Break Free Escape Games — Attraction in Nashua

This was my 38th escape room and I’m really disappointed. Never in any of the 37 escape rooms I have done prior was there a way to LOSE before time ran out. In The Skull I counted FOUR ways to lose. I’m not going to give away any spoilers, but I will say that it was a huge letdown to have the game master enter the room before the time was up and tell us we suffered a “technical loss” but we could continue to finish the room. At that point the fun was ruined and we were no longer enjoying it.

I completely understand that this is a small business and are trying to get it up and running, but the policy of “you may not leave the room to use the restroom without contacting the game master” doesn’t work. Over the span of 5 critical minutes we were consistently trying to get their attention through the camera and they did not see us. One of our party just needed to use the restroom, which is part of the reason we suffered a “technical loss”, because we could not fully focus on the puzzle. Just let people use the restroom freely, this is the first I’ve seen this policy.

Lastly, some of the puzzles in this room need some work. Without giving away any spoilers I will say that there are a lot of bottlenecks in this room where everyone gets stuck on the same puzzle at the same time and can’t move forward until it’s solved. A good room makes it so your team can work on different puzzles them come together again to unlock more puzzles: it gives everyone something to do. There was also one puzzle where we decoded a message and did it 3 different times only to find that it correctly translated into nonsense.

We’ve lost rooms before by not completing all of the puzzles before the time ran out, but we have never lost a room before getting the full hour that we paid for. Sure, we got to finish the room and in fact did solve all of the puzzles before the hour was up, but all the fun was sucked out when the game master barged in and said we suffered a “technical loss”.

If I want to go somewhere and solve puzzles that I can lose before time runs out I’ll go to Boda Borg or Level 99, not an escape room. The owners need to drop this gimmick, it’s not fun and doesn’t fit in a reservation based...

Edited after owner replied. Upped from 2* to 3, because I'm genuinely rooting for this place. I emphasized the church room issues, but I also remember sitting in the middle of one part of Krampus for 20 minutes because there was another group ahead of us. The staff came through and told us to just hang out for a while, so we just sorta sat on the floor and chilled. I think we maybe did two other rooms before church and Krampus. They were 3-4* rooms.

[Original review below.]

We’ve liked some of their rooms.

Gotta write this to warn people against the church room. Not fun. We picked it because we like challenges. This isn’t hard where you say “Ohhhh! I see!” It’s not fun because you’re like “Ummm that kind of sorta makes sense, I guess, if you say so.”

Done tons of escape rooms (50ish). This was the least fun one I can remember. I promise this isn’t sour grapes for not escaping.

So if you’re an experienced group and you’re picking the church because you want a challenge - avoid.

Even the big buildup instructions don’t make this fun. “Think like a toddler” is just sort of cover for “eh, it doesn’t make a ton of sense.”

Also, rooms shouldn’t ever be super dark plus two lights. That basically means only two people are playing at once while the other people more or...

Four of us (ages 50, 48, 13 and 12) just got home from doing Trapped and we had an absolutely amazing time. This was our first time at Break Free 603 and it is definitely my new favorite or possibly tied for my favorite escape room locations! It is an hour from our home but we will happily travel there again soon (passing multiple closer options) in order to play more of their games. Trapped had interesting, challenging, and fun puzzles and the story and environment was very immersive and engaging. It was scary enough for the three horror fans amongst us but still greatly enjoyable for the one who is decidedly not a horror fan! I seriously considered asking whether we could stay to play Cursed immediately after. Returning for the Halloween event will absolutely be at the top of our Fall recreation priority list. Furthermore, Keith was a great host, very friendly and welcoming; it was very evident that this operation is a labor of love for his family and that they put a lot of time, creativity, and engineering expertise into making this a...