All 6 rooms that we played in Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain in 2024

Hi everyone

After playing rooms in Athens and Madrid/Toledo on our trip in November/December 2024, we took a flight over to Bilbao very early one morning. While there, we played 6 rooms in Bilbao and in a little town called Vitoria-Gasteiz. I have put together detailed reviews of those rooms that I really enjoyed (and short comments only for those that weren’t my favourites).

Here is what I thought:

VITORIA-GASTEIZ ROOMS

Tu Tambien Sonaras (Mayto Kingdom) – Room 351

This was a fantastically scary room – seriously one of the scarier rooms that we played on the trip. You can see my more detailed review here.

Una Aventura De Leyenda / A Legendary Adventure (Mayto Kingdom) – Room 352

This was my favourite room of all 68 that we played in our Greece/Spain trip (although La Taberna was right behind it). This room was simply phenomenal. You can read my (very) detailed review here.

The Innkeeper’s Son (Dragonborn Escape) – Room 353

This was one of the most fun rooms that we played in Spain. It was designed by the same designers behind the Mayto Kingdom rooms and the Monkey Island themed room in Toledo. The puzzles in this room were really fun, many of which required interaction with our game master/actor, which we had a lot of fun with. The puzzles ranged from straight forward to pretty challenging (and there were a lot of puzzles to get through). The theming was strong and there were a couple of nice cinematic moments as well.  This room debuted at TERPECA #8 and was sitting at #137 at the time that we played it. Whilst I think it is showing its age a little, it was still a great room that we really enjoyed. If you would like to check out this room, you can do so here.

BILBAO ROOMS

The Lost Kingdom (Petra Escape Room) – Room 354

This was a pretty strong room. The quality of the theming was great, as were the puzzles (and there were a lot of puzzles). This room was TERPECA #88 at the time that we played it (and was formerly #51). The only issue I had with this room is that I found it really dusty and with lots of different smells (which although thematic, wreaked havoc with my hay fever).  I have found the same thing with other rooms that contain sand – I think the layers of dust stack up on top and there’s no real way to clean/remove it. So unfortunately I spent much of the time in this room sneezing. If you would like to check out this room, you can do so here.

The Rebellion Hybrid (Blindhouse Escape Rooms) – Rooms 355 and 356

Teams can play the Vampires room separately from the Werewolves room, or they can be played together as a hybrid room, which is what we did. The theming was really strong in these rooms. We had fun actor engagement where we did our best to make her laugh and break character (which she did more than once, which was fun). The puzzles were all strong, really varied and satisfying to solve. The hybrid version of these rooms is currently TERPECA 66 and debuted in 2022 at TERPECA 22. I think the most memorable aspect of these rooms was the scale and quality of theming. What the rooms lacked though (when compared to current top 10 rooms) is any cinematics or true ‘wow factors’ – and I thought the actor engagement could have been more involved. We did however really enjoy these rooms. If you would like to check them out in more detail, you can do so here.

Final thoughts on Bilbao/Vitoria-Gasteiz rooms

Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz are beautiful spots. We found very limited public transport options though to get from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz and ubers do not run between the two towns (which is about a 1 hour drive), so we decided to hire a car (which was pretty straight-forward). We only had our NSW drivers licences on us (and not an international driving permit), but we had no issues. We didn’t have much time in Vitoria-Gasteiz, but we spent a morning walking around Bilbao which was beautiful (and we had a late night dinner in a tiny burger place in one of the laneways near our hotel and it was the best burger I have ever eaten). After our escape rooms were done, we hit the Artxandra Lookout in Bilbao on the way to the airport, which provided an awesome sunset view of the whole of Bilbao. This is somewhere I would have never traveled to if it were not for other enthusiasts’ recommendations (which have since been confirmed by TERPECA votes). Vitoria-Gasteiz is a long way from Madrid and Barcelona, but Una Aventura De Leyenda alone made it worth the trip.

Mayto Kingdom – Tu Tambien Sonaras (You’ll Dream Too) Review (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain)

Hi all

After Madrid, we flew to Bilbao and then took a hire car to a little town named Vitoria-Gasteiz. We had heard amazing things about Mayto Kingdom’s rooms and we included Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz mainly to play their rooms.

