Hi everyone
The fourth room on our May/June 2024 child-free trip to Holland was The Dome at Madam Bazooka. It is located in Utrecht, which is about 45-60 minute drive from Amsterdam.
I had VERY big expectations going into The Dome, given it debuted in 2020 as the number 1 escape room in the world on the TERPECA list. It has maintained an incredibly high standing since then, currently sitting at #7 in 2024. At the time that I played The Dome, it was #2.
The backstory to The Dome, which I do not think was its strongest point, is that players are participating in tests at The Dome Research Facilities, whilst a criminal cyborg Hector is undergoing ‘controlled molecular neuro transmission’ treatment. When a substance is released into the research facility, players are intoxicated and begin to hallucinate, not being able to tell reality from fantasy.
The Dome was my 294th escape room and here is what I thought:
- The quality of theming in The Dome was very strong. At times we felt like we were on a movie set. There was some really cool misdirection at the beginning of the experience that was really fun.
- There was a really broad mix of puzzles – in fact, probably a broader mix of puzzles of any room I can think of at the time of writing this review. Not all of the puzzles were brilliant (or even suited the theme), but I think where The Dome really shines is in a few select puzzles that are some of the best puzzles I have seen anywhere in the world. For those who have played The Dome, their design of a computer game in a real world escape room environment in the game was phenomenal (as was their shadow puzzle as well as a couple of others). In fact, I wonder how much that single 'real world computer game' puzzle contributed to their spot in TERPECA…
- Where I think The Dome does not shine though is in the backstory and how some puzzles fit into that story line. The story line, ie that all players are hallucinating, felt like a cop out to me – it also seemed to be a bit of a crutch from a design perspective, as it allowed the designers to include puzzles that just didn’t make sense (both in the space and in the story). More importantly, there were aspects of the story that I am pretty sure I still don’t understand more than 6 months later.
- We had an additional issue with The Dome that was a little unfortunate. We arrived early and were told that there was an issue with the game/previous team, which meant that we didn’t start until about 25 minutes past our scheduled starting time. That was a little disappointing for a few reasons – it meant that I spent a lot of time quite distracted right before (and after) the room contacting the next room we were going to to let them know we might be a little late (I had only allowed just enough time to get there), and it also meant that after playing The Dome we did not get to watch back our experience. I understand that most players go into a quiet room where they get to watch back video of themselves during their escape. That would have been really cool but alas it wasn’t to be for our team.
I thought The Dome was a really strong room. Some of the puzzles were truly unique and easily some of the best I have seen to date. However, from a room flow and story perspective, I did not think The Dome was nearly as strong. I understand that whilst The Dome has a huge following in the enthusiast world, there are also many enthusiasts who do not think it ever deserved its #2 TERPECA spot. I fell into the latter category at the time that I played The Dome and having played another 100 rooms since The Dome at the time of writing this review, I think there are a lot of rooms that deserve the top 10 spots ahead of The Dome. The idea that “you’re all hallucinating so we can get away with anything in our room flow and story line” definitely let them down in my view. But hey, the room is worth playing just for the couple of world class puzzles.
Where: Nijverheidsweg 5b, 3751 LP Bunschoten, Utrecht
Duration: 60 minutes
Themes: 3 themes
TERPECA: #7 in 2024 (formerly #1)
Price: 199€ (for a team of 4)
Overall Rating: Really unique ER with some standout puzzles
More details: https://escaperoom.nl/en/
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