Tag Archives: top

Reviews

Until Dawn

Leave a comment

After the gruesome events in the Freeman family’s home, the building drags the haunted legend. Now, an eccentric millionaire has just purchased it and will be rewarding players with a financial reward by staying up one night in the building.

Until Dawn
Until Dawn

This was my favorite room of our 15 room trip in December 2019. If you go play and you are greeted by a long-haired house keeper you are in for a treat. This specific GM outdid himself, to the point where I was worried about whether he’d ever break out of character even at the end! Such a fitting character for the actor, and what a way to carry out a live face-to-face performance. All this making for my favorite escape room intro ever.

The use of the light is cinematographic in this escape room. Beginning with an early warning of how important it will be, to seeing how the light smoothly serves as a horror dial and as the main controller of the flow of the game. One of the highlights is a horror effect that, although some could consider a horror trope, I found it to be perfectly executed, absolutely unexpected and masterfully timed. And it’s not a one-trick pony room, just my personal highlight.

Until Dawn La Clau Manresa

If you are a fan of the eponymous videogame, do not expect a replica nor any encounter with a Wendigo. The only similarity, is that you are meant to survive in the house
 until dawn. Enjoy it for what it is.

Additional to the escape room, there are 7 extremely well hidden medallions that you can optionally find to unlock an additional riddle that, if solved, will grant you access to an accumulated booty of 100Eur. For reference, we found 0/7 medallions :). If you want to find all of them, you will need to start searching from the very start. 1% of groups have been able to find it, and the GM mentioned that includes people who openly re-played the room exclusively looking for the medallions.

  • Website: https://www.laclauroomescape.com/
  • Duration: 70min
  • Escape time: 69/70 min.
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Players: 2-6
  • Price: 64-95 Euros
  • Location: Passatge vilaseca i garriga, K-J, Manresa
  • Rating: 9.5/10!

Read about the other 15 rooms we played on this Barcelona trip on “BARCELONA ESCAPE TRIP – DECEMBER 2019“. (published in the next few days)

Reviews

Catacumbas – Golden pop

Leave a comment

The alchemists claimed to be able to achieve the transformation of metals into gold, although their goal was focused on a greater challenge, obtaining the alchemical stone. This object is attributed magical properties, including immortality.

Catacumbas Golden Pop
Catacumbas Golden Pop – En Busca de la piedra AlquĂ­mica

I heard this room is not what it used to be. Some maintenance and props replacements give some parts an uncomfortable cheap feel. The torch I was holding flopped like a molten ice cream or a flaccid phallus in such a comedic way. And this may be the most overproduced room in the whole trip. If I had to guess, it was also likely the most expensive to create. Some enthusiasts rate it one of the top 3 rooms they played, among 1500 rooms.

The two friends in the picture played 8 rooms during the Barcelona December 2019 escape trip and thought it was on positions 7 and 5 out of 8. I liked it much more.

In the venue you can take all-you-can-eat popcorn while you wait for the cinema usher to come pick you up. You are brought into a humble 3-rows cinema and the movie begins. But before you know it, you are inside the movie.

They adapted the room so it’s playable with 3, and added a very visible hack so it’s even playable with 2 players – but really this is a 4-player room. 3 works fine, except for two specific riddles where you feel like cheating the system a little bit.

I loved the decoration. I loved the special effects. I loved the lighting. I loved the music and sound effects. I loved the riddles. And I loved both the beginning and the ending.

  • Website: http://goldenpop.es/
  • Duration: 90min
  • Escape time: 83/90 min.
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Players: 2-10 (not recommended 2p, “ok” 3p)
  • Price: 100-250 Euros (2: 50€/p, 3: 35€/p, 4-10: 25€/p)
  • Location: Carrer de Girona, 7, Barcelona
  • Rating: 9/10

Read about the other 15 rooms we played on this Barcelona trip on “BARCELONA ESCAPE TRIP – DECEMBER 2019“. (published in the next few days)

Reviews

La Cerveceria Estrella Damm – Enigmik

Leave a comment

In the escape room of the ‘Cerveseria’ (Brewery) you will discover, learn and enjoy with the tasting of Estrella Damm beers. Ingredients, flavors, textures, smells 


La Cerveceria
La Cerveseria Estrella Damm

This room is one of those games that just recently launched and I could not wait to play. How can it have risen in rankings so fast? Well, we played it the day after the terpeca results had been announced and
 did it deliver?

Pre-game: You start by being able to choose the language: Catalan, Spanish or English. Before the game, each of the players is given a NFC bracelet, which you will register before entering the room. The registering process is a bit tedious, since it needs to be done one by one. On the other hand, it makes you feel special, since each of you is given one (or more) specialist roles. Will you be the boiling expert, the fermentation adept, the hops connoisseur
?

