Escape Hilo - Jungle Mystery Review (Hawaii)

Hi all

While on our Hawaii holiday in July 2023, we also checked out the Big Island of Hawaii for a week.  We found ourselves at Hilo on the 4^th of July and managed to get a last minute booking to check out Escape Hilo’s room called Jungle Mystery.  I had done some research ahead of our trip and had read a little about Escape Hilo, but I never received a response to my Facebook message so I had assumed that they might not have survived the pandemic. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw their sign and after calling the owner, we made our booking.

We were our team of usual 4 adults, together with our 2 daughters. Jungle Mystery was our 227^th escape room to date.  The summary of the room from their website is as follows:

Recover a lost family heirloom before your time expires. You have 60 minutes to solve your way out!

Before we played the room, we chatted with Ryan, the owner of Escape Hilo for a while. He explained that we could either play with hints, or without hints, the latter making us eligible for the leader board. After some discussions amongst the team, we decided to play without hints (which meant that no matter how stuck we might become, no hints were coming our way).

Here is what I thought of Jungle Mystery:

·        I would describe the theming as being pretty ‘gen 1’ quality – think astroturf and simple painted walls, which were fine but not at quite the same level that we see at most escape rooms these days;

·        the props were all good quality and made sense for the storyline;

·        there were a number of puzzles that our daughters were able to join in on, which was really nice.  Speaking of puzzles, they were quite varied and some were pretty challenging.  There was also some hunt and seek fun, which the girls in particular enjoyed;

·        there was a nice amount of tech used in Jungle Mystery – it was all well concealed and assisted with lifting the level of immersion; and

·        the experience was definitely family friendly – there were no dark elements or jump scares of any kind.

Our team really enjoyed Jungle Mystery.  We were all kept busy during our escape and adults and kids alike had plenty to do to escape.  I am glad to report that we made the right call in playing the ‘no hints’ version, as we didn’t need any.  We also found out we escaped in the second best time of any team that had ever played Jungle Mystery (by only a few seconds).  Ryan also told us that the team ahead of us had to play the room twice to get that time…

Where:                       Escape Hilo (Big Island, Hawaii)

Duration:                    60 minutes

Themes:                      1

Cost:                           $35USD per person

Overall Rating:           A fun, family-friendly adventure

More details:              https://escapehilo.com/  

 

 

Mystery Maui Escape Room - The Ramen Shop Review (Maui)

Hi all

In July 2023, my wife had a conference in Hawaii so we took our girls for a 2 week holiday.  Our first stop was a week on the island of Maui, which was beautiful.  It was our second time there, but the first time for our daughters.  They loved the resort and nearby Lahaina.  We were very lucky to have spent a little time in Lahaina while we there, as only a few weeks after we returned to Sydney it was decimated by bushfires. It was incredibly sad seeing footage of a place we had visited only weeks before completely gone.

After taking our girls to see the beautiful Mount Haleakala one morning, we checked out Mystery Maui Escape Rooms on the way back to our resort.  I had spent some time online researching the best rooms to play in Maui and their room called The Ramen Shop came out on top.  We were our team of usual 4 adults, together with our 2 daughters for this escape.

The Ramen Shop was our 226^th escape room to date.  The summary of the room from their website is as follows:

The dread pirate Captain Sam Bellamy has managed to obtain a booty unlike any ever seen by mortal men. But tonight, he and his men are ashore, celebrating their success and spending their ill-gotten gains. Any enterprising pirate, such as yourself, could sneak aboard and get your hands on Bellamy's Booty, if you're quick enough!

Here is what I thought of The Ramen Shop:

·        the standout part of this experience was the puzzles. There were a lot of puzzles to get through in just 60 minutes and there was a moment in the game where we thought we might not actually escape in time.  Luckily we were able to speed through the last few puzzles and managed to escape with a couple of minutes to spare;

·        the theming was nicely done and the space felt like an authentic Chinese restaurant.  The puzzles were varied and used interesting elements, all of which suited the theme and storyline well;

·        wall treatments were awesome, as were the props used throughout (which all made sense in the space and followed the backstory well);

·        compared to many other rooms that we have played, there was not a huge amount of tech in The Ramen Shop, but the tech that was used was well utilised and well concealed; and

·        the room was definitely family-friendly.  There was one element that was slightly confronting for younger kids, but it was managed well (and our 7 and 11yos had no issues).

We really enjoyed our time at Mystery Maui Escape Room.  The room was challenging and contained so many puzzles that for the first time in a long time, we came close to not escaping.  The adults and kids alike had a ball.

Where:                        Mystery Maui Escape Rooms

Duration:                    60 minutes

Themes:                      2

Cost:                           $40USD per person

Overall Rating:           Awesome, challenging puzzles – great fun!

More details:              https://www.mysterymaui.com/