RATING: 0 Keys RESULT: Loss REMAINING: X:XX
Hurry! The Police are coming to arrest you for not having outside knowledge!
It’s 1928 and the Philadelphia police are outside of your hangout and are demanding your surrender. You will only have a small amount of time to find an exit out the back or you will be locked away forever. GOOD LUCK.
Sneaking into a clandestine speakeasy during prohibition era Philadelphia can be a dangerous decision. It’s a choice that has landed a group of imbibers right in between the encroaching law enforcement and the secret back exit.
The only way to avoid an apparent LIFETIME (?!?!) prison sentence is to follow the path the owners of the speakeasy used to escape. Unfortunately they proprietors of this fine establishment weren’t kind enough to leave any of the 13 locks along the way unlocked, greatly hampering any attempted disappearance.
The scenic in Philly Prohibition is the tale of two sets. One the one hand, the game has a decently believable appearance at first glance. On the other, it is a cheaply put together space that has some serious flaws.
The color palette used successfully gives the secret bar an old-timey vibe, almost making the area look like a sepia photograph come to life. Exposed brick peeking out from behind peeling sections of the wall further enhances this well aged aesthetic.
While the scenic looks decent from afar, any close examination starts to lower the perceived quality. One notable example of this came in the form of wood signs screwed to the wall. At the slightest touch, a few of these panels fell off the wall exposing the nails that were intended to hold them in place and inviting confusion as to whether or not they were supposed to be removed.
There are a few furniture pieces that have numbers and letters written on them. While these could easily be misinterpreted as being part of a puzzle, they are in fact just remnants of assembly instructions that do not pertain to the game.
A large bottle of wine was found on the bar. Although that would seem to be an appropriate scenic element, this one was not glued down like the other, was open, and still had some wine left in it. Had it been knocked off the small surface, it surely would have shattered. Our best guess is that it was left behind after the venue had their grand opening ceremonies a few days prior to our visit.
Here is where Philly Prohibition sadly flies off the rails.
The gameplay consists of finding 13 numeric or alpha-numeric codes to be entered into combination locks. Of these, only two answers are derived through somewhat clever puzzles. The rest require large logic leaps, or worse.
Unfortunately any shot that Philly Prohibition had of scoring well immediately disappeared when egregiously outside information was needed to open one lock. If a group of players enter this experience without knowledge of 1920s baseball players, the team they played on, and the number on their jersey, they would not be able to complete the game. Outside knowledge is one of the biggest design flaws in escape games and, as per Escape Authority’s policy, grants a game an automatic 0 Key rating.
There is another puzzle that doesn’t quite require outside knowledge, but would be extremely difficult to complete without it. This puzzle involves building poker hands. While there is a poster in the room that clues the relative ranking of hand strength, it takes a deeper understanding of the game to be able to properly solve the puzzle. One of our team members has worked professionally in the poker industry for years and still struggled to understand the challenge.
If (when) teams get stuck, the hint system entails them pressing an intercom button to talk to the game master. The host then asks what step the group is on and what they have done already before flipping through a book and reading a very scripted hint. This works to pull groups out of the environment, lowering the overall immersiveness that the puzzles may otherwise provide.
Escape Center City is an old venue under new ownership and branding. It was previously Escape Entertainment. The offerings are mostly unchanged with the exception of new names to fit the all-Philly theme, and some added decorations to make the games “more immersive”.
Our visit came two days after the Grand (Re)Opening, and as such we encountered some hiccups that we did not hold against our rating of the game. There were several reset issues where pieces were missing or not put back in their proper spot. The game master was not at all familiar with the game and was unable to help us much. We found out after the fact that he had not yet even played the game ore received a proper walk through. The glass wine bottle with wine still in it could have posed an issue if it had shattered. Overall, the experience in the game felt wholly unpolished.
This contrasted the experience before and after the game, as the lobby area is expansive, well decorated, and comfortable. With space to host private events for 80-100 people, a small conference room, and a VR/arcade lounge in the works, there is serious potential for this to become a successful. All that’s missing is proper escape games.
While the team at Escape Center City is clearly passionate about breathing new life into this lesser know Philadelphia venue, they are unfortunately severely handcuffed by the quality of games on site. Philly Prohibition would be in the 2 Key territory if it didn’t require complete outside knowledge. One thing of note is that there are two identical versions of this game at Escape Center City, allowing for teams to compete simultaneously. Whichever group has the bigger baseball buffs wins!
Show your support for Escape Authority and get social with us:
Venue: Escape Center City
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Number of Games: 3
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 10 people
Group Type: Public / You may be paired with strangers.
Cost: $29 per person
We thank Escape Center City for inviting us to play this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, that in no way impacts the opinion included within this review.