Hi everyone
After playing rooms in Athens, Madrid/Toledo, Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz on our trip in November/December 2024, we took a flight over to Barcelona. Aaron’s friend Selina joined us for most of the escape rooms in Barcelona (and later in Valencia and London).
I have put together detailed reviews of those rooms that I really enjoyed in Barcelona (and short comments only for those that weren’t my favourites).
Here is what I thought:
Tao Massage Centre (Virus Escape Rooms) – Room 357
Tao Massage Centre was a really fun room – definitely one of the few great comedy escape rooms in the market. We knew within minutes that this was going to be a fun room. The humour was blended throughout all of the experiences in this room. The mix of puzzles was also really strong (and at times utterly ridiculous). Of all of the rooms that we played in Barcelona (and Spain more generally), this was a room aimed at making you laugh the most. Tao is currently ranked #177 on TERPECA, but it debuted back in 2021 at #20, which is really impressive. If you would like to check out Tao Massage Centre, you can do so here.
Nathael (Cubick Escape Rooms) – Room 358
Nathael was a horror-themed room that we played as a team of 3. The theming was strong – the setting is a dark, empty house where it soon becomes clear you are not alone. There were some nice moments of jump scares and a few obligatory ‘courage tests’ thrown in for good measure. As far as horror rooms go, this was a pretty good one. Nathael has since been retired.
Poison (Kadabra Escape Rooms) – Room 359
Poison was a really cool, playful room set in the Batman/Joker world. The puzzles were a lot of fun and the theming was excellent. We played as a team of 3 – thankfully Selina and I were in the same space when separated at the beginning, so we managed to solve our puzzles quickly. The same could not be said for our third “team” member, Aaron... I thought the sets improved dramatically as we progressed through Poison. There were some really nice puzzles, that ranged from simple to more involved. The puzzles towards the back end of the experience were more dexterity based, which was fun but challenging. Overall, we really enjoyed the experience. Poison is currently #95 on TERPECA, but it debuted at #26 in 2023. It’s a great game and I would definitely recommend it for agile teams looking for great theming and fun puzzles (and if you’re a Batman fan, it wouldn’t hurt). You can check out Poison here.
Outline (Outline Escape Rooms) – Room 360
Unfortunately, we did not have a great experience at this room. We were at a different room in Barcelona - right before we went into that other room, we received a call from Outline telling us that they were having technical issues – there was a broken part in the room. They asked us to reschedule to later, but we couldn’t because we had yet another room booked. They said they would work on it and would call me later. I hadn’t heard when we finished the earlier room, so I called them again. I was told they needed to get a replacement part and that the should be ready for a slightly later time. We arrived early and waited outside for about 30 minutes. While we were there, nobody was there. The place was shut and locked. Then a few minutes before our rescheduled time, the game masters walked over from their car, dinner in hand, and soon after we started our game. I thought it was pretty unimpressive to have us wait outside in the cold for 30 mins while they were clearly not inside fixing the technical issue they told us has occurred.
As for the room itself, it was an ok horror room, but I was surprised that it had previously sat at #12 on TERPECA. It felt like it had aged and we did not think it was at the same level, as far as puzzles, theming and interaction levels, as many other escape rooms that ranked far lower on TERPECA. There were no ‘wow’ factors in this room for me. I am sure based on the TERPECA ratings that others have enjoyed this room – but we did not. I was surprised that in 2025, Outline was ranked #53, as I expected it would have fallen out of the top 100. If you would like to check out Outline, you can do so here.
Jurasico (Golden Pop) – Room 361
There were many aspects of this room that I really liked. The ‘wow’ factor in this room is the theming and set design, which are phenomenal. I had never before played a room before where I felt like I was inside a plant nursery/hot house, where the abundance of plant life was all real. This was fantastic. It was not without its downsides though – the space is muddy in sections, which wasn’t ideal. And at one point, players find themselves needing to enter a space and close the doors behind them. Ordinarily, I would have thought this was a highlight of the experience – it was very on brand for the Jurassic Park theme. However, the space was wet and mouldy, so none of us wanted to go in there and sit down amongst the muck. This was a shame.
Another element that I thought let down this room was that a number of the puzzles felt like they were very simple and perhaps not well-considered or executed. A further element we didn’t enjoy was with one of the final puzzles, which heavy relied on communication from the game master. We used the walkie talkie for a hint, but unfortunately due to a combination of the game master’s strong accent and the excitement with which they were playing their role (and yelling into the walkue), we could not understand what they were saying. We appreciated that the GM was acting in their role, but despite our several calm requests that they stop yelling and calmly speak into the walkie, we ultimately had to give up in frustration and proceed without any help. We managed to make our way through to the ending, which was a lot of fun.
