Red Riding Hood

Turning the character of Little Red Riding Hood into an antihero is not a new idea, but Number One Escape Room takes it a step further as you are sent to discover whether Red has turned into a criminal and teamed up with the Wolf. Step into Grandma’s house and take a journey through Red’s demented psyche in Red Riding Hood!

Props & Decor:

The props and decorations were in good condition and well placed. They were definitely plentiful enough to lead to an immersive environment, with a couple of extra ones for the guests to just play with. They were not easily breakable, and while some were distracting “red herring” type additions, they were not overdone. I even wanted to take one cute little evil doll home with me!

The Dragon’s 2 Cents

I liked that the props and decor all fit the theme to some degree, I even liked how the clothes smelled old, that was a nice little touch. I did have an issue differentiating between a prop for the puzzles and a prop for decoration purposes. I did however have an issue with some of the props for the puzzles being notably worn down which gave them away. It was a bit confusing as to the intent of the room, were the props and decor meant to confuse players or rather serve as “red herrings” as Bat mentioned or were they meant to be obvious.

Puzzles:

The puzzle types were not bad, but nothing outstanding. Some prop manipulation, some word puzzles. There was nothing to take notes on, but it wasn’t needed. A couple of puzzles took a while to respond to, which led to some wasted time while we looked for other avenues or asked for a hint to something we already knew. But overall, they flowed well from one to another and were conquerable by our two-person group in the time allotted.

The Dragon’s 2 Cents

The puzzles weren’t anything new, however, there were some interesting combinations. The progression of difficulty in the puzzles was all over the place, it didn’t come off as intentional, it felt like they needed a puzzle to fill the “void” in the section progression. It might be my background in video games but the escape room only left me feeling like they had a room filled with puzzles and reskinned it to a new theme.

Theme:

The proposed theme was a twisted version of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, and the first two rooms definitely held the theme in their decor. While Grandma seemed just fine, Red Riding Hood had definitely handled the Wolf on her own. However, the last two rooms continued with a bit of a tenuous connection, one definitely an evil girl’s paradise, and the other seeming to belong to a deranged huntsman. The puzzles, while definitely involving thematic items and placement, did not actively bring the victim into the story.

Overall:

I personally loved the theme, but like all escape room guests, my opinion was driven by personal preference. The creepy kids and dolls type theme is one of my favorites, as well as twisted fairy tales. I liked the way they chose to do their hint system, in notes dropped that we could keep as long as necessary. While there was nothing that stuck out as overly innovative, it was a solidly done room and well built, and a lot of fun!