Tar Heel Escapes — Local services in Chapel Hill

My family and I played "Raiders of The Lost Temple". First, let me start with the positives: The Game Master who ran our game was very friendly, and seemed attentive to the game itself. The game itself was very clean and it seemed like the game was upkept on a regular basis. The rules/introduction spiel was quick and to the point, and we got into the game quickly with no delay, all while setting the scene for the game and putting us into the action. We had fun! regardless of my points further down, my family and I still had a relatively enjoyable experience with this room, and absolutely would return to try another game with Tar Heel. and finally: no directional locks!

Now to the negatives: The game felt as though there was very little effort. The thematic and set design was sloppily thrown together, with price tags still on props, exposed ends of insulation foam, and everything over all just had an extremely "budget" and fragile feeling to it. The puzzles themselves were uninspired. almost entirely just "find and place" and counting puzzles. You really arent solving anything at all. Half of the "finding" was so well hidden, that we weren't sure if the answer was just "zero". There were multiple times where we had to radio for help just to ask if we were even SUPPOSED to be doing what we wanted to try. just unclear all over the place. It was constantly immersion breaking as well, for example: a modern day gun safe shoved into the side of the "temple" that would lock you out for exponentially longer periods of time if you were to happen to get the combination incorrect. The final puzzle didn't work, and the game master needed to enter the room and fix it while we were all standing there awkwardly. To escape, you're finally just typing a 4 digit combination into a store bought deadbolt lock on the door, completely unrelated or even themed to fit the room. I feel like the last placement puzzle would have been a good final puzzle. having us then turn around and input that code was just immersion breaking. I hope my review doesnt come off as harsh, again there were absolutely positives to the experience, but I hope leaving a review can help improve this room, as the theme is just a great...

As an escape room enthusiast, a dual PhD graduate from USC and UMich, and a full-stack developer dad, I’ve taken my twin daughters on nearly 30 escape room adventures across more than a dozen states, including New York, California, Florida, and Georgia, and we've always come out victorious. This was the first time we failed to escape within the time limit (we played Spy Code, rated 9/10 in difficulty), but we have no complaints, it was well deserved. According to the staff, we were probably just five minutes away from breaking out. Maybe we were too relaxed and unfocused during the first half hour, which led to some tactical missteps. Still, I have to admit the puzzles in this game were exceptionally well-designed, definitely not the kind you can solve with just a lucky guess. Everything is intricately connected, and missing a single detail can cost you a lot of time. The room design was impressive, the temperature was comfortable, and the atmosphere was spot-on. The staff were also very nice and attentive, you’re given a communication device to speak with them in real time. I saw on Google Reviews that some teams did manage to complete the challenge, and I can only imagine they must be top students from UNC, because honestly, it takes some serious brainpower to crack those puzzles in under an hour. We’re already planning to come back next week to try one of their other games and...

Game of Crowns

Always a risk going out of your way for a room. Especially almost fours hours away. Not knowing the venue and group and basically going in blind. Also risky when rooms have a very well known “theme” they can’t reference by the exact name. There is that will they lean in to heavily and try to make the room for the theme and force the puzzles. Or will you get your hopes up to play a room that is just the theme in name alone? Luckily, Game of Crowns is neither.

This room is a very nice mix of physical and practical puzzles as well as surprisingly tech heavy.

No Game of Thrones knowledge is necessary though a lucky guess (inspiration from House ……..) led me to open a box that was a lot earlier than we were supposed to. All in all, great theming and some very interesting puzzles! A lot of fun and we had a wonderful GM, Alex. Knowledgeable and very friendly!

Thank you @tarheelescaperooms for a great time!!

We escaped with 17 minutes...