A Dead End

Escape date: 18^th April 2014

dPace: Well, we’re here attempting our final room in Rush Hour. According to the description and story told by the game master, I can feel that this room is almost entirely copied from another company.

Dscry: So… This is the last room we shall attempt in Rush Hour. This room is like another copy of The Missing Corpse in Mission-Q. But, let us see if it is as good as The Missing Corpse or even better.

dPace: The layout of the room is similar to The Missing Corpse in Mission-Q. There should be more creativity in designing rooms >< Thankfully, the puzzles are not exactly the same.

Dscry: We were given 50 minutes to escape as well as 2 hints to help us along the way. According to the article, we are supposed to uncover the truth about the missing body or skeleton. Hunting for another dead person… Is that our new hobby?

dPace: Well, well, well. I’m really glad this is our last room. I’m tired of playing the themes that they copy from other companies. Hunting dead person??? Cool! Maybe there’s a dead body for me to unwrap!!! There was no mummy in our previous game :(

Dscry: I think you like mummies more than me, dPace. Sad fact. Okay, I got a code here. Let’s just try it on all of the locks because I really don’t know which lock we are supposed to unlock first. The background music is really distracting here. I prefer the little girl’s singing in The Missing Corpse. She sounds cuter. Eerily cute voice.

dPace: That’s not true, Dscry, I like you more! Anyway, I don’t understand this room’s background sounds, songs, noise, whatever-you-call-it. With ease, we managed to find the order of puzzles and locks, albeit with some luck.

Dscry: But, you are more obsessed with mummies. Ooh! There is a switch here. But, nothing happens after pressing it. Ceh… It is not even part of the game. Okay… This is obviously not the exit. I think we got the wrong container.

dPace: Ooops, let’s turn back before we’re locked in this container. Oh, I think there’s another way here. Come, Dscry, we better hurry. There are some eerie sounds catching up with us!

Dscry: I’m trying! It’s not easy to climb up this thing in a hurry. This room architecture is not bad. But be careful, dPace. Don’t get yourself injured. I can see the exit from here.

dPace: Yay! Let’s go… ooops, one more puzzle to go… I wonder how this works… Hmm… Lesson learnt, “Escape games are using more hi-tech stuff, so think technology!”.

Dscry: Not as complicated as The Missing Corpse. With the right code, we managed to escape from another corpse hunting adventure. That marks the last escape game in Rush Hour. Let’s not rush anymore for now.

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 4 / 5

Common knowledge required – 3.5 / 5

Room complexity – 4.5 / 5

Players recommended – 4 to 5

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Rush Hour) – 5 / 5

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Ancient Technology

Escape Date: 18^th April 2014

Dscry: So, to complete our adventure at Rush Hour, Kuala Lumpur, we are here today to attempt the last 2 rooms. This time the room is called The Pyramid.

dPace: What?? Pyramids and Egypt again?? To be honest, I’m getting bored with this sandy and desert, and pyramids and mummy themes. However, I’m still waiting for an opportunity to rape, uhh.. I mean, unwrap a mummy! Dscry, do you think there’s one in here?

Dscry: Yes, dPace. The sandy place with the pointed pyramids and mummies. No, you are not allowed to rape or unwrap any mummy you see on sight. No touching too! We are now at the pyramid entrance. I have to say, this is another narrow space. I think if 8 people were to be in here together, oxygen might be insufficient.

dPace: Dscry, be careful! Why do game designers like to hang some weird non-thematic stuff in the middle of a room that creates danger to the players? After solving this narrow area, our teammates move on to the next puzzle with ease.

Dscry: It has an interesting way to open the door to the pyramid, I must say. But, we wouldn’t have figured that out on our own. I see colourful things! *starts collecting random stuffs while other people search for real clues*

dPace: Dscry! Those things you collected seems useful, but I’m not sure how or when will they be used. Maybe you can keep them first. Lesson learnt, “Things collected may not be useful now, but for later.” This looks like the tomb in the pyramid, but where’s the mummy? And I think this place also looks cramp. Luckily there’s only 4 of us.

Dscry: This is the first time I’ve seen so many locks for just one thing in my entire life. There has to be more than 10 locks to unlock here. Start looking, people! Do whatever you think is right. Be careful of traps.

dPace: I think the locks here are not organized and we need to figure out which clues will give us which answers. There are some weird things or decorations which don’t seem to belong in the pyramid era. Do you agree, Dscry?

Dscry: This is what we would call modern times meet ancient times. Okay, maybe that didn’t make any sense. Wow… We managed to unlock all the locks. I think we need a specific arrangement and maybe some old magical word for the door to open. Open Sesame!

dPace: And it was some magic! Quite cool, I’d say. We escaped with much time to spare, so on to the next challenge in Rush Hour. See ya soon!

