"How could this place have continuous 5 star reviews?! Hm, must be a scam!" ~ me and probably everyone else before going to Boda Borg. 4 hours at Boda Borg and only finished 3 quests... Let's just say I'm already planning my next reservation. If you enjoy escape rooms, but looking for something more adventurous... I would say Boda Borg is top-notch and a must visit! The four of us (21-30 year olds) made a reservation for Labor Day (Monday night) and it was pretty packed, ranged from little kids to college kids to adults. The 2 hour $18 pass is not worth it vs. the all day $28 pass, considering you have 16 quests to check out. Trust me you'll need 4+ hours if you're planning to enjoy this place. The quests varies and you get to choose how physical you want to get. Green quests are the least physical (mainly mentally challenging), red quests are intermediate physical and black quests are the most physical. The challenges were definitely mentally and physically challenging, completing even ONE is total satisfaction. Completed quest = stamp... Literally #StampGoals!!! Key points: - Free street parking after 6pm - BYO water/snacks.. they provide free lockers - OR they have a Taco Bar: $10 all-you-can-eat - It gets crowded, make reservations accordingly (non-peak hours) and sign the online waiver to save time - Wear comfortable/athletic attire (it gets pretty hot running around) and don't forget sneakers/closed-toe shoes are required - Go with people you can talk to, you'll be spending most of your time waiting to get back into the rooms - Most popular/longest line quests: Alcatraz, Superbanan (both black doors a.k.a. the most physically challenging quests) - Any reservations made before November 1, 2016 will be honored the original pass prices ($18 & $28) Any reservations made after will go up $2. Last but not least, get your butts to Boda Borg and experience it for yourselves!!! read more

I have been to Boda Borg 4 times over the past couple years with different groups. We love it. We come back for new rooms and to try to figure out rooms that stumped us. I have been with teens and adults who all enjoyed it thoroughly. read more

We had such a blast playing here. We struggled way more than I expected us to. It took us a few tries at each game to actually pick-up what we were supposed to do to win and even then - we had an uphill battle. Definitely planning on going again. read more

Had such a blast doing this with my boyfriends family!! We all enjoyed doing the puzzles. The puzzles are quite challenging but are unique and a lot of fun! They consist of 3 rooms within a single puzzle and in the 3rd room once you complete that, there is a stamp you can use to mark off completion on a card they give you in the beginning. We all managed to complete 3 of them! There are a lot of puzzles overall! We will have to come back to try out the other ones. read more

First attempt with a high school and middle schooler... the 3 of us turned against each other with every red circle, and we got a lot of failures! I definitely will come back, we only did 2 hours and it was plenty of time, you get tired of losing and trying again and again and again. We only got 1 hint, but wish we had asked for another one. read more

Awesome place for pretty much all ages! I love how each quest is clearly difficult, but they are sorted by level of physicality. It allowed those of our group who wanted to think with their brains for the most part to do quests like that whereas others of our group took on some of the more physical ones. Highly recommend going on downtime, where there might not be as many people there. Our waits were no longer than 5-7 mins for the most part and we went from 2:30-4:30 on a Saturday. The guides are awesome and explain that they can (and remain the right to not) give hints, because it's more satisfying if you can figure it out on your own. If you have the time, I'd say it's worth it to do the "as long as you want" for $33 instead of two hours for $22. read more

We specifically went out to Malden for this. Picked a restaurant nearby and left the restaurant right at 930 so we could have two hours of fun and adventure before they closed at Midnight. Young woman at the front desk was making small talk while we sign wavers askin about how our meal was. She then asked if we had any drinks. We each had a drink or two with dinner. She says its company policy not to allow anyone in who had any alcohol in their system. What? I would certainly understand if we were being roudy or obviously hammered, but we weren't. Its like she specifically asked us to find the technicality to turn us away. I kinda get it, but if you're gonna be that strict about having two drinks with dinner, make it apparent on the website or even in the waiver. That way people dont plan their whole night around this activity just to be turned away after drinking a beer with dinner. read more

