LOST Mong Kok — Attraction in Hong Kong

A mix of feelings between my experiences, As an English speaker it was as my first escape room playing in HongKong, and having played over 80 in UK and assisted in building several, maybe the review would help provide perspective for others. I mainly wanted to leave a review to basically thank a few of the game masters who were particularly patient and kind, the staff were giving us mixed reviews as on arrival we were late by 5 minutes- having been a game master myself I understand how frustrating it is and the office team on the phone were also very friendly and helpful, followed by a guy who told us to relax and reassured us when we arrived.

Staff overall were great, and was nice for me to see how my hometown did escape rooms and what kinda puzzles there would be. The puzzles themselves were very varied and I understood why, time wise it was 45 minutes after finishing as opposed to a classic 60 minutes. The first 10 minutes there was no briefing (to what I'm use to) and there were 3 of us, in which my dad who was first timer who spoke fluent Chinese didn't have any idea what to do- so caused quite a bit of confusion to start with. English was basic and my sister who was fluent in English but had very limited Chinese, but I had read the games could be completed in both.

The first game master whether he was new or just impatient who led us in, started us off in the room, basically handed us the briefing and story on two laminated paper, and wished us luck with our timer ticking. Some of the time was spent having us brief my own dad, and having been on stuck on the first puzzle when we asked for them in both English and Chinese, he eventually came in to open the puzzle for us but failing to explain in neither English nor Chinese for any of us. And then told us what to focus on next. Feeling little frustrated we managed to keep the pace going but eventually had to cave and try...try to ask for another clue knowing there's a limit of 5 clues after he had put us in. We had to yet again ask for another clue in which there was a issue with the English given and 'B' instead of 3 which led us to waste another 10 minutes. Thankfully following 20 minutes into our game there was a changeover of game masters, who actively asked us if we needed help and the next clues were given by the 2 girls who ran the rest of our game who were more patient in assisting with us and realise there was a slight issue in the game mechanisms and the giving of clues earlier in the game.

She repeated the clue and she had apologised realising that once she gave us the clue again and stayed with us we had solved it in front of her in less than a minute she offered to add back some time for us due to the miscommunication.

Feeling little more reassured and on track once we picked up the pace some more, there was an error with one of the props we needed due to strength of the "light" which wasn't strong enough to catch certain sensors which has to be lit in the right order but was repeatedly lighting an incorrect one which was too sensitive. There wasn't an answer on the phone when we had buzzed so we just intervened and used my phone as I was aware how the puzzle itself was build. We had solved it as the game master walked in. But she allowed us to finish the game anyways which was greatly appreciated.

So I went away with mixed feelings but overall was very grateful to the two girls who had manned the rest of the game and took it slowly with us in regards to breaking it down in both English and chinese. Though I appreciated the game props and clues were in both English and Chinese, I think overall some of the translations could use some checkover, but again thank you to the two girls who allowed us extra time and were extra patient and aware of the difference in language and level between us all in the room so adjusted to help us accordingly. And still manage to communicate to each of us in both English...

room design-- 4/5 service-- 1/5

I have ambivalent feelings regarding my visit to Lost MK. the atmosphere of the room was immersive and the escape mechanisms engaging, yet any feelings of enthusiasm were undercut by one of the employee's attitude. He ended up acting petulant, and his "hints" were just answers to the puzzles.

Initially, the employee was mild-mannered and agreeable, politely guiding us step by step through the procedure. He started becoming passive-aggressive when we asked for a hint regarding one of the room's mechanisms where players have to light electronic candles in a specific sequence. One of the candle's sensors was extremely sensitive, enough to light it half a foot away, and another was so dull that even the employee had trouble lighting it up. I accidentally lit up the sensitive candle twice when he was explaining the sequence-- In retaliation, he spoiled the rest of the room's puzzles to us even though we only asked for one hint and had more than 8 minutes on the clock. I understand that professionalism and emotional maturity varies a lot from employee to employee, but this childish behaviour is unacceptable, especially since we were not rude to him.

Having said that, the room...

We did the Khmer empire as a group of 4 at Lost Mong Kok, honestly, overall a disappointing experience.

The puzzles consisted of you reading a card detailing you what to do, instead of letting a bit of creating thinking to work out the next steps. The puzzles also weren't that difficult despite the room being a 5/5 difficulty. Despite it being marketed for up to 8 people, there was definitely not 8 people's worth of things to do.

Although the room decorations was done very well, this does not make up for the lacklustre design of the puzzles. The staff also seemed incredibly unmotivated as well and didn't have any enthusiasm. Lost Mong Kok just feels like a bare minimum kind of escape room!

Would suggest...