The story of Tu Tambien Sonaras is as follows:

As retired paranormal investigators, you're fed up with so many cases involving haunted houses that turn out to be hoaxes. Now, a strange case has caught your attention. The clues have led you to the vicinity of a spooky house. A place that should never be entered under any circumstances.

We had high expectations of Tu Tambien Sonaras, given it debuted at TERPECA Number 1 back in 2021.

Tu Tambien Sonaras was our 351^st room to date and here is what I thought:

• The theming in this room is seriously amazing. They have constructed a multi-level house in the middle of a warehouse. The attention to detail is awesome.

• As for the scare factor, this was a genuinely scary room. I had hoped that by the time we got to Spain, I would have been desensitised to scary rooms having played so many in Athens. I can confirm I was not desensitised (at all). Again, playing as a team of 2 made this room that much scarier, particularly when at several times we were split up. Horror escape room designers love themselves a ‘courage’ test or two, don’t they…

• As for jump scares, there were many of these (but not so many as to be annoying). There were some really nice elements too where lighting (and a complete lack of lighting) were used to move things about and to again, scare us. There were also some nice cinematic moments – sounds/music were used really well (and were not quite as loud as many of the other Greek/Spanish rooms we played).

• This room contained a large number of puzzles (and a large number of spaces). The room used the spaces really well. A common element we found in other well-designed scary rooms is that they use ‘light and shade’ – ie, moments where players can be more confident that they won’t be jump scared, which allows players to concentrate on puzzles properly.

• As for actor interactions, there were many interactions throughout the experience. The actors were all well-behaved – they didn’t grab us and at no point were they rough with us. We felt safe (although petrified) throughout the whole experience.

I thought Tu Tambien Sonaras was a fantastic room. Although it was incredibly scary, particularly as a team of just 2, I appreciated the quality of the theming, the sounds, lighting, use of jump scares, etc. It was all really well-considered.

One thing to note is that we had a little difficulty in finding this room. It is located in an industrial estate with several rows of identical-looking warehouses. Our GPS put us in the wrong row – so if you find yourself unable to find it, keep driving around until you see a wide painted garage roller door and then you will know you have found them.

Where:                 Barratxi Kalea, 37A, Pabellón 20, 01013 Vitoria-Gasteiz

Duration:              120 minutes

TERPECA:           1 in 2021

Themes:               3 themes

Overall Rating:     An incredibly well-designed, shit your pants, escape room

More details:        https://maytokingdom.es/

 

Mayto Kingdom – Una Ventura de Leyenda (A Legendary Adventure) Review (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain)

Hi all

The second room that we played at Mayto Kingdom in Vitoria-Gasteiz was Una Ventura de Leyenda. This room is VERY hard to get into – they seem to be booked out around one whole year ahead. I contacted the owners and managed to get a morning booking and so we booked the flights and hotels accordingly.

The story of Una Ventura de Leyenda is as follows:

A renowned team of archaeologists has discovered the location of the greatest treasure ever told. Everything indicates it's in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, it seems they're not the only ones searching for it. You must prevent it from falling into the wrong hands and get ahead of it, or the greatest catastrophe of all will unfold. This time we're going to need the best team. The adventure is going to be exciting!

Before our trip, I reached out to Heiner to ask about any ‘must do’ rooms. He said we needed to play this room, so we made it happen. And it ended up being our favourite game of the trip.

Una Ventura de Leyendas was our 352^nd room to date and here is what I thought:

• This was such an amazing room. It started with pretty a high octane level of adventure, which was sustained for the entire duration of the experience.

• The theming in this room is about the best I have seen in the world. The amount of work (and money!) that must have gone into this room is truly amazing. The sets are straight out of a movie backlot tour. There were some really spectacular (and enormous) spaces that were phenomenal. I was glad that we had time afterwards to walk back through and look at some of the amazing spaces slowly, to properly take them all in.