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 2.5 / 5

Common knowledge required – 3.5 / 5

Room complexity – 3.5 / 5

Players recommended – 3-4 (maximum 8)

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Rush Hour) – 4 / 5

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Mirror Mirror

Escape Date: 12^th April 2014

dPace: Fresh from our near loss, we are now attempting another room that has descriptions and introductions very very very similar to another game in another company. I seriously doubt their creative ability. Though this company does seem to have a lack of funds for their games, but designing a room based on other company’s games???

Dscry: The room is called The World Behind The Mirror. But, the game masters keep calling it as Day and Night. Hmm… So, this room inspired by Day and Night in Mission-Q? We will find out.

dPace: And yes, this room is definitely inspired, more like copied, from Day and Night. From what we expected, the game master told us that we will be separated. However, they do have an interesting way for us to communicate with each other. Now, I wonder if our teammates can understand what we are trying to describe to them.

Dscry: dPace! You won’t believe what I did. I… I… Er… See this thing? I got it from that thing over there. I kinda touch it a lot.

dPace: Oh no! Sounds like the puzzle is messed up >< No worries, let’s try contacting out teammates in the other room to find out if we can reset or solve this puzzle.

Dscry: This thing is too high tech for me. I don’t even know how to use it. After contacting the game master, we were told that what I did was right but, I didn’t try hard enough. Meh… There! Finally, we found the light. Yay!

dPac: Great! Now let’s help our teammates solve a few puzzles and hopefully we can get out of here. I think they need some clues from our room, just like how we need some clues from their room. Typical concept for these type of theme of rooms, right, Dscry?

Dscry: But, the communication is kinda lost. We haven’t even finished solving things in our room and yet we already discovered the hidden path that links us to our team members. It wasn’t long before we are reunited back with them. I am sorry to say that this room is not better than Day and Night in Mission-Q. Not even as good.

dPace: I agree, they copied the concept, but failed at the designing of the room. Lesson learnt, “The flow of puzzles in an escape game is utmost important”.

Dscry: Without much difficulty, we managed to escape from this world and return to the real world. On the bright side, at least we made it out.

Amount and difficulty of puzzles– 3 / 5

Common knowledge required –– 3.5 / 5

Room complexity – 2.5 / 5

Players recommended – 4 to 6 (maximum 8)

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Rush Hour) – 4 / 5

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Investigation Gone Wrong

Escape Date: 12^th April 2014

Dscry: We are being sabotaged by a fellow investigator. While investigating the crime scene, he cuts the power supply and here we are attempting Murder in Chamber Investigation in Rush Hour. Is it me or the name of the room is weird?

dPace: I think they mean Investigation Chamber? Anyway, our objective is just to escape the room, so what’s with the word “investigation” in the room name? Weird…

Dscry: Er… dPace, you forgot? Like I said, we are supposed to be investigating when one of our fellow investigator kinda sabotage us by cutting the power supply. Anyway, this crime scene looks a lot like the Curious Murder in Escape Dungeon without the doors thing.

dPace: Oh well.. I must say, their use of technology is quite unique and interesting. Here’s something we’ve not seen before, and I think we have not got any clue for this. There are some files and papers, maybe there’s a clue in here.

Dscry: Okay! Let’s begin our search through this place. *5 minutes later* Oopsy, the room is so messy now. Papers are everywhere.

dPace: Uh oh >< well, at least we found what we need ^^ Let’s unlock these things and move on. Oh, Dscry, there are more locks here! Do we have to go through that pile of files and papers again?

Dscry: Wow. Okay, maybe there are many other ways to unlock them. Hmm… Maybe we should find out who the murderer is. That might give us some clues.

dPace: Dscry, good idea! By the way, do you notice that there is not exit in this room? Do we go through the same door we came in from? Hmm…

Dscry: Leave it to me! I shall ransack the whole room. I’m sure there’s a door somewhere. Oh! Yay! I found it. dPace, this one looks like a door, right?

dPace: Yups! It is, but Dscry, there are still quite a number of puzzles and locks here! This is tiring >< I doubt we can go through the door now, we need more clues. Lesson learnt, “Spreading energy among escapers is a good way to strategize”. I think we need to call for help, we’re running out of time. ><

Dscry: Okay, maybe we need more people In this room. Too many locks, too little time. This reminds me of the vampire nightmare we had in Vampire Chronicles at Escape Room, Berjaya Times Square.

dPace: On the other hand, this room would be small for 8 players. But anyway, we managed to reach the last puzzle before time runs out. Some consolation there, but also some encouragement for our next room in Rush Hour right after this! Till then!