There were many aspects of Jurasico that we liked (and which explain why Jurasico is currently #39 on TERPECA). However, I think more work is needed on the puzzles, GM interactions and cleanliness/maintenance of the set to deserve such a high ranking. If you would like to check out Jurasico, you can do so here.
Abduction 3 - The Exam and Abduction 4 (Enterprises) (Abduction) – Rooms 362 and 363
We played Abduction 3 and Abduction 4 back to back. And writing this review some time later, I am now realising that in my memory, both games have completely blended together. I recall many elements of both rooms, but I can’t easily delineate between the two. I recall walking away from both rooms with a t-shirt (and one of those rooms being the only person in our group who walked away with a t-shirt, after having won a trivia-style game at the end of the experience. Overall, I thought there were a lot of dexterity puzzles in these games and overall, they were fun but clearly not super memorable. If you would like to check out Abduction 3 and Abduction 4, you can do so here.
K.O.N.G. Protocol (Escape Barcelona) – Room 364
This is the newest room at Escape Barcelona. There were several elements that were incredibly impressive. You can see my detailed review here.
Alien the Origin (Escape Barcelona) – Room 365
I was pretty disappointed with this room. I did not think much of the puzzles and the theming felt very gen 2. It also felt pretty old and not well-maintained. It didn’t help that our team of 3 was split into 2 groups, with the other group deciding they should mess with me by reducing the lights in my section of the ship. The lack of lighting made solving some of the puzzles an absolute chore. Whilst Escape Barcelona has some great rooms (Cybercity 2049 and K.O.N.G. Protocol), they also have some very average rooms with Alien and Tomb Hunter. If you would like to check out Alien (which I do not recommend), you can do so here.
Tomb Hunter Akasha’s Legend (Escape Barcelona) – Room 366
I did not enjoy this room I am afraid. The room really showed signs of wear and it looked to us that it was in dire need of maintenance (there were many broken puzzle elements). There were also some puzzles that were in very low light, which made solving the puzzles an absolute punish. The worst aspect for me though was the amount of dust. Most of the space is covered in sand, which appeared to have never been cleaned. I sincerely think there is years of dust in the room, which meant I spent the whole time sneezing and looking forward to it finishing. If you want to check out this room (which I do not recommend at all), you can do so here.
Cybercity 2049 (Escape Barcelona) – Room 367
This was easily my favourite room at Escape Barcelona. The theming, puzzles and room flow were all excellent, as well as some unforgettable actor interactions. You can check out my detailed review here.
Taberna (City Escape Room) – Room 368
This was an absolutely phenomenal room. At the time of writing this review, it is in my top 3 rooms of all time (and really hard to split it between the other 2 top rooms). You can check out my detailed review here.
Organum (Rowka Escape Room) – Room 369
This was a room that we managed to book relatively last minute. We booked via Whatsapp and I like that the character interactions even via Whatsapp are completely on theme. The room itself was relatively simple – the theming was pretty straight forward, as were the majority of the puzzles. This room felt pretty gen 2 in that there were not a great deal of high/modern tech elements used. We had some reasonably good actor interactions towards the end of the experience as well. Overall, we thought this was about middle of the pack. It did not help that we played Taberna immediately before Organum. If you would like to check out Organum, you can do so here.
Apophis (Vortex Escape Room) – Room 370
Apophis is an older room that I thought very much showed its age. There were some reasonably good ideas, which I can see might have been impressive 7 or 8 years ago, but it does not compare to current generation rooms. We were able to brute force elements of the game very early on (and not on purpose) – this was a design issue that should not be possible. The main final puzzle could have been really visually spectacular, but it was imprecise and kind of ended up like a magic eye puzzle (with each of us closing an eye/going cross-eyed to kind of see what was intended. I would give this one a miss, but if you would like to check it out, you can do so here.
Cooking Academy (Academia de Cocina: Megachef (City Escape Room) – Room 371
This room was genuinely fun. Cooking Academy is located in the same location at La Taberna. The premise of the room is that you are contestants on a show that feels very much like Masterchef. We were a team of 3, so it was me versus Aaron and Selina. They never stood a chance!