• Whilst this room borrows a little from the Tombraider world, it doesn’t rely on any knowledge of that franchise. At its heart, this is a room based purely on fun and adventure. As much as I would love to go into the details of the very many elements that we encountered during this experience, I can’t do so without giving spoilers. But trust me when I say that this room brought out the Goonies, Indiana Jones and 90s PC adventure game lover in me!

• The puzzles throughout the experience were great. They used some old-school puzzle elements, some pretty high-tech elements, some hunt and seek fun and some puzzles requiring fun character interactions. And on that front, we enjoyed interacting with the various actors throughout our experience. One cool element that was included in this room were true cut scenes, where we watched actors interacting with each other. I felt like I was at Universal Studios, watching actors from a distance. It was really cool (and certainly unique for an escape room).

Overall thoughts

This room was phenomenal. The scale was ridiculous. The theming and props were amazing. The actor interactions and cut scenes were fun and really unique. The puzzles were plentiful, varied, challenging and really satisfying to solve. This was our favourite room of the entire trip across Athens and all over Spain. It did not surprise me when I learned, after having played this room, that it was later nominated and hit the number 2 TERPECA spot. It is very much deserved.

One thing to note is that we had a little difficulty in finding this room. It is located in an industrial estate with several rows of identical-looking warehouses. Our GPS put us in the wrong row – so if you find yourself unable to find it, keep driving around until you see a wide painted garage roller door and then you will know you have found them.

Where:                  Barratxi Kalea, 37A, Pabellón 20, 01013 Vitoria-Gasteiz

Duration:               120 minutes

TERPECA:            2 in 2024

Themes:                3 themes

Overall Rating:      Our favourite room of 68 on this trip. Unbelievable.

More details:         https://maytokingdom.es/

 

All 9 rooms that we played in Madrid and Toledo, Spain in 2024

Hi everyone

Here is the list of all 9 rooms that we played in Madrid and Toledo, Spain in November/December 2024. I have put together detailed reviews of those rooms that I really enjoyed or wanted to go into more detail on, and short comments only for those I didn’t enjoy quite so much.

Here is what I thought:

Experiencia Amarilla/The Yellow Experience (Colors Escape Room)  – Room 342

With little regard for IP laws I suspect, this room is based on the 1985 film The Goonies, which I think we would all agree is undoubtedly the best movie ever made. So needless to say I was a little excited to play this room. There were some really nice aspects of this room that brought out the inner Goonie in me, as well as some cool set designs and theming. Overall it wasn’t in the same league as some other fantastic pirate rooms that I have played elsewhere, but it was still a lot of fun and my favourite of the rooms that we played at Colors Escape Room in Madrid. If you would like to check out this room, you can do so here.

Experiencia Azul/The Blue Experience (Colors Escape Room) – Room 343

Of the 3 rooms that we played at Colors Escape Room in Madrid, this was probably my least favourite. The reason for that is that I found the theme to be the least interesting (compared to The Goonies and Indiana Jones). That being said, the theming was relatively well done and the puzzles were fun to solve. It was a solid room but not at the same level as the other rooms at this venue (and not in the same league at all to the best rooms on offer in Spain). If you would like to check out this room, you can do so here.

Experiencia Morada/The Purple Experience (Colors Escape Room) – Room 344

With similar disregard for IP laws as was the case with their Goonies room, this room is an Indiana Jones-themed room. As with The Goonies room, the theming and puzzles in this room were well-done. This was a fun room with solid puzzles. There was also a reasonable amount of nostalgia in this room for anyone who also grew up watching the Indiana Jones films. If you would like to check out this room, you can do so here.

The Mystery of Scumm Island (Madness Toledo)  – Room 345

This was a nostalgic, fantastic room that I adored (and in fact, it was the primary reason why we visited Toledo at all). You can check out my detailed review here, but I am sorry to report that this room has now closed down.

