Black Cat Escape Room — Attraction in Virginia Beach

I have to say I’m a little sad I am going to write a less-than-favorable review because there are overall a lot of positives to this place. I, with my wife and best friend, have done upwards of 50 escape rooms in many different states so we’ve seen some of the best and some of the worst. This certainly wasn’t the worst (it’s several steps above that) but it did not meet the exciting expectations we had after seeing 5 stars across the board. For reference, we have visited here based on a general vacation to Virginia Beach and did the Dollhouse escape room.

THE GOOD: We loved our game master Jaden who was full of energy, kind, and absolutely passionate of the craft. He explained how this is a family owned place and built by the community of game masters and family, and you can definitely tell the love and care that goes into the rooms. The detail, ambience, and beauty of the room is really impressive. I love the fact that we could change the difficulty level by adding more puzzles (which is true for most of their rooms) and being that we’ve escaped from all of the 50+ rooms, we took on the advanced challenge. We did escape this one also, thankfully because Jaden did some awesome negotiation and prevented the wrecking ball from…evacuating us.

THE NOT SO GOOD: I have to say, it was very frustrating. Not only is it already frustrating because we almost lost our always-make-it-out streak, but it was mostly frustrating because of the puzzles. I can’t say too much without spoilers, but there just felt like a lack of clarity for some of the puzzles. Some “puzzles” were solvable if you just lifted some objects early enough and had eyes keen enough to notice it, which luckily didn’t happen to us but can happen. Some of the puzzles are riddles, and fundamentally riddles are not puzzles. Really, if you aren’t good at riddles it can be a dead-stop for your progress. We got it immediately with a hint but it certainly didn’t feel good knowing that the answer was an action that comes as a result of a riddle. My other complaint is about the use of light: at some point you need to investigate a dark space and you are not provided a flashlight. We were told that the lamp nearby was moveable (which anyone who ever does escape rooms knows to be very gently with lights, almost always a do-not-touch) and we ended up using our phones, but providing a light also gives you a big clue that you need to investigate a dark space in the first place. I have another suggestion but can’t make it here for spoiler purposes. But that’s essentially what I mean when I say puzzle clarity. The only other major puzzle problem was the use of an old toy lock that was extremely difficult to interpret what it meant. The game master literally had to enter the room to help us figure out what it meant because it was a non-standard lock which made it really hard to tell how things were meant to line up. We probably needed the most hints from this room out of all the rooms we’ve done, which is really surprising considering he said the average was 3 hints. My only other gripe is they show a video at the beginning but it didn’t really seem to line up with the overall story…maybe we missed something but it felt like from the video “intro” to the ending of the room, something was lost along the way.

THE SILVER LINING: I can see why this place usually gets 5 stars. Maybe we just had a rough night with our mental capacity or something, or the puzzles just didn’t jive with what we’re used to. You can tell the creators care about making an immersive experience, and Dollhouse definitely delivers. If you like riddles and logic mostly it’ll probably be a fun time. Obviously we live very far away, but I would like to say that if I ever was passing through or revisiting, that I would give this place a second chance with one of their other rooms. The production is great and I really cannot discount that.

Tl;Dr - Jaden was great, puzzles were frustratingly hard and some were strictly speaking not puzzles, but the atmosphere and design are overall a...

SO MUCH FUN!!! We did The Dollhouse this afternoon, and it was easily my favorite escape room that I've ever done. One neat thing is that Black Cat allows you to play the room as either Standard (the easiest option), Intermediate, or Advanced Since it was just my 24 year-old daughter and I solving the room, we decided to go with Intermediate. (Their website suggests Advanced for large groups to have more minds working together to solve, or if you have completed like 10+ rooms and are an escape room pro.) My daughter has done about 7 but I've only done a few. Anyway, from the minute I entered the building, I knew I was in for a treat. The waiting room area is decorated soooo cool--you can immediately see the owner's attention to detail. You'll see what I mean the second you walk in.

Our game master was Olivia, and she was wonderful. Very friendly from the get-go. She explained everything we needed to know before starting, and during the game she was prompt if we needed any hints (without simply giving away the answer.) The game itself was great. The room was SO well done. I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't played yet. 🙂

The Black Cat is owned by a mother-daughter duo, and I heard they used to host murder mystery dinners....I can see they brought that experience and drama into the escape rooms here as well. What I really liked is although the game/room's challenges were linear ...they weren't the same old "solve for a lock or combination" that you see over and over in other rooms. Without giving too much away, there was only one of those in the entire room. The puzzles and challenges were so well thought out and fit the theme perfectly. I've heard their Speakeasy room is great too, and I can't wait to try it. I highly recommend checking out The Dollhouse, or any of The Black Cat escape rooms. You can thank...

This place is awesome! The staff were extremely kind and welcoming, it had a a cozy and fun esthetic, and the experience within the room was phenomenal. My girlfriend and I reserved a room for their birthday, It was an 8 person room but it was just the two of us. This raised mild consers, that of people joining us which did not happen (we had hoped to keep it a private event) but we were most worried about not being able to finish everything in the time we were given (1 hour) However, something I was unaware of until purchasing the tickets was that there are different difficulties, so we chose the beginners difficulty and went on into the room. We chose the Dollhouse room. The lore behind it was that a family was killed in a fire that was presumably started by the daughter (the sole survivor) and we were tasked with finding out what really happened that night before a construction crew destroys the house in the morning. It wasn't easy and we did ask for a few hints that were shown through writing on a mirror, as of a ghost was speaking to us lore (there are no limits or penalties for asking for hints). After the first 10 or so minutes of going around the room and collecting thing we were gifted a hint to help push us in the right direction so we did not burn time in a room with a multitude of puzzles and riddles not knowing which to start with. Finally we finished the the room with a minute and 13 seconds to spare. It didn't feel cheep, it didn't feel wasted. We were ecstatic, including our game master, Emerald, who was phenomenal! It was an overall amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun night out, 10/10 would do again, definitely...