Really horrible experience here. A group of us came at 10 pm on a Friday night for a bachelor/ette party and the place was empty. The woman (who claimed her name is Magic Jozana, GM) asked our party if the restaurant where we went to dinner had a good beer selection. We said yes, and then she told us apparently it's a rule that if you have even ONE drink within 2 hours of starting you are not allowed to play. We are all 30+ years old and were well within the legal driving limits. We could still accept that rule however, if it was an actual rule. It's not, we read every line in the waiver and online and there is no rule that says that. Asked Magic (lol) to show us where the rule was and she could not. Basically, the 20 year olds working that night wanted to close early and came up with a reason to turn our party away. Oh well, there's $300 of business they just lost. Edit: to Chad's point below- this rule literally isn't posted anywhere. Yes, I'm sure "questing" after one beer is more dangerous than driving a car after one beer. read more

I went just after opening weekend, and on a weekday so the building wasn't crowded. It was an AMAZING team building exercise with my 15 person company, from ages 20 to 55. If you like puzzles, games, laughter and an all around great time, BODA BORG is the place for you. I can't wait to go back with my friends, as the competition will only get hotter. They change rooms every three to six months, so there is ALWAYS something new to try. Bottom line: if you're questioning it, GO. You won't regret the choice. A little advice, bring knee pads and water, and be prepared to feel like a kid again! read more

I just spoke with Chad, the owner. He was very apologetic and will be sending me a full refund. He said basically that the experience I had was shocking, "really dropped the ball" and not in line with their prodedures. He said he would speak with his staff about this, and also regarding the outside food warnings, he agrees to clarify to his staff not to be rude about it. I look forward to the improvements that he will make. I hope he will do something about the noise level too, perhaps some drapes, upholstery or acoustic tiles to reduce the cacophony. Regardless, perhaps at a later date I will give them another chance. read more

Totally worth the money! Was by far the coolest thing I've done in Malden! Would definitely recommend going early and doing the unlimited passes. Also try to avoid times when there are a lot of people so you can just repeat room you fail. Parking is all over the place, including the parking structure across the street. Definitely worth making a reservation. read more

This is super fun place to go with any group of people. I went with my soccer team but there were also kids having a birthday party here. Great for any age and is fun for a wide ranger of people. The rooms were very challenging, but very rewarding when passing them. I got a little tired towards the end but two hours is a good time. If you are a student there is a discount during certain times of the day, but still a great price without it! read more

Not very fun. Gets very discouraging when you don't get any puzzles right. Kids got frustrated quickly

Super cool place! Both physical and mental challenges make the 20 dollars extremely worthy! The place is also very big and full of other kind of devices. read more

confusing as heck but soooo fun. there's no instructions so u basically go into the room and gotta figure out what to do. it's a mix of mental and physical challenges. time flies when you're trying the challenges. wait at each challenge wasn't terribly long, obviously there's a longer line for the more popular ones read more

I don't normally give 5 stars but when I do its damn great place. Went there on Sat night with adults and there kids and had a blast, we out giving away to much this place has u use ur mind and body for one he'll of a work out, the people who work there are super cool the facility is huge and as of this writing they have 16 rooms . This is one of those places where u can take a 1st date to and this will either make or break the relationship. If your partner is nagging the he'll out of u telling u what to do then you know it's time to quit that one and move onto the next lol. Teamwork is required here and all levels of skill can play, u can easily spend 3 hrs here and the time will fly by read more

Worst place ever. I went there having a little bit of fun. There were only two good courses. Guys, just so you know, if you walk perfectly normal; that's known as running by the not-so-intelligent staff. I was actually KICKED OUT by some guy that I'm guessing was probably blind? I was walking to another puzzle when he stopped me and brought me upstairs to cut off my wrist band. He thought that walking was running. Also, I found out that the girls that attended going with me got "multiple warnings", and didn't get punished. Most boys were kicked out for no reason. What a sexist, unfair, broken place. Never going there again, and if I were you, I wouldn't go either. read more

Poorly designed rooms that had no storyline. Hints pretty much made no sense. The technology employed was also elementary. There are way better escape the rooms out there. The concept is great, but entering a room after waiting for 10 mins, and getting kicked out in 3 mins kills the fun. The crowd is also filled with teenagers that likes to scream randomly. read more

To classify Boda Borg as a form of recreation would be an injustice to its ability to alter your outlook on bonding, self-improvement and enjoyment. Boda Borg's physical challenges, mental tests and emphasis on effective communication take "escape the room" to the next level. The quests- which each contain their challenges and rewards- are sure to amaze every one from college town professors to students looking for an original way to spend an evening. Be sure not to miss Superbanan, which will make for some really memorable experiences. In short, the only room you'll want to escape after visiting Boda Borg is your living room. read more

