Red Fox Escapes - "The UBoat"

Cici Cao

Feb 11, 20203 min read

Updated: Apr 12, 2024

LOCATION:  Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Photo above is property of Red Fox Escapes

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: The UBoat
📅 DATE PLAYED: February 11, 2020
🎬 GENRE: Mission, War, Espionage
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 3 ppl):8/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: Up To 10PPL
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: $32/PP
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Public
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

It's the year 1941. We discovered an enigma machine but needed to crack the code to send it back to our headquarters. It's crucial for us to do this quickly since our intel had informed us that the U-Boat will be destroyed in exactly 1 hour.

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

"Wow", what a beautiful set design! We've only been on a few museum tours where we saw parts from a submarine but this room fulfilled our desire of wanting to be on one. The bolts on the doors, the washed paint colors and the props from WWII era were just a few of the items that made us fell right into the story. They even build a periscope!!!
The puzzles were very clever. You can tell the owners are enthusiasts themselves. The logic behind each puzzle was very clear and every time we solved one it'll open another chapter. The puzzles also felt like they were molding us into a character in the story. For instance, I felt like I was a mechanical engineer working on the UBoat. Although the high-tech activated puzzles were excellent, our favorite was a little non mechanical prop. It made the experience felt closer to the time period we were in.
There was a moment in the room that we have not seen any escape room implement in their set before. It was so pleasing to our eyes that we felt like time froze and all we wanted to do was to stand there and watch the effect. That probably took 5 minutes away from our final time but totally worth it.
The room started out in a smaller space but as you ventured in, you'll be thankful you had a large team with you. There was a lot to do and "divide and conquer" method is a must! We got out with 3 people but it was definitely challenging.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

One physical puzzle was hard to maneuver given the area we had to work with. Some parts of the prop didn't feel easily detectable. We would imagine it to be more difficult with a larger group to solve together. Our suggest would be to simplify the puzzle a bit or to modify the prop for a better "connection".

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

We have tried many submarine themed rooms before and this was by far our favorite. It had the complete package from set design to puzzle ingenuity to immersive story line. Congratulations to Red Fox Escapes for making it to our top-rated room list for 2020. Well deserved! With the current situation, Red Fox had made all their booking private. If you want to take this huge discount opportunity and play with your friends and family, this is the time to book their games now!

🔎 HINT

Look from another angle?

BOOK NOW

(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 Red Fox Escapes for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.