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 5 / 5 (average)

Common knowledge required – 4 / 5 (average)

Room complexity – 2 / 5 (average)

Players recommended – 6 (maximum 8)

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Rush Hour) – 3 / 5

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Slaves Saved

Escape Date: 5^th April 2014

dPace: After a slightly disappointing introduction to the escape game, we started our next escape game in Rush Hour, with 50 minutes to escape. We are supposedly being kidnapped by a crazy man and held in a farmhouse. I wonder if there are cows?

Dscry: This place looks old and dusty. There are many junks around here. This is not an ordinary farmhouse. Are we in a prison cell again?!

dPace: Aiya, I think it’s because we didn’t properly escape from the curse in our previous game, that’s why they capture us here! And I’m still looking for the cows. Moooooo…

Dscry: dPace is a cow now! O_O I think the cows are hiding from you. Anyway, I know this place is new when we got here but they should really remove junks that are not related to the game or even decoration.

dPace: Ouch! What in the world is this thing doing in this room? Is it even related to the theme of the game?

Dscry: Hmm… The sequence of the game is not organised properly especially the beginning of the game. Instead of unlocking the first lock, we unlock another lock which was supposed to be unlocked at a latter part of the game. Oopsy…

dPace: But anyway, I think one of us needs to bend his or her neck trying to unlock this thing here because they placed the lock in such a way that it was facing the away from us, and the front side of the lock is blocked from our vision! Poor setting up of the room.

Dscry: Maybe they are sadist that way? Okay, now that is done, let’s make our way to the exit! This room is very much unorganized; I just want to escape right now. I don’t wanna stay becoming a slave in this place for the rest of my life.

dPace: The thing we need to unlock is here, but it seems we need to find a clue somewhere in this  room. Do they really expect us to find flip over every of this object to find our codes? Lesson learnt, “If you’re supposed to find something, just flip over everything and leave no stones unturned”.

Dscry: At last, we made it out of yet another prison. I have never thought in my life that I will be going in and out of the prison so many times. Thank goodness we escaped! I don’t want to be slaves and end up organizing the room for the person who put us in there just now. We will be back for the other rooms of Rush Hour.

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 3 / 5

Common knowledge required – 2 / 5

Room complexity – 1.5 / 5

Players recommended –– 4 (maximum 8)

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Escape Room) – 3 / 5

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A Fairy Tale

Escape Date: 5^th April 2014

Dscry: Just when we thought there are no more other escape games around KL or Selangor, Rush Hour was spotted in the heart of KL. So, we thought we should try our luck and see if they are any good. Which rooms are we playing today, dPace?

dPace: We’re here in Prima Setapak to attempt our first room in Rush Hour, known as The Curse (Cast by a Spell). After awaking, we awake in a very small house and in 50 minutes there is curse that will befall upon us. We need to escape with 2 hints before time is up.

Dscry: Apparently, this room was design for kids. Really??? Well, this room is not as colourful as Up in Escape Room, Puchong and has less toys than expected.

dPace: The story isn’t even child-friendly. Do they really expect kids to play in this room? *facepalm* Anyway, here we are (pretending to be children), attempting to escape before we’re cursed. I’m already feeling this room is cursed.

Dscry: Hmm… This thing has been put so high up here. How do they expect kids to solve this? They provide clues in English as well as Chinese. I have to say, their English is worse than that of Escape Dungeon. Sorry to say.

dPace: English is abysmal. I wonder if they know how to use a spell checker. However, their use of electronics was quite cool. You’d know that there is a transmitter and receiver, but the location of the receiver was quite unexpected, but in a cool way, and the effect of completing that puzzle gave us all a pleasant surprise.

Dscry: I know right! This light thing is cool. So, how do we get this to unlock? Nothing seems to be working. Never mind, dPace. Try using this code to unlock that first.

dPace: There’s a toy here, I wonder if it’s just decoration. I’m gonna play with it, HAIYAK! Hmm... there’s a lock here, let’s try use the code you gave me. It looks like we can open this chest soon.

Dscry: Okay, we got this thing here. How do we use it? Let’s see. Oh! It worked and we’re out already. I feel like something is amiss.

dPace: Yup, it looks like we escaped the room and the curse even though we didn’t complete the puzzles. Here we gave a feedback to the game designers that using a 3-digit code lock risks disruption to the flow of the game. We accidentally unlocked the 3-digit lock although at a time we’re not supposed to. I supposed today’s lesson is more for the game designers, “Ensure that combinations are difficult, by using at least 4-digit/alphabet locks to decrease chances of disrupting game flow”.

Amount and difficulty of puzzles – 2 / 5 

Common knowledge required – 2.5 / 5

Room complexity – 2.5 / 5

Players recommended – 4 (maximum 8)

Hints given – 2

Difficulty rating (according to Rush Hour) – 3 / 5

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