Just visited Boda Borg for the first time and am definitely a fan! There are a few things that I think could be improved, but overall, Boda Borg was awesome, and well worth the money spent. Things I loved: 1) This is unlike any other Escape the Room I've done. You don't understand a room? You try something and learn quickly if it works or not. 2) The difficulty of the rooms varies. Some we were able to complete in 2-3 tries, while others took us 15+ tries, but had us excited each time to go back and finish. 3) The ability to go for as long as you want. All other Escape the Rooms I've done are an hour long. My friends and I spent 4+ hours, and would have stayed longer if they didn't have a plane to catch. Things I'd change: 1) It seems silly, but the lack of parking information available. We arrived 15 minutes early, but spent most of it trying to find parking. After signing up ahead of time, an email said to find parking information on the website. After searching for over 10 minutes and finding nothing, I gave up. We found a parking garage a block away, but had we known it was there, we would have gone directly to it rather than driving around for 10 minutes. 2) We went over February break so expected a lot of kids to be there on break. However, there were numerous kids running around without parental supervision. Some of them were fine. However, I lost count of how many kids I saw banging on doors, kicking walls, choke-holding their friends, etc. Parental supervision should be required under a certain age. 3) Lastly, while the rooms were awesome, some of them have clearly been used for a long time and are starting to wear out. In one room, my teammates and I spent almost the entire time just trying to "fix" the game and once we finally did so that we could play it, we timed out. This type of thing happened more than I would expect. Perhaps the workers should be required to go through the rooms pretty regularly to find these types of problems and fix them (we did alert the staff to at least 3 different things, which they said they'd look into). read more

This place is SO fun!! I highly recommend the unlimited time as opposed to the two hour tickets. We were there for almost 4 hours and certainly could have stayed longer if it wasn't closing. I also highly recommend comfortable workout type clothes. I was in jeans and sneakers and was wishing I had yoga pants for the more physical quests, and layers to take on and off as I got hot on the physical ones and cooled off during the more mental challenges. Seriously so much fun. read more

Not that this place needed another 5 star review, but I'm giving them one. I went there today for a company retreat and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. Yes - it's very frustrating, but it's half the fun. We were there for four hours, and I wasn't able to fully complete any of the quests. I made it to the final rooms of Jungle, Platoon, Spook House, Alcatraz, and Dance Paus, but wasn't able to get a coveted stamp. I don't really think there's much logic involved - it's 90% trial and error and figuring out what works and what doesn't. I failed many times simply because I was an inch or two away from where I should have been. It's VERY important to be aware of your surroundings! And most importantly - have a good team!! Go with people you work really well with, it makes a difference. As someone else said, keep in mind that smaller groups might be better for certain challenges. I can tell you that Platoon and Alcatraz may be hard to get through with more than three people. We started with a two hour pass, but went out for lunch and ended up coming back for a couple more hours because it was so much fun. I don't see how anyone could accomplish much of anything in the quests in just two hours! For any pregnant woman wondering if they can do it, there are several challenges that you can! Two of the women in my group were pregnant, one who was heavily pregnant was able to do Spook House, another who is earlier on was able to do both Spook House, Alcatraz, and Platoon. It might just depend on how far along you are and what you feel comfortable doing. Even if you don't feel comfortable with the physical quests, there are many that don't require much or any physicality at all. I will definitely be back - I already have plans to go again next week! However, I'll be investing in knee pads for next time. My knees are totally destroyed right now :( read more

Extremely fun for group activities. It's like endless of escape the room! Definitely should stay for the whole day!

The concept of having a real world game environment is awesome and definitely becoming more popular in Boston. I have experienced "Escape the Room" located in Downtown Boston which was super fun and also similar to Boda Borg - except Boda Borg has a lot more variety (there are ~15 rooms in Boda Borg while Escape the Room is stuck to sometimes 1 room and a certain theme). Boda Borg is a place to exercise your brain and body as you are trying to go through each of the very different rooms and finish the quests with a team of 3 people minimum. There are NO instructions whatsoever, so you have to observe what is in the room and how they relate to each other. There are rooms where you fail right when you walk in! And it is OK TO FAIL! They expect you to fail multiple times and go through trial and error; that's what makes it fun. Just know that you will always fail if you do not work as a team, so this is a great activity for team bonding/ leadership retreats. This is also great for all ages - the screens above the doors are color-coded so that you know if it is very physical, wheel-chair accessible, or something in between (it doesn't mean easy, medium, or hard though because there are rooms that don't need any physical tasks but can be very hard). In conclusion, I really recommend this place for everyone and anyone to enhance their problem solving abilities and team work skills. I can't wait to go back again to finish the quests I couldn't get to the first time and also the quests that they might add in the meanwhile! read more

