Portsmouth Escape Room - "The Dojo"
Updated: Apr 12, 2024
LOCATION: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
Photo above is property of Portsmouth Escape Room
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: The Dojo
📅 DATE PLAYED: July 19, 2023
🎬 GENRE: Adventure
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 PPL): 10/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-10 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins
💰 PRICE: $30/PP (4+PPL), Various prices for weekday/weekend
☎️ BOOKINGTYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes (59:47)
📖 THE STORY
You and your team know absolutely nothing about martial arts, which is why it's both confusing and intriguing when you receive invitations to join a mysterious training academy called "The Dojo". A powerful and dangerous secret lies inside, and it's up to your team to investigate when no one else is around so you can learn the truth. But beware: you might be getting in dangerously over your head!
🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
The puzzles in this room are excellently designed, with tons of variation and clever solutions we haven't seen before!
Technology is well-integrated in ways that enhance the experience and the puzzle design while highlighting rather than hindering the room's theme.
The room's story is very well done, with an impressive mid-game twist that does an excellent job of reframing your actions, mixing up the aesthetic, and changing out the types of puzzles you solve. Very well Done!
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
One puzzle about looking at objects from the right perspective can be a little tedious, and takes the full attention of two players for some time. Large groups should be fine, but smaller groups (like ours!) will be pushing the timer to complete such puzzles.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
With its unique premise, excellent decor, and fun puzzles, "The Dojo" is a high-quality room that we found incredibly impressive, and our favorite from those on offer at Portsmouth Escape Room! Almost every puzzle in here is a winner, with some very outside-the-box solutions that are sure to be very memorable, even to those with lots of experience in escape rooms. In addition to the big picture details-like the seamless tech integration and strong mid game twist-there are also a number of small touches that give this room a high level of polish, like the fact that some clues on the walls have velcro on the back that lets you take them down to inspect up close and bring along with you as you solve their puzzles (honestly, why have I never seen that before!?). The overall effect is a room that is not only professional in its design and appearance, but loads of fun to play.
My one word of caution about this room is that the difficulty (especially in its latter half) is not to be underestimated. The designers have done a great job of smoothening the puzzle solving process with little touches like visual cues on locks that tell you what puzzle they go with, but this is still very much a room aimed at people looking for a high level of challenge. Small teams will also likely struggle to finish this room on time, as there are some multi-step puzzles that will take some focused attention and a little patience to solve. For that reason, small teams that can only work on one or two puzzles at a time will be at a huge disadvantage in the latter half, which is why my team of two just barely made it out with 13 seconds left on the clock! I recommend a team of a least four experienced players for this one. If that's not you, I'd check out one of Portsmouth Escape Room's other experiences, all of which are good. If that is you, however, buckle up, because this is going to be one excellent ride!
ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
Plenty of parking is available outside the building
The building and its individual rooms are largely handicap accessible, though the first section of "The Dojo" has a soft mat across almost half the floor, which may cause problems for those using wheelchairs
The lobby features merchandise for purchase, as well as some small puzzles to pass the time if your room is not yet ready when you arrive
Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Portsmouth Escape Room for offering us a media discount for our tickets to this game. Although a media discount was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
Stepping onto tatami mat flooring surrounded by shoji screens, bamboo training staves, and calligraphy scrolls sets an immediate immersive mood that feels authentic to a secluded training sanctuary. While reading through an interactive game design monograph and puzzle pacing retrospective over at Veergame, it hit home that themed escape rooms succeed best when physical prop manipulation directly mirrors the narrative objective of passing a grandmaster's final test.
It forces teams to slow down, listen carefully, and communicate instead of tearing cushions off furniture in a frantic rush. A puzzle room designer on Jaiclub posted a breakdown yesterday on tactile room mechanics, noting that incorporating physical dexterity challenges alongside visual riddle solving keeps both analytical thinkers and hands-on players equally invested.
The room's non-linear puzzle layout is a huge bonus for groups of four to six people because nobody gets left standing around waiting in an awkward bottleneck. While two people work through deciphering Japanese kanji symbols along the perimeter wall, other teammates can inspect the weapons rack or solve the interlocking wooden sliding puzzle boxes. Stumbled into an escape room enthusiast thread on RaxiWin earlier today, and veteran players were pointing out that rooms with multiple active puzzle tracks reduce downtime and deliver way better value for your booking fee.
Game masters at Portsmouth Escape Room really know how to read the room when it comes to dropping subtle nudges versus giving away direct answers. Instead of blurting out the exact code over an intercom the second you hesitate, they feed hints through thematic scroll whispers or chime prompts that keep the immersion intact. Caught a great discussion on customer experience design in recreational gaming over on Dm First last night, emphasizing that unobtrusive hint delivery preserves the genuine satisfaction of solving tricky puzzles yourself.
Pay close attention to the visual alignment of the weapon stands and decorative wall banners early in the first twenty minutes. Many first-time groups walk right past subtle decorative asymmetries that end up serving as the crucial visual key for later multi-stage lock sequences. A team-building facilitator over on Dm win noted this morning that escape rooms built around martial arts themes are great for office outings because they naturally reward patient coordination and collective pattern recognition.