REMOTE: Intrigue Escape Room - "Master of the Game"

Photos provided by Intrigue Escape Room

Company: Intrigue Escape Room

Game: Master of the Game

Country: South Africa 🇿🇦

Language: English

Type of Game: Remote Escape Room 🗣

Genre: Thriller

Date Played: 10/12/2020

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 4/10

Size of Team: 2-6 Players

Time: 60 Minutes

Price: $18.00 (USD) per person/ R150 (EFT) per person

Leroy Lancaster has been a 5 time champion at the Vintage Board Game event since it started in 1995. For some reason he was accused of cheating and got disqualified in the 2000 game. He is convinced that this was a set up by an opponent and ran off with one of the prizes for the event: a wooden puzzle box. Twenty years later, we are contestants ourselves at this event and one of our teammates has gone missing. He finally answered our call and it seems like he's trapped in a basement surrounded by "The Trivial Pursuit of Life" puzzle cards. We need to help him escape before crazy Lancaster comes back to finish him off!

This remote escape game was played over Zoom. Our avatar Jason acted as our eyes and hands in the room. We also had to form a group in Whatsapp prior to the start of the game. Nicky was in charge of sending us close up photos of clues we've discovered in the chat. She was very efficient at removing the ones we've already used. This room was a Gen-1 room and you'll probably see a lot of home made props in it (they even had a homemade Cryptex!). We were impressed by what they were able to build considering the limited resources in South Africa. The puzzles would probably be on the easier side for enthusiasts as we finished in about 33minutes or so but if are the kind of player that overthinks things, you might get yourself into a trap.

Although we had no issues with working on two devices (computer and cell phone) to complete the game, it would be more convenient if the inventory portal could be somehow incorporated onto the computer as well. Moreover, some players may not have Whatsapp and would need to download and learn the usage of the App just for the purpose of the game. One other thing we thought the game lacked was a surprise moment for the players. We did give some ideas and feedback to the creators so hopefully that would be implemented for future players (Update 10/17: Some new puzzles were added so hopefully you'll discover a surprising moment in the game when you play it now!). One final advice we felt could be helpful for with this game is for the company to get a quick survey from the players that booked the game to see if are beginner or experienced players. It would help for the avatar to guide the beginners more but give less hints or handholding to experienced players as they might finish the game too quick or feel like they didn't solve the puzzles themselves.

Overall, we really enjoyed the originality feel of this game, especially with the craftsmanship on some of the props that were build in-house. Although we're really sad that our February 2021 cruise to South Africa got cancelled, we're happy to add our first review of a South Africa Escape Room company to our website.

*** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors ***

Disclosure: We thank Intrigue Escape Room for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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