The Cabin

Review

Game Description

“In this spooky 1970s horror movie-themed adventure, you and your friends run out of gas in the middle of the woods. Luckily, there’s a cabin nearby – maybe someone there can help? You and your friends rush inside…and find something you didn’t expect. Will you solve the puzzles in time, or will you be…DEAD BY DUSK?!”

Personal Experience

This is, to date, my biggest escape room-related disappointment. Not because of the room itself, it was a masterpiece and a real step up from Office Hours. The disappointment was that I would have liked to have try tackling it with some puzzle-minded friends, instead I ran through it as part of a team-building exercise for work. It was a difficult room and probably not the ideal room to try and learn escape rooms with, especially with such a big group.

We managed to make it about two-thirds of the way through the room, which was not too bad for us. The whole set was designed to appear like the cabin from a late 70’s–early 80’s horror film. My favorite memory was seeing a gross looking sink with an open drain at the bottom and thinking “I gotta stick my hand in there” and then doing so, making several of my co-workers visibly blanche in the process; but sure enough there was a clue down there!

Narrative

As always, nothing but high marks for CU Adventures here. The story is probably their most conventionally “escape room”-y: Your car has run out of gas and you need to find the gas can before the occupant of the cabin returns in—funnily enough—exactly one hour. There’s a ghostly presence that guides you through the puzzle experience and provides time updates as you go through it. The room was littered with hints of the ghost’s tragic backstory, which also served to increase the looming menace of the cabin’s occupant.

Puzzle Play

The puzzles in this game were especially creative. Anne and Chris Lukeman, the room owners, are both horror aficionados and their love of the genre really shines through in this room. Since the room has closed, I feel comfortable going into specifics: One puzzle involved stretching a severed (rubber) tongue to find a pass code hidden inside of it. There was a hidden ball pit that needed to be navigated for a clue. There were creepy animal masks, each with colored lenses across the eye-slites, that showed a hidden code on the staticy tv when worn. All around an exceptional room.

Recommendation

This room shutdown when CU Adventures moved to their new location. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but apparently the sequel room “Revenge of the Cabin” is supposed to be very good. If it’s half as good as this room (and by some accounts it’s actually better) and you’re not put off by horror, then you should definitely play that room.