Puzzah! Santa Fe - "M.A.S.K."

Updated: Apr 9

LOCATION:  Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Photo above is property of Puzzah!

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: M.A.S.K.
📅 DATE PLAYED: August 20, 2022
🎬 GENRE: Crime
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 PPL): 5.5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-6 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins
💰 PRICE: $62.82-188.46/TEAM (pending on size)
☎️ BOOKINGTYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

You are part of an elite crime-fighting squad called M.A.S.K. Headquarters has just phoned you to come in to help take down the cyber-terrorist known as INTERCEPT. Will you be able to successfully capture all of them?

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

This game has a self-guided hint system and can also adjust to your style of play (for instance if you don't mind hints, the system will nudge you more if it senses that you've been stuck for awhile). The great thing about the self-guided hint system is that you no longer have to wait for the game master to give you hints. Everything is automated.
This is a task-focused room and the puzzles are more on the unconventional side. They are focused more on wordplay, finding differences, logic/deduction, etc... It was refreshing to play something very different for once. The solutions were quirky and fun too.
The game starts out with easier puzzles as a warm up and then progressively gets harder depending on how your team does for the rest of the hour.
The story was told by pre-recorded character voices and as you complete the puzzles, new stories will develop. The room and puzzles changes with each player. So you could essentially have a totally different experience than someone else who just played the room.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

I'm not sure if it's because we requested two hints from the beginning or not, but the frequency of the computer asking if we wanted a hint was a little too much in this room. Too bad there wasn't a way to turn it off or adjust it after the initial recognition.
I wish we would have gotten a warning from the game master that the actual answer will reveal if we requested a 3rd nudge. We thought the nudging system was fine but it was a let down when the answer was just given to us.

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

Because you actually get an answer reveal (if you wanted it) for every puzzle, I assume that there's a 100% escape rate with this room. But the challenge is focused more on the bonus puzzles. You can complete the room with 1,000 points, but if you wanted more (you can achieve over 2,000-5,000 points), you'll have to solve extra puzzles and unlock more along the way. In a sense this game is replay-able if you want to check out the puzzles you haven't solved when you return next time. You can definitely feel the competitiveness in this game. If you are the type of player that wants endless puzzles, then you might want to challenge yourself to this task!

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

Meter parking around the facility (use app would be easier).
Large lobby with seating area and puzzles to play while waiting
Lockers available
Party room available

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

*** We regret to inform this company has closed its doors ***

(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 Puzzah! Santa Fe for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.