The puzzles are all centred around food and wine. Players have to copy recipes and figure out ingredients. Bonus points are also on offer from the cooking teacher – I am pleased to confirm that utilising dirty humour secured me the win! It was a simple but fun room and certainly very different to any room we had played before. If you would like to check out Cooking Academy, you can do so here.
Catacombs (Golden Pop) – Room 372
I was excited to play this room, as I love me an Indiana Jones-ish room. There were some elements that were well done, such as the theming generally and certain electronic elements that made certain elements move. However, I found that the room was let down by the puzzles. Some puzzles were ok, but I recall several that were not fun to solve - logic leaps, pattern recognition that was imprecise, etc. I have played a number of Indiana Jones-themed rooms around the world and I thought this was one of the poorer ones. I wouldn’t recommend this room, but if you would like to check it out you can do so here.
District 111 (Unreal Escape) – Room 373
District 111 was a bit of a dark horse room for us. I hadn’t read much about it going in and I certainly didn’t realise that it was a previous #56 TERPECA room. The theme is a post-apocalyptic world. The earlier area is rather simple with some reasonably straight forward puzzles. The room really comes alive in the second Act, where the theming is excellent. There are some great puzzles, climbing adventures and some dexterity/destructive sequences that were a lot of fun (and which would never have been approved by planning laws here in Australia). I really enjoyed this room – it is currently #138 on TERPECA, but I think there are a lot of rooms in the top 100 that aren’t as good as District 111. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you’re in Barcelona. You can find out more about District 111 here.
La Cervesaria (The Brewery) (Egnimik) – Room 374
The Brewery was a really fun room. The puzzles were the main star of the experience, with great theming as we progressed through the experience. There were some nice moments where players needed to work together to solve certain puzzles/dexterity challenges. The room flow was also really strong, growing throughout until the really fun ending. The Brewery debuted back in 2020 as #11 on the TERPECA list, which is pretty impressive. It currently sits at #161, but I think it deserves a much higher ranking. If you would like to check out The Brewery, you can do so here.
11S (Open Mind) – Room 375
Of all of the rooms that we played in Barcelona (and probably even across the whole of Spain), this room was probably the most unique. The story is based on the September 11 attacks on NYC back in 2001. Some people have criticised this room for unfairly seeking to profit from the 9/11 attacks. I thought the room was respectful and sought to tell the story of some of the victims on the ground on 9/11. At times, it was a little jarring whilst playing the room, forgetting for periods of time that we were in an escape room. From a pure escape room perspective, the room contained a lot of great puzzles and elements to be solved, as well as some fun dexterity/adventure sequences. It is difficult to sum up a room like this, other than to note that the ending of the room sees players moved into an almost museum/memorial room where a video plays of some of the survivors and heroes on 9/11. It was pretty confronting (and I think it is something that teams should be aware of going in). If you would like to check out 11S, you can do so here.
La Mina (Unreal) – Room 376
La Mina was a middle of the pack room. I suspect back when it opened it would have been a strong room, but it was really showing its age when we played. There was a nice ‘transport’ mode in this room, which was pretty unique. Over all the puzzles were just ok, but nothing that really stood out. If you would like to check out La Mina, you can do so here.
Slasher Party (Open Mind) – Room 377
I was really looking forward to this room – the idea of a semi-satirical room based on 90s slasher films is very much up my alley. Whilst there were reasonable puzzles and some decent theming, I was disappointed overall with this room. It had a lot of potential but is was ultimately a pretty forgettable experience. One element I enjoyed was one actor specific interaction – the method of communicating with the actor/GM in that moment was excellent, but that unfortunately was the only memorable aspect of this room. If you would like to check it out, you can do so here.
Final thoughts on Barcelona rooms
Barcelona was a beautiful city. I vividly remember flying in and seeing the impressive La Sagrada Familia from above. From an escape room perspective, Barcelona is a sprawling city. We took ubers and taxis mostly, and it was pretty expensive. They are also not reliable – there were some areas (around Tao Massage Parlour) where we could not order an uber, and so we had to walk a distance and get into a taxi. My suggestion would be to allow additional time between rooms in Barcelona, particularly when venturing out of the city either north towards Badalona or Mataro, and certainly when heading to Terrassa. We played some fantastic rooms, as well as some pretty dated rooms. If you’re heading to Spain, wear old jeans and know that you will be covered in dust – it’s just the way it is. The standout was Taberna, which is a must do room.
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