LOCATION: Buffalo, New York, USA
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📝 ETR DECODER
🔑 GAME: The Hangover
📅 DATE PLAYED: March 16, 2023
🎬 GENRE: Vegas, Bachelor Party
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 4 ppl): 8/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 4-10 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $32.99/PP
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes
📖 THE STORY
You wake up in your trashed Vegas hotel suite, and you’ve never been more hungover! You don’t remember exactly what happened, but evidently you stole a bunch of things from the Russian mafia. Not a smart move. You’ve got one hour to sort through the debris, recreate memories of what happened, and get out before they find you and bust in.
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🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE
Fans of The Hangover films will marvel at the incredible detail in the recreation of the Caesar Palace suite from the first movie, as well as nods to key moments. Escape City Buffalo clearly excels at immersive and realistic set design! The room also very much shares the vibe of the source material – total chaos, debauchery, and juvenile humor. Beyond the impressively executed disaster of a room, the initial overwhelm of a lot of puzzle elements being available from near the beginning certainly amplified the sense of pandemonium.
For the most part, once we found all the requisite pieces and put them together, the solutions were sensible, and we felt confident in the solve. They brought together elements from various rooms to keep you moving.
"The Hangover" doesn’t take itself seriously and delivers some hilariously memorable moments, including some absurdist teamwork. One element towards the end, in particular, provided an excellent way to ramp up the tension and humor, and led to a fairly smooth ending, giving players a bit of relief from the madness and ending on a high.
🧩 MISSED THE MARK
This room is overwhelmingly full of debris. It required extensive searching and sifting through components. There was not clear delineation between what was in play and what was extraneous set dressing, leading to a number of red herrings. Given the volume of things, we would have far preferred a consistent rule – such that all epoxied items were purely décor.
In one case, there appeared to be a discrepancy between a clue and solution, where two digits were switched. While we usually felt good about our solutions, there was sometimes confusion as to which of the many locks some of them were meant for. Even more so, the repercussions of success were often unclear – leading to uncertainty as to whether we’d really accomplished anything and increasing our need to continue re-searching areas to see if anything had changed.
The group starts the game in three different locations. While we appreciated the concept behind this decision – and one super unique and silly element – it resulted more in frustration than anything, with one player left to sit alone, quietly in the dark for 10-15 minutes, and others with minimal puzzling to do. This section could have been fabulous but would’ve benefitted from more focus to shorten the separation and allow the group to then tackle the chaos as a team. Alternately, the best part of the separation could have been created with a live actor or simulation.
🏹 TAKE A SHOT?
We were amazed at how well they managed to recreate the environment and nature of The Hangover in this room. While it wasn’t totally up our alley, it’s a must play for fans of the film, who will fully appreciate all of the tie-ins to the movie (with a nod to the sequel). While knowledge of the original is not required, it might help in solving a few of the puzzles, as well as appreciating many of the in-jokes and references. However, it can be enjoyed by anyone 18+ who is ready for some bawdy humor and chaos in this super immersive scenario. It would be a particularly good option for larger groups, including things like bachelor/bachelorette parties or 21st birthdays. For a good time, call Escape City Buffalo to book "The Hangover" !
🔎 HINT
Ignore the dice, and explore thoroughly in all kinds of lighting.
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ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO
Escape City Buffalo has free parking in a lot outside. There is a lounge area with seating and a vending machine. Both bathrooms and lockers are available, and there is also a “VIP” room you can rent out if combining escape rooms with food or a celebration of some kind.The lobby, lockers, and hallway are fully decorated in rust belt fashion, giving it a unique vibe true to Buffalo's past.
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(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank Escape City Buffalo for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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