The Maze/El Laberinto (Descifra Escape Rooms) – Room 346

The Labyrinth/El Laberinto was an interesting room. It contained a number of interesting elements and unique puzzles, but the most memorable aspect is the room design, which has various rooms branching off from a central hub room. We had some challenges with a communication puzzle in this room (which had us on either side of a window trying to communicate using our hands) – it would not have been impressive to have watch us at that point. Overall it was an interesting room and I liked it more by the end of the experience than I did at the beginning. If you would like to check it out, you can do so here.

La Santa (Shock) – Room 347

I did not absolutely love La Santa, but I wanted to review it in detail given it is currently TERPECA 24 and a former TERPECA 4 room.  You can check out my detailed review here.

Disappearance of Professor (La Cronosfera) – Room 348

I found this room pretty frustrating (and for a time travel room, it contained very little time travel elements). The theming was very simplistic, about what I would expect from a Gen 2 room. Many of the puzzles were reasonable, but the hint system was one of the worst that I have encountered in the more than 400 rooms that I have played to date. Players are handed a device that helps them to “travel” in time, but that device is also how players receive hints. Players have no way to contact the GM and instead have to rely on the GM paying attention and then sending hints, which come through on an LCD on the device. There is no sound that plays when a message is sent, so unless you’re watching the device the whole time, it is very easy to miss hints (or not know whether any hints were in fact sent). This room is a hard pass for me until they fix the incredibly frustrating hint system. You can check out more about the room here.

Bites Motel (Bite the Fly) – Room 349

Bites Motel was my favourite room in Madrid. You can check out my detailed review here.

The Tailor/El Sastre (Locktopus) – Room 350

We played The Tailor on our last evening in Madrid. I had heard good things about the Tailor (and knew that it had previously held the spot of #136 on TERPECA). It was a fun, high adventure room with some really nice aspects. I thought the room had signs of wear and was starting to show its age a little, but the theming was strong. I really liked their use of the existing building spaces and the character interactions were fun. You can check out more about the room here.

Final thoughts on Madrid/Toledo rooms

We had a great time in Madrid and enjoyed the various rooms that we played there. I did not think that any of the rooms that we played were necessarily among the best rooms that we have played in the world, including La Santa which is currently TEPRECA 24. All of the rooms though were themed nicely and had some interesting puzzles. I would definitely describe the rooms in Madrid as being more puzzle focused than the rooms in Greece, which were largely (but not in all cases) more focused on jump scares. And of the entire trip around Spain and Athens, I thought the city of Toledo was incredibly beautiful and definitely worth the time investment if you’re in Madrid.

Bite the Fly - Bites Motel Review (Madrid)

Hi all

Another room that we played on our November-December 2024 trip to Athens and Spain was Bites Motel from Bite the Fly in Madrid.

I had heard good things about this room, but in the busy run up to the trip I had not looked into what story behind this room was. About 6 seconds into the experience, it became pretty clear that this room paid homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho, and that Bites Motel is a play on Bates Hotel from the film.

The backstory to this room is as follows:

Come to the quiet village of Bite The Fly and get to know it, you won't regret it. You can stay at the family-run Bites Motel run by Norman, a shy boy, and his mother. They will make your stay an unforgettable experience. Your rest is of paramount importance to them.

Bites Motel was my 349^th room to date and here is what I thought:

• The theming in Bites Motel was excellent. They have managed to create an entire world within a warehouse building, which includes an outdoor area and a multi-storey house. It really is awesomely constructed.

• There is a nice flow this experience, beginning with a character interaction and then the level of suspense increased slowly as we progressed through the house and the storyline.

• Speaking of that initial character interaction, we had a lot of fun while checking into the Bites Motel. Our game master/actor, whose name I have forgotten but let’s assume it was something like Norman, asked us to quit ringing the bell on the reception desk while we were talking to him. After about the fourth time we rang the bell, he gave us a murderous look and ripped the bell from our reach, while yelling obscenities at us. He later confessed he had difficulty not laughing and because his English wasn’t great, all that he could do was yell the same insults at us over and over again. I knew immediately it was going to be a great room because of that initial interaction.