3 hours can really fly by when you're Boda Borg-ing. I went with a group of 4 and we're all in our early 30's. It was a bit awkward being surrounded by hordes of teenagers; but, we got over it once we realized how much fun we were having. The staff member told us that typically only 0-3 rooms are completed during a first visit. Our group finished 10, but I'm sure the average is based on a younger crowd. Regardless, it was still satisfying to complete a room and we were stumped by a few that we eventually gave up on. The rooms are addicting, but we were definitely exhausted after 3 full hours of nonstop challenges. If you sign up for a full day I'd recommend taking a break for a while and eating upstairs before returning to your quests. There were only a handful of times where we had to wait outside the door for the group before us to finish/fail, and each time was only a couple of minutes. Some rooms had minimal ventilation and a musty smell; but, that's inevitable with a bunch of kids running around. It certainly wasn't enough to turn us away. There is a cap to how many groups/people they allow to avoid being overcrowded so I recommend calling ahead of time to check availability or make a reservation. If I lived closer I'd definitely return to get my 8 remaining stamps! I highly recommend for all ages. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes and clothes, and be ready to crawl around! read more

Seriously - this place was amazing. AH-MAAAA-ZING. My oldest and his wonderful girlfriend brought his 2 younger sisters (and mom) to Boda Borg for the girls' birthdays. We spent nearly 7 hours there and loved every minute of it. I suggest wearing something that covers your knees if you plan on doing any of the physical ones (do them!!) read more

OUCH! That's all I can say after spending over 4 hours at boda Borg. My whole body is sore but it's one of those I-had-a-lot-of-fun kind of sore. We tested out all the available quests and at the end of the four hours, we only managed to pass 3! It's challenging mentally and physically so that's why 2 hours won't be enough!! Questing is absolutely amazing and fun and I can't wait to go back. My only advice is to make a reservation, go early, buy the all day pass, and avoid children that try to 'help' you! Definitely feels a lot more accomplishing figuring out the quest. :) read more

Great place to tackle with friends. If you are to go, do the all day pass. 2 hours may sound long but it is very little in time in regards to the 16 quest you would have to TRY to conquer! Would love to come to this place again with friends. the Replay value is good since you are always trying to beat your previous record! read more

4 stars because it seems like the kids here really enjoy it. Coming with a group of young adults may be too crazy (with other kids running around) or exhausting (bring knee pads). If you do come... come here late/ after a night of drinks... definitely would make the experience a lot better! In short, there are numerous rooms divided between floors. You walk around and choose which room you want to tackle. Upon successful completion of a room, you get a stamp on a paper to signify victory. You then just go around and collect stamps... read more

This is exactly the kind of thing that we need more of. Boda Borg is an interesting set of indoor games and challenges that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. With the addition of Boda Borg to Pleasant St, and a few excellent restaurants, the whole area is transforming from a depressed strip of dollar stores to a fun place to go. Boda Borg is very unique, and chances are most of your friends will never have tried anything like it. It's a perfect place to bring friends. I found that it works best in groups that are multiples of 3 (3, or 3+3, or 3+3+3, etc). read more

This is the best room escape i have been to there a bunch of quests all which have multiple rooms if you pass the first room you move on to the next if you don't you can go back to the beginning or choose a new quest and for $30 you can play all day. The quests range from mentally challenging to physical quest to a mix of the the two. They also offer a taco bar for $10 which is surprisingly good for the price. read more

This place is actually really great. Something completely new and different coming to the Boston area, especially the Malden area. Definitely make a reservation and fill out your waivers online beforehand! It gets really packed on the weekends, I went the Saturday after Thanksgiving and even with a reservation it was packed full of people. I basically had to wait for every room, even though it was only like a 5 minute wait it felt like eternity LOL. Over 20 different rooms with multiple difficulties and physical, mental, or both, how great. I found the physical rooms much more easier than the mental ones because reasons... Some rooms are harder than others, you can also ask for assistance from the staff and they'll be glad to give you hints. Sneakers are recommended. $18 for 2 hours was really worth it, then an optional extra $10 for unlimited time ($28), and even optional taco-buffet for another $10 whoo! read more

Love this place! So cool! Great staff! Everyone is just so nice I can't wait to go back!

