Category Archives: International

Mind Maze: An Incredible Story of Nautilus

Prague, Aug 2023

These days Mind Maze has three separate locations; conveniently for visiting enthusiasts, the two TERPECA-nominated rooms are both at the same address. We played both, starting with Nautilus.

You’d guess from the name that Nautilus is a steampunk-st… (more)

The Padlock: Safe – The Secret of Jack Daniel

Prague, Aug 2023

This game unquestionably should be getting a higher rating than I’m giving it. Safe, or The Secret of Jack Daniel, is an impressive game even by Prague’s high standards, and I can easily understand why many visiting enthusiasts consider it the best i… (more)

LostExit: Kino Úsvit

Prague, Aug 2023

The escape room industry is always advancing and becoming more sophisticated, so there’s little place for nostalgia, no golden age to look back to, when the cutting edge just keeps improving. Even so, Úsvit Cinema struck me as showcasing several virt… (more)

Mystiqueroom: Cube

Budapest, Aug 2023

I picked Cube for our second game at Mystiqueroom because it was their highest rated, without really knowing what the theme was. As it turned out, the stronger half of the room design clearly takes inspiration from the sci-fi movie of the same name, … (more)

Mystiqueroom: Pirate Bay

Budapest, Aug 2023

There are at least three pirate-themed rooms in Budapest, giving you a choice of Ship, Bay or Cave; Mystiqueroom’s version is the Bay, and we found it visually impressive but a bit temperamental on the puzzle mechanisms.

Our mission was to get the W… (more)

Aroom: Sky Heist

Budapest, Aug 2023

Aroom and Locked Room are different venues that are part of the same company and a single website, but Aroom is the one that tends to get the more favourable reviews. I’ve only previously played their zombie theme Deadland, but enjoyed it enough to m… (more)

ExitGames Timisoara: The Mission 3

Timisoara, Aug 2023

While there were quite a few escape room companies operating in Timisoara at one time, most seem to have not made it through the pandemic; with the exception of a horror house experience, ExitGames is the only one I could find that’s still operating…. (more)

Escape The Room Jordan: Black and White

Amman, May 2023

In most respects Black and White was an old fashioned but clever game with plenty of nice ideas – but which I hesitate to recommend for reasons entirely unrelated to any of the puzzles.

I couldn’t find many escape rooms available in Jordan; all the… (more)

Aenigma Escape Rooms: The Idol of Time

Naples, Jul 2023

We were standing lost in a dark street corner of Naples, looking round for the right address, when a door opened and a man stage-whispered at us: ppsst! escape room? Which to be honest is an excellent way for a game to start.

The story was so… (more)

Mad Machines: Birth Machine

Milan, May 2023

It’s always an encouraging sign when a venue creates games based on something a bit more unusual, instead of doing a prison break, lab or spaceship; and Mad Machines have build a game around a premise that I’ve not seen anywhere else in the world. ‘E… (more)