Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh – Full Review

Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh is a Escape Room located in , .

722 Allegheny River Boulevard, Verona, PA 15147
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Links:

Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh Facebook PageEscape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh WebsiteEscape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh Twitter PageEscape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh on InstagramTickets to Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh

Contact:

Call Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room PittsburghEmail Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room PittsburghMessage Escape the Undead at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh on Facebook Messenger

Features:

Free Parking, Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site, Gift Shop/Souvenirs, You will NOT be touched, Indoor Waiting Line, All-Indoor Attraction, Family Friendly

Team Houdini Logo

This attraction was reviewed on August 16, 2020 by Team Houdini.

Final Score: 8.95

Summary:

After a long time in quarantine, it felt great to get out of the house. What better activity can you do after being locked in your house for a few months? Get locked up in a room outside of your house. Although ironic at the moment, escape rooms are a great way to get out and spend time with your friends and family in a safe environment.

Puzzle Room Pittsburgh houses three escape rooms or puzzle environments; The Study, Seeking Sasquatch, and Escape the Undead. Puzzle Room Pittsburgh rooms offer a twist on the standard escape rooms that we have started seeing in newer games. Each room offers a unique scenario that requires you to navigate puzzles to complete an objective that may or may not be to escape the room. In this review, we will discuss Escape the Undead. Please check out the reviews for The Study and Seeking Sasquatch as well.

Puzzle Room Pittsburgh prides itself on designing all aspects of the experience in-house. The sets, stories, puzzles, lobby, and even the artwork in the bathroom were all created by the owners, Mike and Jess, and their staff. This provides a distinct experience not found anywhere else. Through a mix of first through third-generation designs, Puzzle Room Pittsburgh offers remarkable set designs and inventive puzzles that are sure to impress beginners and novices alike!


Atmosphere & Customer Service: 8.8

Puzzle Room Pittsburgh was easy to find using GPS. Clicking on the link in the email reminder they provided brought up the location instantly on my Google maps app. Parking is located on-street in this quaint retail area. There is a sign located on the front of the building as well as on the door.

Upon entering the building, Puzzle Room Pittsburgh is located on the second floor. Plenty of signs will guide you on your way. Unfortunately they are not ADA accessible.

From the outside, the building appears plain but the inside is far from boring. The lobby was serene with an elegant and artistic feel. Immediately as you rise to the top of the stairs you are welcomed with an illusion of moving gears inside a broken wall. The artsy d������cor continues throughout the lobby with a geometric design residing on one wall as a broken wood design compliments another. Infinity mirrors provide an interesting green glow that matches the green hue of the fish aquarium below the front desk. Two comfortable couches (really comfortable couches) provided seating for groups waiting for their turn at adventure. The creativity in design does not stop there. A trip to the restrooms provides a chance to admire the wine bottle lighting fixture and the wall of clocks. Finally, the bathroom has an interesting drawn pipe design that you must see. The attention to detail in the lobby alone is something I have not seen before.

As expected with this level of artistry, everything was very neat and clean. Speaking of cleanliness, Puzzle Room Pittsburgh is adhering to strict policies regarding Covid-19. All guidelines are listed on their website. The owner, Mike, informed us that they are taking cleaning and disinfecting very seriously. All employees must wear masks as well as gloves. Guests must wear masks inside the common areas but may remove them in the actual rooms if they feel comfortable. All rooms are also private so you will not be placed with anyone else. Hand sanitizer is provided in the lobby. All touched items and areas are sanitized and every room is sprayed down after each group has finished their session. Water bottles are also provided. Waivers were signed online to eliminate the contact of items in the lobby. There were no warm-up puzzles in the lobby either during our visit. The lobby is also cleaned and sprayed between customers.

The staff was enthusiastic and welcoming when we arrived. Mike answered all our questions and provided tons of information on his attraction as well as the industry in general. Like us, he too is an escape room enthusiast with an incredible amount of experiences. The other owner, Jess, shared with us some cool behind-the-scenes pictures of their set designs. Our game master Jess, yes there are two individuals named Jess, was incredibly fun and entertaining.


Immersion: 8.77

Before entering Escape the Undead, our game master, Jess, provided us an infographic style safety video. Immediately followed was the video explaining the story and goal of Escape the Undead.

Unlike in their other rooms, we were not provided a walkie-talkie for hints. Hints are provided through a com system built into the room. At Puzzle Room Pittsburgh, they provide clues as needed with no limit. This has become more common in the last few rooms we attempted. The clues and hints are meant to push you in the right direction without providing direct answers. So the hints are also obscure.

Escape the Undead is a more basic premise with a slight twist. A heard of zombies are chasing you and you seek refuge in, what appears to be, an abandoned industrial warehouse. Once inside, you find out you are not alone, and instead of escaping out of the room, you are trying to get into a safe room before the undead break in!

The room is decorated as you would expect for an industrial building. The walls are cold metal walls. Large machines sit on the floor, as other machinery hangs on the walls.
The sound was an eerie sound of emptiness like air echoing around a vacant building. Zombie moans and growls joined in reminding us of our pending doom. Other sounds occurred as we progressed through the room and interacted with the different machines.

The lighting was well done but nothing groundbreaking like Seeking Sasquatch. It was dim lighting as you would expect in a warehouse. There were lights on the machine and walls that added to the realism.

Everything worked well together and added realism to the room. However, it was mostly subtle.


Gameplay: 9.05

Once again, as seen in Puzzle Room Pittsburgh’s other rooms, we were presented with unique and detailed mysteries to fit the Undead theme. Puzzle Room Pittsburgh wants to make sure new players and seasoned players get an experience they have not encountered before. Escape the Undead, like The Study and Seeking Sasquatch, provides exclusive puzzles. Puzzle Room Pittsburgh has done an excellent job of reinventing familiar puzzles and presenting new ones that we have not experienced. Along the way, there are plenty of surprises that were very enjoyable.

Escape the Undead hosts more second and third-gen style puzzles, like Seeking Sasquatch, but still has a few basic locks. We enjoyed the assortment of puzzles and the connection they had to the story and theme.

The time was kept by a timer on a screen as well as periodic announcements, which is fairly common. It worked well and merged with the realism of the room.


Entertainment & Value: 9.19

Escape the Undead is listed as the hardest of the three rooms at Puzzle Room Pittsburgh and as we did not escape (we were so close and on the last puzzle). We agree that these puzzles take a different thought process. Perhaps we were tired from doing three rooms back to back – that’s what we are going with.

The cost is $30 which is an average price for an escape room in this area. The room can accommodate 2-6 players.

Per the owner, they do not focus on hard numbers or provide an escape rate as they provide unlimited hints. The rooms are listed as easy (The Study), intermediate (Seeking Sasquatch) and hard (Escape the Undead) to describe the difficulty. Their goal is that players have fun, they are not concerned about having the hardest rooms but rather the best overall experience.

Escape the Undead is a challenging room with a lot of details, fun surprises, and perplexing puzzles that shouldn’t be missed. If you’re looking for a challenge… you found it!


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