• And a short tangent here, but to any game masters who read my reviews, do not underestimate the value that a great game master can add to an experience. We usually like to try to get actors to break character – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it usually leads to the most memorable times I have had in escape rooms. A great GM can play with it and get on board and it really can lift the enjoyment of a room incredibly. However, I have seen it go the other way, with GMs getting really annoyed with us for playing around and trying to have fun. Here is my take on that – lighten up a little and don’t read from a script, but instead adapt to the players, because they are the ones paying for the experience so take their lead. Try to match their energy. The best examples I can think of this have been in rooms with trained actors as the GM – the clearest examples I can think of are Magnifico in Montreal (TERPECA #1) and Intruders at Mission Sydney. Both examples had actors who really knew how to improvise and react and be open to having fun. But equally, with non-trained actors, we have had a lot of fun in making them break character and trying on things to help for an memorable experience for everyone

• The puzzles in Bites Motel were also really good. We were stuck on one for a little while and then with a nudge in the right direction, we saw the solution and were really impressed. This experience covers a large space and there are a lot of puzzles to get through. This is definitely one of those European rooms that, whilst scary, still has a primary focus on the puzzles and not jump scares.

Overall thoughts

I really enjoyed this room. The GM/actor did a great job and it was fun chatting with him afterwards. Judging this room from a fun and quality of puzzles perspective, it was my favourite room in Madrid. Really great theming, fun character interactions and great puzzles that were satisfying to solve.

Where:                                Calle Puerto de Pozazal 4

Duration:                            90 minutes

TERPECA:                          97 in 2024 (previously 75)

Themes:                              2

Overall thoughts:               A scary room with great puzzles and character interactions

More details:                      https://www.bitethefly.com/bites-motel

Shock Creations - The Saint/La Santa Review (Madrid)

Hi all

One of the rooms that we played during our November-December 2024 trip to Athens and Spain was La Santa at Shock Creations in Madrid.

The story behind La Santa is as follows:

The story tells of Sister Clara, who lives with the other sisters in the Abbey. A series of strange events lead her to inform the Church about what has happened there. A demon has terrorized the clergy. The Church contacts Father Eusebio, an expert demonologist, who immediately contacts the sisters. Father Eusebio begins to investigate the story. He discovers a terrible fact: centuries earlier, a demon had been walled up within the walls of Saint Clare Abbey.

La Santa was my 347^th room to date and here is what I thought:

• knowing that this was a top 25 TERPECA room (and a former TERPECA #4), this was a room that I really wanted to play in Madrid. It was however a real pain to try to book for just 2 players. I sent an email to Shock Creations asking if we could play as a team of 2 (even if we paid for a larger team) and after chasing them for a response, I got a pretty rude reply that they were busy and I should stop asking them questions that can be answered on their website. We ended up losing our deposit for the first booking that we made.

• ultimately, we managed to find another 2 guys to play with from an enthusiast group on Facebook (hi to Serg from Germany). So we played as a team of 4, which I am glad that we did (both so that we could meet fellow enthusiasts but also because in any horror rooms, there is safety in numbers).

• there were certain elements that I thought were done well in La Santa. I liked the quality of the theming throughout the experience and some of the earlier jump scares that I thought were well-designed. Overall I did not think that the puzzles were particularly strong throughout the balance of the experience, but they were fine.

• As far as cinematics go, there is one moment that is visually impressive. However, I think it was probably very impressive when the room opened back in 2021, but compared to other top 25 rooms I feel like La Santa is showing its age now with respect to the quality of the cinematics and theming.

• I wasn’t on the receiving end of this, but one of our team mentioned that one of the actors was pretty heavy-handed with them at one point. This wasn’t necessary (but as we saw in some other Greece/Spain rooms, sometimes the actors get a little too excited).

Overall thoughts

Overall I thought La Santa was a solid room but I did not think it deserved its current #24 TERPECA spot. The room was expensive (particularly when, like us, you lose your deposit and have to rebook) but I thought shows its age, the puzzles were just ok and the storyline was pretty weak. I also thought the communication and customer service at this business was poor. They were pretty slow and then pretty rude via email. The room is designed so that it can only be played with a minimum of 3 people, not 2. Having now played the game, it would take very little work on their part to make the room adaptable to a team of 2.

