Photos above are property of Escape Masters
Company: Escape Masters
Game: Prison Bus
Country: New Zealand 🇳🇿
Language: English
Type of Game: Remote Escape Room 🗣
Genre: Adventure
Date Played: September 18, 2021
Difficulty (based on 5 players): 4/10
Size of Team: Up to 6 Connections
Time: 60 Minutes
Price: $100 NZ/ Team (Approx. $75.00 USD)
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You and your friends have been incarnated for crimes you did not commit. To make matters worse the prison guards have placed you all on the incorrect bus that would take you to Wellington Maximum Security Prison! You have sixty minutes before the guards return and you need all the help you can get. Thankfully, the prisoners meant to travel on this bus have left behind their possessions and these might come in handy for your great escape.
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Escape Masters sends you an online portal link for each participant to sign up and check in for. This portal is your access point to view an inventory as well as open the Google Meet link. If you have played any remote escape game on Zoom this has the similar format of your gamemaster taking on an avatar role. When your gamemaster comes across a file or document they will scan the QR code associated with it so it can show up in your inventory.
The first goal of the room is to escape the locked bus you are in before breaking into the prison warden’s office to make your great escape. You are allotted three hints during the sixty minutes but our gamemaster did explain they do provide unlimited hints after the sixty-minute mark. This game can be played as a team challenge as the facility has two prison buses.
Photos above are property of Escape Masters
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The general consensus for our game was that this game reminded us of the old school escape rooms. The majority of the puzzling involved opening three-digit locks that you find through exploration of the room. I did find two puzzles interesting as they required you to make connection between items that would come together to a reveal of a key component. In both cases there were great “aha” moments and gave a good pace to the experience.
In addition, some of our experience was impacted by lack of technical experience, and inconsistencies between the items we received on the platform and the items viewed in person. Our camera view was often shaky and dizzying and items were missed because our gamemaster glossed over them without giving us a chance to notice them. We ended up using a clue only to discovery we had already accessed the area but our gamemaster had glossed over this additional clue. Another issue came when trying to figure out a password only to find the signifier for the puzzle was completely missed in the online version and our gamemaster had to eventually point this out.
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"Prison Bus" has some pretty good bones to the experience, and it would be a lot more fun as an in person experience being that there are physical items that could be used to enhance the prion break theme. It's also a cool idea to compete against your friends in a race against the clock situation. As it stands, the online version does need some updating for a smoother run.
(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 Masters for comping our tickets for this game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.
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