By Marriette Rough
There is a craze sweeping the planet and that craze has many monikers. Escape Rooms, Enigma Rooms, Trap Rooms, Mission Rooms, Escape Hunt, Room Escape, Exit Game, Real Life Escape-Exit-Enigma-Trap Mission Room. I made the last one up. The list goes on. Berlin has not escaped (excuse the pun) the wave, with 4 different places each with 2 to 3 different rooms.
The concept is you get locked into a room for one hour with the person/people of your choice and you have to solve consecutive puzzles in order to achieve a goal, be it deactivating a bomb, find out who the murderer is or stopping a terrorist cell. Think ‘James Bond’ meets ’24’ meets ‘Your favourite boardgame’. A fully-immersive real life game.
I for one have the Escape Room Bug, doing over 10 different rooms in 3 different countries. They say it all begin in Hungary, which coincidentally is where I did my first one. We were so euphoric when we successfully completed the room we booked to do another room the next night. And so it begins.
Here’s a run down of the Berlin Escape Rooms for your gaming pleasure. All rooms generally cost around 35 Euros per person, getting a little cheaper depending on how many people you play with. Which for an hour sounds pricey… but you will not be thinking that when you come out! Personally I prefer playing with just one other person as it means you get to solve more puzzles yourself.
My Favourite: The Room
(Ruschestrasse 64-66, Berlin – Lichtenberg)
When you start playing these games, you realise that the best places are those designed by people that love doing it. And this place is designed by an absolute master. Here we tried the East to West Room and we were not disappointed. Multiple rooms, mind-boggling puzzles. Satisfaction no end. In keeping with the theme this Escape Room is located incredibly near to the old Stasi Headquarters of East Berlin. I cannot recommend this highly enough. I am literally counting the days until I try their other rooms.
A Fine Second: Exit Berlin
(Klosterstrasse 62, Berlin – Mitte)
Since Exit Berlin has opened they have changed their rooms. Which is a good sign. Designing new rooms means the designers are getting better and better at it. Here they have rooms capable of taking up to 16 players! Great for a team building exercise. Or else just a big family!
A Happy Third: TeamEscape Berlin
(Muskauer Strasse 27, Berlin – Kreuzberg)
Set in one of the most beautiful parts of Kreuzberg means before or after your game you can sample some of the local hip bars. Here we tried Mr. Nobodys First Case. A journalist has vanished in Berlin and we have to find out the hows and whys. Well executed, in grandiose high ceilinged rooms, adding a very Berlin flavour.
Go forth gamers and enjoy!