I loved this place it's really clean but smells like feet but great service but the only problem is that the parents have to sign the waiver and the guardian can't but it's really cool recommended alot read more

Went to a birthday outing at Boda Borg the kids had fun. We had pizza that was ordered from outside the establishment by them which was allowed but they do not offer birthday cakes and do not allow you to bring one into the establishment. So not the best place for a birthday! read more

What sets Boda Borg apart from other escape / puzzle experiences: The rooms operate autonomously. That means that they all the physical elements are designed and built really well because they need to function without a human to intervene with breakages. It means you get a consistent experience from team to team; so your accomplishment has known merit! It also means that the facility scales really well. Each quest is broken down into smaller puzzles contained in different rooms. This is really nice because not only do you get to celebrate more milestones, it means multiple teams can effectively work the same quest simultaneously and at their leisure. If you don't like a puzzle and want to move on, you can do that very quickly. If you need a break to think and strategize, just step out and come back when you're ready. This type of flexibility is pretty unique, and it really enables good teamwork and communication. There is a mix of easier quests and harder ones, and skill tests in thinking, dexterity, and endurance. The easiest one I did took maybe 15 minutes. The hardest took 2 visits and ~4 cumulative hours of observing, theorizing, trying, failing, re-theorizing, feeling stuck, and finally in the span of 10 seconds having all 3 of us contributing key insights to determine the answer (which we knew had to be right, because the solution was elegant). This is the only US location so far, but hopefully that will change soon! In the meantime, it is worth the trip to Malden. read more

I love this place. It'd always extremely clean and the staff is always friendly. The price to do activities like this is also great and hard to come by, especially in the city. It's such a steal (: read more

Great activity for all ages. Might be worth buying a day pass. You will want to stay there awhile

This place is a blast! I'd say its fun for all ages, but some of the physical challenges are pretty intense. Went there with 4 friends and got the 2 hour pass, which we stayed through and upgraded to the day pass. There's 3 types of challenge rooms, physical, mental, and a combination. They can all be hard. We finished only 6 rooms out of the about 20 they have, it was a little busy, there most likely will be some waiting on rooms. We've got a second trip planned already, we enjoyed it so much! Pro tip: Wear athletic clothes and put on some deodorant! read more

Very fun and addicting. Went with 9 people (broke up into groups of 3). Had a ton of fun racing around solving the various room. There is a great balance of physically challenging and mentally stimulating quests. We stayed for a good 7 hours and only got 6 or 7 stamps. The set up is quite simply; a bunch of themed "quests" (typically each quest is made up of 2-4 rooms) where you have to figure out how to fulfill each individual room to get to the next room. Each "quest" is split into a category (green or "mental", red or "mix", or black ie "physical"). The quests are of the perfect difficulty, most are doable if you try enough, but some are challenging enough to keep you working for a while. There are no real hints; it's just a matter of trying again and again. We went on a Sunday (have to sign up for reservations a few days early as they seem to fill up quick!). There are two options; 18 dollars for 2 hours of play or 28 dollars for all day play, we (wisely) went for the all day pass. As a group of mid 20 year olds we had a ton of fun, but honestly, because the quests were so varied, we saw people of all ages (lot of kid's with birthday parties, older groups, etc.) and everyone seemed to be having fun. The only major con is replayability. Once you solve a room, it loses essentially all of it's challenge (except for the physical ones I suppose, but even those usually have a trick or two that make em easier). This wasn't an issue at all; we got to try each quest but only got to the 2 room on most of them (there were something like 16 quests available and we only solved 6 or so). I'd go again, but mostly to play the quests I hadn't played. If they have a system where they rotate in new quests, this would not be a problem at all (and they may have such a system, I am not sure). Tips Come dressed with comfortable athletic clothes/shoes Farm is a good, easy quest that is a perfect introduction to questing Ones that my group found particularly fun: Jungle, Infra (very challenging for us, only got to the second room), Pirates, Spider, SuperBanan, Tough/Tougher/Toughest, Alcatraz to name just a few (but honestly they were all pretty fun). Groups of 3 are ideal, group of 4 may be ok (all the quests are designed for 3 people), 5 is way too many for most quests read more