I did not think that this room is in the same league as the best rooms that we played on this trip on a number of fronts. Although there was one impressive ‘cinematic’ moment, that was really the only unique or memorable element of this room for me. I will not be surprised later this year when La Santa falls outside of the top 50, which I suspect it will.

Where:                 C. Juana Francés, 2, 28522 Rivas-Vaciamadrid

Duration:             90  minutes

TERPECA:          24 in 2024 (previously 4)

Themes:              4 themes

Overall Rating:   Showing its age and doesn’t deserve such a high TERPECA ranking

More details:      https://www.shockescaperoom.com/escape-room-hall-escape-lasanta/

Madness Toledo - The Mystery of Scum Island Review (Toledo, Spain)

Hi all

One of my favourite rooms that we played on our November-December 2024 trip to Athens and Spain was The Mystery of Scum Island at Madness Toledo.

The room is located in Toledo, which is a little under a 1 hour drive from Madrid. We were rushing from room to room that day, so we bit the bullet and took an uber from Madrid to Toledo. However, ubers do not run from Toledo back to Madrid, so we paid handsomely for a taxi in the evening to take us back to Madrid (where we had another escape room booked).

The Mystery of Scum Island is a room based on my all-time favourite 1990s PC adventure games, The Monkey Island series. I fondly remember playing The Secret of Monkey Island in early high school – I had played many Sierra and LucasArts games back then: the whole Kings Quest series, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Indiana Jones, Leisure Suit Larry, the list goes on. But my favourite was Monkey Island – trying over and over again to beat Le Chuck, figuring our how to make sea shanties rhyme with oranges and trying to figure out the game designers’ fascination with voodoo, grog and rubber chickens…

It was a fantastic game series and I was incredibly excited to play this room (I even wore my  favourite Monkey Island t-shirt :-)

The Mystery of Scum Island was my 345^th room to date and here is what I thought:

• this room was a complete joy to play. The quality of the theming was excellent. The use of sounds and music really helped to bring the world of Monkey Island to life;

• the room included interaction with a skull, who played the role of our Game Master. The voice actor did a fantastic job;

• the room design is a non-linear room, which allowed us to split up a little to investigate different spaces. Given though there were only 2 of us, we largely solved the puzzles together. And speaking of puzzles, I thought they were all a lot of fun to solve. They were also a nice mix of hunt and seek fun, more traditional puzzles and some higher tech puzzles and even computer-based interactive puzzles;

• the reason though that I loved this room so much is because the nostalgia. I really felt like I was inside the Monkey Island world and playing the role of a pirate. There was one puzzle in particular that was so incredibly clever and nostalgic that I would have given this room a huge rating purely for that puzzle alone. As soon as I glimpsed the puzzle, I smiled and laughed and knew I would never forget it.

The only criticism I had of the room is that I would have liked to have spent more time on a hunt and seek element, given we finished the room early and had plenty of spare time. It wasn’t clear from the room design that there were additional hunt and seek elements that we could have chosen to spend time on. This was a minor criticism though of what was a brilliant room.

Overall thoughts

If I judged rooms purely on fun, this was probably my favourite escape room of the entire trip. I suspect that many other enthusiasts who have played The Mystery of Scum Island grew up playing Monkey Island like I did, which is no doubt why this room debuted at 27 on the TERPECA list. I suspect the room would not have been quite as fun if you are not a Monkey Island fan, but even then the quality of the theming and puzzles was excellent. After playing the room, I later learned that it had been designed by the team that also designed Mayto Kingdom’s rooms. They are incredibly talented designers.

In sad news, The Mystery of Scum Island has closed its doors. I had heard rumours before we played that it might be closing and I am incredibly grateful that we managed to play it during its run.

Where:                Calle Nueva 5, 45001 Toledo, Spain

Duration:             90 minutes

TERPECA:          152 in 2024 (previously 27)

Themes:              Closed

Overall Rating:   A nostalgic joyful game that I didn’t want to end

More details:       https://www.madnesstoledo.es/