beyond that and are working with people that have a background in theater and special effects. We can’t wait to come back!

Next Level Escape, Kloten, Switzerland

Reviews

Vice Versa – Trapgame

Leave a comment

So we’ve spent the weekend in and around Geneva, Switzerland, playing Escape Rooms. One of those days, we played most of the rooms at Trapgame, one of them being Vice Versa. It might not be their best or most innovative room, but it was fun to hang around the ceiling for a bit. The riddles are mostly straight forward except for one that we took ages to solve even though we had figured out the solution a long time ago.

One thing we learned is that if you want to play the rooms of Trapgame in English, make sure to book quite some days in advance. We booked 4 days before our trip and for some of the rooms, our GMs were not able to speak English. If you book with enough time, they try to make sure though that you get a GM that speaks English. Even though that was not possible for us, they all made a big effort and in the end, communication was not a big problem.

Charrat, Switzerland

Reviews

Circus – Escape Quest

Leave a comment

Escape Quest Luzern welcomed us again filling our VIP card with our 18th sticker! We played the Warlock’s dinner and then Circus. The Warlock was by comparison much weaker, trying but not quite succeeding at creating an eerie atmosphere. Few riddles and a bit shallow. An ending with potential but awkwardly executed. We escaped in 28mins. On the other hand, Circus is their newest room full of surprises and cleverly used props, letting the team work on multiple riddles at the same time. A must play, original theme and beautiful execution. We set a new record at 39min!

Escape Quest, we’ll be back as soon as you open more rooms!

Luzern, Switzerland

Reviews

Enigmania Duisburg

Leave a comment

While we are travelling to a boardgame convention in Essen, Germany, we of course could not pass on the opportunity to play some escape rooms as well.

Today we played the Dark Sherlock, the Magic School and the Ghost Ship at Enigmania in Duisburg. We had so much fun! The decorations are superb, not only inside the room but in the welcoming area as well. Also a shout out to our great GMs! Thanks for making us feel so welcome!

Reviews

Escape Together Championship – 4th place

1 Comment

What a truly epic small finale it was! Congratulations to Team Malm for beating us with 15 seconds to spare! You made us sweat a lot during the last few minutes! We had such a good time participating in this championship and meeting amazing people along the way. Thanks for organising and hopefully see you all again soon!

Escape Quest, Lady Thompson

Reviews

Beutezug 1847 – Time Maze

1 Comment

Yesterday, we got to play the quarter finals of the escapetogether.ch championship. We went in knowing it could go either way but escaped within 26.04 minutes, securing us a place in the semi finals and breaking the room-record!


This was to no small portion thanks to the amazing room by Time Maze. Beutezug 1847 is simply stellar. From the first moment on, you can tell that the owners of the company are enthusiasts themselves and that they put their heart, souls and a lot of hard work and attention to detail into this room.

The riddles are well polished and logical while taking nothing away from a cool storyline that is present throughout the whole room. If anything, we were sad we had to rush this room due to the championship but we will for sure be back once their second room opens!

Time Maze, Baden, Switzerland

Reviews

Abduction 3 – The Exam

Leave a comment

Usually, escape rooms are there to exercise your mind and your wit but this particular room does more than that. Not only your brain cells will start sweating but your body might get out of breath pretty soon as well. And how much fun that is!

Without spoiling too much of what is inside the room: You will laugh, you will pant and you will have moments of thinking “wait, we’re actually meant to do that???” This room has definitely gone up and beyond of what escape rooms can do to you physically and it has done it very well.

The only criticism we could think of is the naming of this company. There have to be better names than Abduction 1, 2, 3 and 4 for your rooms? But anyways, in the end, the name doesn’t really matter and the only thing you will remember is who gets to take the shirt home.

Badalona, Barcelona

Reviews

The Ticking Heart – Inside Breakout ZUG

2 Comments

We are taking part in the escapetogether.ch Championship and had such a great time so far. However, one thing we noticed is that the rooms that are participating are of a very varying quality, which of course makes sense given all the different styles and topics that the companies offer.

The best room that we’ve played for the championship so far has definitely been The Ticking Heart by Inside Breakout. It’s so refreshing when everything just works, the gming is amazing and the room is fun yet still very challenging.

Unfortunately, we had a few occasions where things didn’t work as intended in other rooms such as electronics malfunctioning or a GM not paying attention to what we were doing but nothing of the like happened go us at Inside Breakout. This is how escape rooms should be done! Even if you don’t participate in the Championship, go try out their rooms. We are very excited to go back some day and play the other room they offer.

A beautiful story that reveals itself through the solving of puzzles, highly narrative oriented. This is the perfect room to get started with escape rooms.

Zug, Switzerland

Reviews

Darkness – Maximum Escape

Leave a comment

This picture is quite dark but that is actually very fitting. Because the room Oscuridad by Maximum Escape is played in complete and absolute darkness. That fact alone makes for a very unique experience.

