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/