Chernobyl
Introduction:
Late night of April 25th, 1986 a group of international scientists from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrives at Chernobyl nuclear plant to test the fourth reactor. A newly launched reactor of new type 'Samovar' is the most advanced technology known in atom for peace. There's one little complication though, a group arrived too late. It's 5:40 pm and all the functionaries of MinAtom are out of reach in Moscow on their way to dachas. A clearance needed to run test cannot be received till Monday.
An uneasy decision is to be made. Either to get stuck for an entire weekend in Pripyat, a nearby small town with one hotel and few if any attractions or to run an unauthorized test with full personal responsibility for any possible consequences. Furthermore, turns out that IAEA never received a paperwork alongside manuals from MinAtom for this brand new piece of equipment. To be received on Monday as well. As the result of lengthy dispute simple majority defines that unauthorized immediate test is to be performed.
Test's objective is to estimate reactor's cool down period after a critical overheat. Things go sideways soon after overheating. The reactor can't stop rising the temperature and emergency operations are described in the manual. The missing manual.
Location: Escape Room Gamez
Parking: Small parking lot next to facility
Price(s): $35-45 per person
Date Completed: June 12, 2018
Number of Escape Artists: 4 (including 1 newbie)
Hint System: 5 hint limit via walkie-talkie
Success Rate: N/A
Result: ESCAPED! - 37 minutes
Creativity: 3
Difficulty: 3
Immersiveness: 3
Fun Factor: 2
OVERALL: 3
Note. For OVERALL means, 1 = WTF?; 2 = Take a gander; 3 = You can book it; 4 = You should book it now; 5 = OMG! You should've booked it yesterday!
Summary
- Recommend 2-3 escape artists
- For beginners
- Escape experience is not worth the price
After another night of two escape rooms, our team was on an adrenaline high and wanted to end our night with ONE MORE escape room. It was about 10 pm and we found Escape Room Gamez through Yelp.
First Impressions
The GM greeted as we entered. He had a Russian accent and was very friendly. He suggested we do Chernobyl. We had to go up the stairs by ourselves and the game immediately started when we got into the room.
Puzzles
The puzzle flow of Chernobyl was linear. The difficulty of the puzzles was fairly easy. To be honest, the puzzles were not exciting nor challenging. There are about 7 puzzles for your group to do in this escape room. The last puzzle was very colorful but it wasn't anything that made our group say "wow" or "that was fun".
Immersion
It was a simple set with a lot of space.
Improvements needed?
There was a video that occurred in the middle of the escape experience that dampened our flow during the escape. I would suggest having the video in the beginning as an introduction. The video mid-way appeared to interfere with the enjoyment of the experience. More puzzles and more furniture is also suggested to improve puzzle experience and immersion experience.
Value
Not worth the money. The escape room was not challenging and didn't have a lot of puzzles. There are other escape rooms worth playing that costs around the same or even less. Check out Los Angeles Rankings for other escape room recommendations.
Should you play it?
Unfortunately no. Although the GM was friendly, the escape room was too expensive for the experience we paid for. I do not recommend doing this room if you're wanting a fun experience.