You start in a bar, and the start fits the theme so well that for the first seconds I couldn’t see any way to move forward. You’ll start being shown the story of an old man, Josep Damm, master brewer, who left some hints for you to discover and help him brew the 5-pointed star beer. No locks, no codes, no inputs. For a second the following thought crossed my mind: Maybe they.. forgot to give us something? I embraced it, and just chilled and enjoyed it. Beautiful.

Mild spoiler incoming: You’ll see more than that. Without saying too much, you’ll end up performing fictitious steps on a very real looking brewery. The expertise assigned to each of the players will play a key role.

I can imagine people liking this room way more than a 9/10 (although I think it’s really high). But an overloaded way-too-loud ending combined with the headache I had, had me leaving with mixed feelings. That is, until we drank the result of our hard work: A freezing-cold Estrella. (see picture).

Is it playable in English? Yes, absolutely. 100%. You can book in English. It even made it to #33 on Terpeca 2019.

  • Website: https://www.enigmik.com/lacerveceria/
  • Duration: 80min
  • Escape time: 71/80 min.
  • Difficulty: Medium-Hard
  • Players: 4-6
  • Price: 80-120 Euros
  • Location: Rossello, 508, Barcelona
  • Rating: 9/10

Read about the other 15 rooms we played on this Barcelona trip on “BARCELONA ESCAPE TRIP – DECEMBER 2019“. (published in the next few days)

Reviews

Whitechapel Barcelona

Leave a comment

In 1888, in a famous London neighborhood called Whitechapel, a series of murders committed by Jack the Ripper took place. Now, 130 years later, a murderer is paying tribute and causing chaos following the footsteps of Jack himself. In this escape room we will challenge you to decipher a series of enigmas that will challenge your intelligence, imagination and cooperation in addition to testing your fears. Wit, collaboration, perspective 
 All the senses must be alert, any small detail can be essential to overcome the challenge.

Whitechapel
Whitechapel

So far, I had played very few scary rooms due to the theme not being a big hit on our group. I had not played any of the tension or horror rooms that involve actors, apart from the Catacombs in Amsterdam. When I told some veterans that I’d like to get started with Whitechapel, and that we’d be just two players, they said: Well, that’s going all in. Either you’ll love it or hate it! They were right.

Whitechapel is a piece of art. The introduction is a 10/10 and may very well be the best intro I have ever experienced. You are greeted by an in-character GM from the first moment while a blind character Sam with a very specific speech signature warns you of how dangerous the neighbors of Whitechapel are. His blindness is an excellent tie-in to why it is no problem that it’s so dark in this first room. It is so dangerous in fact, that Sam will give you a safe phrase. A safe phrase you will not want to use, trust me.

All in all, it’s a very hands-on experience. You’ll need to react to what is happening around you and the room will throw the best bravery test I have ever seen at you. It’s a very clever idea, and it is even better executed. It is important to notice thought that despite all the horror and fright, the room always uses safe scares, and they respect the time the players need to solve riddles.

Horror analysis (mild spoilers): Some great horror tricks include: Perfect timing with lights on and off. Something approaching, and nothing you can do about it. Fear of the unknown. Retreating back to where you had to escape from at an earlier stage. On the downside, a few of the core riddles are on the easier and weaker side in retrospect – but perfectly understandable given players won’t be able to give their 100% while scared.

Another genius use of horror tricks that shows that the creators of the room are masters of horror: Tension cannot be held indefinitely, so a pinch of hilarity provides a respite while giving horror a chance to sneak up on you and catch you off guard. Finally, fully surrounding effects that not even 7.1 audio systems achieve made me feel like there were not two but 15 actors.

What some may consider spoiler but I believe to not reveal a lot of the room, but rather a warning for the scared: There will be physical contact. You’ll need to save your friends. Or perhaps they’ll need to save you. Do not worry: It’s gentle non-painful contact. If you are worried about all this, the game also offers a Mystery mode, a lighter version of the game.

Is it playable in English? Not really, unfortunately. They mentioned they could run a customized session if you request in advance. Some international enthusiasts managed to reach out to some well-known local enthusiasts that re-played the game with them and acted as translators. It’s key for the intro, one scene that requires role playing interaction and necessary for two of the riddles.

  • Website: http://www.roomwhitechapel.com/
  • Duration: 75min
  • Escape time: 55/75 min.
  • Difficulty: Medium-High depends how much horror affects you
  • Players: 2-6
  • Price: 75-120 Euros
  • Location: Carrer de les Acacies, 23-25, Barcelona
  • Rating: 9.2/10

Read about the other 15 rooms we played on this Barcelona trip on “BARCELONA ESCAPE TRIP – DECEMBER 2019“. (published in the next few days)

Rankings

TOP 50 escape rooms Switzerland

5 Comments

Team Black Rose has played over 250 escape rooms and ranked the top 50 in Switzerland. Which ones have you played? Combined ranking of 4 players!

