“Trapped! An Escape Room” is a virtual escape room available from Macmillan Cancer Support.
The Plot
You and your team are on yet another exciting expedition through the mountains. Tall trees and sheer drops into rocky valleys surround you.
You are an experienced bunch, having trekked this remote part of the country before. However, none of you have ever ventured this deep into the wilderness quite so un-prepared. You haven’t told anyone where you are going, and you are low on phone signal. Your water canteens are also running low!
It’s getting late, one of you has lost the map, and you’re certain someone is following you.
Suddenly, you hear a loud screeching sound. You see your friends start to drop to the floor around you, you begin to feel drowsy and suddenly… Darkness.
To Play The Game
This was the second virtual escape room we’d played over zoom, so we felt fairly confident inviting the City Adventurers to give it a try.
The instructions told us we would start in 4 cells and we had to place someone in each one. [You must occupy all 4 cells to play. If you have more than 4 players, then you can have multiple players in cells. If you have less than 4 players, 1 or 2 players can look at multiple cell sheets.]
We sent the link to each player and assigned them a cell number. Everyone had to download the PDF relating to their cell. We were not allowed to show each other our PDF’s but could describe them to each other to help us solve the first puzzle. We could move backwards and forwards between the Zoom Chat and the PDF’s as we solved the six puzzles to escape. As before, each player had to input all the answers to move forward through the game.
Verdict
Let me start by saying that our team of four thoroughly enjoyed the game. We had fun solving the puzzles and discussing the clues and yes we got out to safety.
Plus the escape room adventure is meant to raise money for a worthwhile charity.
It seems others agreed with us in the UK Escape Room Enthusiasts group. [“great intro game, good cause“] However, not all agreed. One person called it “terrible” with an “incoherent story” and another suggested “there are some things which could be clearer / done better.”
So, I went through my notes to see what they meant. True, when we played it there was one puzzle we all disliked and felt was a cheat, but apart from that…..
OK, so the story starts with you and your friends on an exciting expedition through the mountains…. but the game actually begins with you locked in four separate cells. Maybe trapped in four rooms in a log cabin, rather than locked in a cell, would have been more in keeping with the initial theme, but that’s not too big a leap to make. The puzzles require you to break out of your cells and then break out of the building you are housed in. The puzzles are not bad, but they do not fully embrace the idea of a “prison break” theme either.
Don’t let that put you off trying this game though. As noted above, others thought it was a good introduction to escape room puzzles.
“Trapped! An Escape Room” is available from Macmillan Cancer Support.
Want to join us on an escape adventure?
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