You are currently viewing Claustrophobia Brooklyn

Claustrophobia Brooklyn

We embarked in a big franchise challenge.  Claustrophobia is a big Russian chain and they have a place in Brooklyn, NY. I had spoken to the owner before going and had great expectations.  She was very nice and care to share some of their experience with us.

creepy man standing in a room
After seeing some reviews and pictures we were very excited to to the Dungeon.  It made for a great day in New York City. 
 
When we arrived we were greeted by our game room Master.  He was the only one present running 3 rooms.  They had a small parking lot we were able to use in a city were parking spaces are not easy to find.
 
We walked to our room and saw our entrance.  Real stone and beautiful wooden doors.  There were a couple of interesting things going inside that made it interesting. 
 
We started our game and the first lock took us a while, only to discover that it was easier than we thought.  Well, we burned sometime but it was our own fault.  The whole place is amazingly decorated and has great props.  You can tell a lot of effort went into the immersion part of the design.

Unfortunately tech problems can cloud all that.  Our second lock malfunctioned and we had to force it open.  Then we discovered the 3rd and 4th locks were also opened.  The mag locks never engaged.  This took us to the last room looking for the last puzzle.  The RM had to come in several times since their microphone was not working either.  We didn’t know how far into the game we were either since there’s no timer in the room.   At this point all the game flow was upside down and difficult to know what’s next.  We managed to open the last puzzle and it was a great one. We loved this one but it also malfunctioned and the RM had to come in again to help.  We finally solved it and it didn’t activate the exit door so the RM had to open it and say “You escaped”
 
I’m sad to say due to all the tech issues we couldn’t enjoy a room that has great potential and amazing decor.  We believe with a few changes it could be a great escape room.  This is a very Eastern European style of game and needs to be adjusted for the American market.
torture room props
We also found a couple of screws that managed to scratch one of our players arms.  Even though it wasn’t bad, things like that have to be avoided during construction.
 
I would love to go back and do other rooms once all the tech and game flow issues are taken care of.
 
M.
 
Game Design     8/10
Puzzles               6/10
Service                5/10
Room/Theme     10/10
WOW factor       7/10

Leave a Reply