Want a shorter version? Check our top 5 best escape rooms in Switzerland.

A room may end up in the middle when some members liked a room a lot but some others disliked it. A room may be low due to not all 4 of us having played it. Looking for the best escape rooms in Switzerland?

Best escape rooms in Switzerland

  1. Aunt Hilda’s Room – Trip Trap Escape
  2. Beutezug 1847 (The Heist 1847) – Time Maze
  3. The Pirates of the Blacktrap (Les Pirates du Blacktrap) – Trapgame
  4. Die verbotene Stadt 1901 (The forbidden city 1901) – Time Maze
  5. Kontinuum – AdventureRooms Technroama
  6. Mr. Trippolyte’s Vestibule – Trip Trap Escape
  7. Das Geisterhaus (House of Ghosts) – ROOM Escape Room
  8. Auf Houdini’s Spuren – Houdini’s Quest
  9. Da Vinci Code – ROOM Escape Room
  10. The Ticking Heart – Inside Breakout
  11. Spektrum – AdventureRooms Technorama
  12. Operation: Delta Starfire – Room Escape Basel
  13. Jurassic Jones – Trapgame
  14. Nightmare – Escape Challenge Luzern
  15. Narcos – Operation Safehouse – Next Level Escape
  16. Der Fluch des Yama (The Curse of Yama) – Room Escape Basel
  17. Transylvania – AdventureRooms Solothurn
  18. Das Geheimnis der Mine (The Secret of the Mine) – Geheimgang 188
  19. BĂąlechemisten Illuminaturi – Breakout Basel
  20. Verlassener Zirkus (Abandoned circus) – Escape Quest
  21. BĂąlekenstein – Das Experiment (The Experiment) – Breakout Basel
  22. An evening with the Voodoo Queen – Trip Trap Escape
  23. Lady Thompson – Escape Quest
  24. Auf der Suche nach Gulliver (In search of Gulliver) – ROOM Escape Room
  25. Burg Drachenfels (Dragon’s Castle) – Room Escape Basel
  26. The Wreck – Panic Room Games
  27. Sondereinheit Meteor – Geheimgang 188
  28. Das Labor – Houdini’s Quest
  29. The Heist – Panic Room Games
  30. Sherlock Holmes – Steampunk – MYSTERY GAME
  31. Die geheimnisvolle Bibliothek – Houdini’s Quest
  32. Sherlock – Escape quest
  33. Top Secret – Escape Company
  34. Ring der Macht (Lord of the Rings) – MYSTERY GAME
  35. Stardust – escapestories
  36. Casino BĂąle Royale – das Spiel (the Game) – Breakout Basel
  37. Das Weisenhaus – Actionworld
  38. The Silent Chest – Trip Trap Escape
  39. Das GefĂ€ngnis – Houdini’s Quest
  40. Zelle Nr. 2 (Cell Nr. 2) – One Hour Escape
  41. Horizon – AdventureRooms Basel
  42. The Lotus Trap – Timescape
  43. Dr. Red – escapestories
  44. Jack The Ripper – Mission: Escape
  45. Escape Station – Escape Basel
  46. Jack Rackham’s treasure – Trip Trap Escape
  47. Auf Sherlocks Spuren (Sherlock Holmes) – Geheimgang 188
  48. The brotherhood of the Stone – Trip Trap Escape
  49. Game of Thrones – Der Winter naht! – Mission: Escape
  50. Der Kunstraub – Snary Mary Adventures

Awards

  • đŸ„‡Best escape room in Switzerland: Aunt Hilda’s Room, by Trip Trap Escape.
  • đŸ„‡Best escape room in German-speaking Switzerland: Beutezug 1847 / The Heist 1847 by Time Maze.
  • đŸ„‡Best escape room in French-speaking Switzerland: Aunt Hilda’s Room, already awarded “Best escape room in Switzerland”. Followed by The Pirates of the Blacktrap, by Trapgame.
  • đŸ„‡Best escape room in ZĂŒrich: House of Ghosts, by ROOM Escape Room.

Last updated: 4th of February 2020. 134 Swiss rooms played. 250 worldwide.

More escape rooms

Find the complete ranking with 134 rooms (coming soon…)

Methodology

  1. Create the matrix A where A_i,j is how many times room i was rated above j.
  2. Find the largest real eigenvalue, λ.
  3. Find the corresponding eigenvector v so that Av = λv
  4. This vector is the “score”. The rooms are sorted.
  5. We did minor manual modifications when we thought the ranking was skewed due to fewer than 4 players having played a room, aka hidden gems.

This is a similar methodology to the one used for Top Escape Rooms Project