As an escape room duo who also have vast interests, we look for rooms that are not only decorated…read morefaithfully to a set theme but are also sensitive to their physical location and history. We try to make each escape room adventure a whole day event, and generally try to plan our food and other scheduled excursions around it for a deeper immersive experience. This does not always work, partly because most of the escape rooms out there revolve around similar derivative stories. So we were more than thrilled when we discovered that Escape Game Erie was located on our route on our inaugural trip to the Niagara Falls. In the interest of full disclosure, we did not realise that Escape Game Erie's Escape the Niagara room was named for USS Niagara, which served as the relief flagship for Oliver Hazard Perry in the September 1813 Battle of Lake Erie and just returned to its home dock behind the Erie Maritime Museum, which was closed the day we were in Erie, Pennsylvania. Our knowledge of the various battles fought on the East Coast is abysmal, but regardless, we wanted to play a room that carried on a theme that meant something to us, and so, we set on booking our game for after we saw the Falls.
Unfortunately, Escape Game Erie's Escape the Niagara location was closed on Mondays, and Monday was when we were in Erie just for the day. Most fortunately, we were able to e-mail Escape Room Erie and Janet was beyond (ahem) game (haha!) to accommodate us for an evening game at their historic house site at 4838 West Ridge Road. We had taken the train across the continent and could have chosen to do Murder on the Lakeshore Express, but it was good thing we didn't because that would have worked better with a larger group.
Everything about Escape Game Erie was different for us. The setting of the room in the Nicholson House, a historic old house located a little far from shops or food place decorated to invoke a tall ship captain's quarters should not have worked, but did, partly because of the natural lighting coming from two large original windows. The floor creaked as it would have on the ship in a stormy sea, and the ambient sound effects, which we admit to overlooking because we were so engrossed in the puzzles, did their part in helping us feel, well, less at sea (hahaha!) We can't have natural light from old windows, unfortunately, without some very modern vehicular traffic sounds coming through, but we felt very in-sync with the era and environment.
Adding to our enjoyment of the room was, of course, our game host, new owner Janet, who was super-accommodating to begin with. Instead of just being left to sit in the lobby to watch the usual preamble video, Janet actually conversated with us as we sat in the parlour, about if we needed the restroom (we did not), how our trip was going, did we have problems finding the place (there is plenty of parking, but we Ubered from our hotel, and that was a very entertaining 15 minutes), and, of course, about the room and standard game rules. What really stood out for us was her distinction between "quality of life" clues versus "regular" clues - which meant she was prepared to play the game with us as much or as little as we wanted - and she followed through!
Our family-friendly adventure started with us being locked in Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's quarters, and our job was to uncover Lieutenant Elliot's hidden escape route, break free, and warn Perry before it's too late. Thanks to Janet, we changed history in 55 minutes (with no time remaining!). Some minor technical difficulty occurred as we played in what we call a second-generation (G2) room that involved a lot of old-time puzzles and teamwork, which led to the clock being stopped for a while, but our gamemaster kept us on track, since there was no timer in room. Our favourite puzzle was the one with knitting needles (yep!), but all the puzzles were thoughtfully designed and linear to the theme.
Post-game, Janet could have waved us off with just our victory photos (taken in the parlour with props and signage on their camera and texted as well as e-mailed to us after), but she was ever the good host: we carried on for a while with more good stories and good talk before she saw us off with free participation stickers.
In all, Escape Room Erie was unforgettable and to top it off, Escape the Niagara was an incredible value for money. We took a second and third look at our receipt to verify the cost, which included the special accommodation to our schedule and were gobsmacked. We can't wait to head back that way to enjoy more East Coast hospitality and check out the other rooms and Escape Room Erie's downtown location!