Inside the room, you have nothing but your sense of touch and hearing to guide you. And even though this room is not a scary one, the fact that you’re unable to see creates quite a strong feeling of unease.

However, the designers have put their all into it to guide you through the room safely and make you have lots of fun on the way. Therefore: Take courage and venture forth into the darkness!

Barcelona

Reviews

Chapter 1-3 – Crime Runners

Leave a comment

The unique things about the three rooms ‘The dark secret of the congressman’ (chap. 1), ‘Crime Scene: Back alley’ (chap. 2) and ‘Patient Zero’ (chap. 3) is that they are all part of the same story.

Chapter 1 starts out in the mansion of a missing congressman, and your mission is to find out all you can about the shady business he was involved with. The clues you find take you into a back alley, where a murder has taken place (chapter 2). Here you find out about a mysterious laboratory, where it all started, and where you will go during chapter 3 to end the terrible threat to mankind that has arisen from there…


All three rooms can be played separately and in any order, but the story probably is best experienced if you start with chapter 1 and end with chapter 3. All rooms are really done well thematically, with ‘Patient Zero’ standing out specifically. Cool riddles, unique usage of recordings to tell a story and progress advancement in the rooms as well as a lot of love for details make all rooms really special and enjoyable. We definitely recommend visiting these rooms if you visit Vienna / live here and enjoy escape rooms!

Chapter 1: The dark secret of the congressman
Theme: 6.5/10
Puzzles: 6.5/10
Scary: 1.5/10
Score: 7.5/10

Chapter 2: Crime Scene: Back alley
Theme: 7/10
Puzzles: 6/10
Scary: 1/10
Score: 7/10

Chapter 3: Patient Zero
Theme: 9/10
Puzzles: 8.5/10
Scary: 4/10 (scary theme)
Score: 9/10

Vienna, Austria

Reviews

Apophis – Vortex Escape

Leave a comment

Powerful and shocking room where there is one! Save the world from an asteroid named after the God of Chaos from wiping humanity- cliche, but wait! A start in a yet-another-office (our nemesis!) ramps up at the speed of light, each step and riddle gets better. I love when rooms have unique creative ideas and this one… does! The room quickly accelerates from an average beginning to become one of my favorite ones!


The GM was very friendly, doing us a walkthrough of how things work internally. Even a behind-the-scenes look that left us wowed and made us appreciate the amount of work behind this. One of the few GM’s in BCN I’ve heard comfortably speak catalan to us. Marc and Pol have put tremendous effort doing everything themselves – and not only can they build sound mechanisms and mouth-watering riddles but have a cohesive progression through the room.

Must visit in Barcelona! Hopefully they have time to finish (or let us test :p) the next one next summer when we visit again!

Barcelona

Reviews

Catalepsia – Horror Box

Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be in a coffin? Well, Catalepsia lets you experience just that. The whole “room” happens inside a coffin. You have 30 minutes to figure out how to escape your certain death by working together with your partner who is also in a coffin.

It is an experience unlike any other. Fortunately for us, even though the theme looks scary, the room is not a horror room at all. However, if you suffer from severe claustrophobia, it is maybe not recommended that you try out this room. For everyone else: Definitely give it a try when you’re in Barcelona. The customization options before the room are simply insane. You won’t regret it. Rest in peace.

Barcelona

Reviews

Exorcist – Escroom

Leave a comment

Have you ever not booked a room because you were worried that the theme is too scary or because you don’t like jump scares but still you’re intrigued by eerie and creepy themes? Well then this room is for you. While the theme is quite creepy – a possessed little girl terrorizing a house – the room itself is not very scary whilst still keeping in tune with an uncanny and sinister atmosphere.


We enjoyed it a lot – had there not been the last riddle which had us quite frustrated and frankly killed the immersion and flow for our group. Nonetheless, its a cool room to check out with some unique elements we hadn’t seen before.

Theme: 8/10
Puzzles: 5/10
Scary: 2/10
Score: 6/10

Hamburg, Germany

Reviews

Casa Moretta – Team Breakout

Leave a comment

The police in Hamburg has been trying for years to expose the shady business of the notorious Moretta clan, so far unsuccessfully. Now it is up to your team to break into the family’s mansion to find key evidence that will put the mafia gang behind bars once and for all. However, as you could have expected the Moretta family is very cautious about their dubious activities. Their secrets are well hidden, and you will need all your investigative talents to collect enough clues in time.


The thematically fitting decoration and the overall vibe of the room creates a very immersive experience. However, if you are an experienced player, the riddles might be a bit too easy for you.


Theme: 7.5/10
Puzzles: 5.5/10
Scary: 0.5/10
Score: 7/10

Hamburg, Germany