All 6 rooms that we played in Valencia, Spain in 2024

Hi everyone

After playing rooms in Athens, Madrid/Toledo, Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Barcelona on our trip in November/December 2024, we took a bus down to Valencia.

I have put together detailed reviews of those rooms that I really enjoyed in Valencia (and short comments only for those that weren’t my favourites).

Here is what I thought:

The Dark Years (X Door) - Room 378

The Dark Years was one of the scarier rooms that we played in Valencia, but it was by no means as scary as the horror rooms we had played elsewhere in Spain and in Athens. The room was relatively straight-forward – there were some well-timed jump scares and some interesting and varied puzzles. I also remember a nice misdirection at one point. Overall, I would describe The Dark Years as being a reasonably solid scary room. If you would like to check it out, you can do so here.

The Last Dragon (X Door) – Room 379

The Last Dragon was a really fun room. I really enjoyed the character interactions and one of the most memorable games of rock paper scissors I have ever played. The quality of the theming was strong and there was a nice mix of puzzles that were reasonably challenging. We enjoyed the experience (and enjoyed trading insults with our character GM) – he very much lifted the experience. You can check out The Last Dragon here.

Perfect Shot in Buddha’s Garden (Factoria Escape Rooms) – Room 380

Perfect Shot is located in a relatively busy street in Valencia. The business appears from the outside to be a Chinese restaurant (and I suspect 99% of passersby would have no clue that goes on beyond the front door).  The experience began with a cool cold start and then we were inside. We had some memorable character interactions (although I thought our game master was a little too into his role at times and at one point pushed an item pretty hard into my chest, which wasn’t necessary). Otherwise the interactions were fun. The quality of the theming and props was all good. The puzzles were all fun and reasonably challenging. Overall I thought the room felt a little dated compared to some of the amazing rooms we had seen elsewhere on our trip, but we had fun. If you would like to check out Perfect Shot, you can do so here.

The Hairdressing/La Peluquaria (X Door) – Room 381

This was hands down our favourite room in Valencia. You can see my detailed review here.

Madman in the Alley – Black Experience/Experiencia Negra (Colors by Experiencity - Black Experience) – Room 382

We had read online that this was a pretty scary room. After having played it, I can confirm that it is not in the same realm as the horror rooms we played on this trip, but it was scary at times. There were certainly some jump scare moments and some courage tests, but it seemed to have a lot more puzzles than we had seen in the scariest rooms in Athens/Spain. The puzzles were varied and challenging and we were kept pretty busy during our experience. Overall I thought this was an ok room but nothing too special. If you would like to check out Madman in the Alley, you can do so here.

Medieval Dungeon (Run Rabbit) – Room 383

Medieval Dungeon was our last room in Valencia. The theming was pretty strong and the set design was good (it not dusty, but that is pretty standard for Spain). We had some interesting character interactions – we tried to make the character laugh but they held pretty firm with their acting, which was a shame. Overall, the puzzles were reasonably good and we enjoyed the experience. You can check out the room here.

Final thoughts on Valencia rooms

Valencia was another beautiful Spanish city. We enjoyed the food and the city very much during our brief stay. It was cool to see oranges growing on the streets all throughout the city. From an escape room perspective, Valencia was much smaller than Barcelona and Madrid, with most rooms being near the city centre or only a relatively short uber drive away. Overall, the rooms were relatively strong, with The Hairdressing being the standout (and I think the only true top TERPECA room currently in Valencia at the time we were there). I reached out to a new room I had heard about in Valencia, The Tea Shop of Mr Miyagi. I had heard great things and I knew it would be a fantastic room, but unfortunately at that time, they were not yet set up for English customers. They now are and the room debuted on TERPECA at #17. I am bummed I didn’t get to check it out, but maybe I will next time…

The X Door - La Peluquaria (The Hairdressing) Review (Valencia, Spain)

Hi all

My favourite room that we played in Valencia during our November-December 2024 trip to Athens and Spain was The Hairdressing at X Door. We played 3 rooms at X Door and all were pretty strong, but The Hairdressing was the standout game there.

The story behind The Hairdressing is as follows:

David Hasselhoff needs our help. He is being blackmailed and we must find out who is behind it. It all leads to Remigio’s hairdresser’s, the celebrity hairdresser, a really affable and innocent man… or is he?

The Hairdressing was our 381^st room to date. Here is what I thought:

• the storyline in The Hairdressing was entirely ridiculous and I loved it. Thankfully, I had not read anything about the room in the lead up to playing it (its TERPECA ranking was enough for me to book it in). I was glad I hadn’t read too much about it (or had forgotten about it by the time I played at least). It was playful and awesome;

• the puzzles in The Hairdressing were excellent. There were two really cool puzzle elements that I had not seen anywhere else before, which is rare these days. There were some really nice sequences between rooms, which required a little agility but was relatively straight forward;

• the theming in The Hairdressing is also brilliant. The spaces are all well-designed and we felt thoroughly immersed throughout the experience. There were also some really nice character interactions which we enjoyed (and which really lifted the experience);

• the scale of The Hairdressing was also larger than many of the rooms that we played in Spain (perhaps other than a few enormous rooms in Barcelona).

The Hairdressing was an awesome room. I can see why it ranked so highly on its debut on TERPECA (and why it still holds a top 50 position). It has the awesome blend of a fun storyline, fantastic puzzles (some of which are truly unique), some fun character interactions, some nice sequences from room to room and a large scale that kept us immersed for the whole experience. This is Valencia’s must do room.

Where:            Literato Gabriel Miró 25, bajo, 46008 Valencia

Duration:        90 minutes

TERPECA:     15^th in 2024 (currently 40^th, but previously 11^th).

Themes:         3 themes

Overall Rating:    Unique puzzles, ridiculous story line and incredibly fun!

More details:  https://thexdoor.com/en/the-hairdresssing/