EO Escape Rooms: Scarlet

I was impressed by how consistent the quality was at EO, across different styles of game. Each of the six we played had its own charms and highlights, and I can imagine each of them being the favourite for different teams. Scarlet wasn’t my favourite of the six, but it was still a lovely room with its own distinctive and memorable touches, and would be the standout room at most other venues.

It’s a sweet premise: you need to rescue Scarlet the sacred parrot from poachers, and restore the missing bird back to the tribal village where she lives. That sets things up for a satisfying payoff at the finish, and along the way you get a romp through a tribal hut / jungle style environment filled with delicious puzzles. A particular highlight was a certain feature of the decor (if you’ve played, you’ll know what I’m referring to), where they seem to have gone the extra mile on the scenery just because the idea was too tempting to resist.

Speaking of going the extra mile, all of EO’s rooms have a bonus puzzle which, if solved, gives you an extra ten minutes on the clock. Most enthusiast teams are likely to do that, in Scarlet and in the other rooms, making all the rooms here effectively 70 mins not 60.

Like the other games here it’s a satisfyingly crunchy puzzle game. Between the theming and the decor it would also be a good family choice, though only if the family is happy with some degree of challenge – I thought Scatlet included one of the trickier puzzles I saw at EO, and Castaway would be a gentler starting point. But frankly, it’s not so much a question of which game to play as which to start with – you’re likely to keep going back.