Escape from the Red Room

6/10 Alright, allow me to explain why this experience was a 6 out of 10. I’m more than certain I had an experience not a single player has duplicated in the many years The Red Room has been open, so buckle up because this will be more detailed than necessary. This is a public 40 minute room. You will be playing with local Japanese enthusiasts who do not speak English. Now this was fantastic news to me, for I’m running around Japan by myself and this allows me the opportunity to not only play with other people, but not have to pay for multiple tickets. This is also a double edged sword. Upon my arrival I’m told the 4 other players that were booked will in fact not be showing up. A solo experience it is then! Now here’s why this will forever be one of the more memorable rooms I will ever have the pleasure of experiencing. Having learned I will be soloing a “fairly difficult” room, I’m met with yet even worse news. I need to remove my shoes. At this point it’s 8pm and I have been walking around Asakusa nonstop for 10 hours. My feet are ticking time bombs. Alas, I reluctantly remove my shoes in replace of beat up crocs and hurry into the room to lock myself away with the furious aroma that emit from my feet like the martyr I am. Oh no no no, for I do not go alone. Now, if you are not fluent in Japanese, a game master will be present with you. In order to communicate you will utilize these clunky speech translators. Your game master will speak Japanese into this little device, you will listen to the translation, you in return will talk into this little device, and your game master will listen. It very much derails any sort of momentum you have in sacrifice of hints or knowing how certain mechanics work. So now, me and this poor woman are both trapped in this tiny red room with my harsh foot scent that does not waft, but cuts the nostrils deep like a Japanese knife. The smell is deafening, yet I see her force a smile through her discomfort. Even worse, through the entire experience there is no music. Just me and this unfortunate woman standing in silence, nostrils on fire, as I painfully struggle through every puzzle by myself. Now, this game requires a minimum of two because there are elements in which one player will have to physically move heavy puzzle pieces as another player has no choice but to watch. So there I am, watching this small girl who probably could be blown away by a gentle gust of wind, struggle moving these large puzzle pieces as I am forced to watch. There is no alternative. I. Must. Watch. This makers me feel useless. I’m not only forcing this game master into heavy physical labor, I’m also slowly suffocating us both. I finally manage to get through every puzzle finishing the game with 5 minutes to spare. I am relieved. She is relieved. I take my picture and take my leave. I currently sit on the public transit writing this review realizing I have over shot my station by 13 stops. This is much more important. Escape from the Red Room is simple. There is no story, the puzzles are fine, there is no high production value, it is as described. Escaping from a red room. But it will always have a place in my heart and lungs for how ridiculously awkward it was. I wouldn’t change my experience for the world. If you happen to be in the area, it’s worth playing. But don’t book a flight for it.

Loved this room haven’t done a room like this before and would highly recommend it! Language barrier wasn’t an issue and the game hosts were very welcoming and helpful. The room has some very unique and interesting mechanics that I wasn’t expecting could be done in an escape room. Definitely worth visiting if in Tokyo!

I came and played this room with a friend during a visit to Japan. I was really hyped for the room due to its supposed lack of language barrier and the fact that I might be playing with complete strangers (possibly non-English speakers), something I'd never done before. We were paired with two lovely Japanese speaking girls, and given translation devices so we could somewhat understand what each of us were saying. The GM was in the room the entire time, and gave us hints on a tablet when we got stuck (which was often, haha). I'm quite thankful for the plentiful hints, which ensured we were able to finish the room just before the time ran out. I found it quite difficult just due to the different style of puzzle used throughout the room compared to escape rooms I've already done. In addition, the red room's design is incredibly unique! Trying to communicate with the translation devices (or with gestures) can take up a bit of time, however - even you manage to get your meaning across, it can be difficult to collaborate as a team across the language barrier. That being said, we still had a great time. I wish there was a little bit of background music, as the only audio apart from us talking throughout the room were indicators that came over the speakers with how much time we had left every so often. While the red aesthetic was a nice touch the room didn't feel very immersive. If I come back, I'd love to try out the Blue Room as well.

A very interesting room with a great twist. The room is strictly a puzzle escape room with no story and is not language dependent. A game master was also in the room with us the entire time and used a translation device to give us hints. We were also shown a video at the end with English subtitles to explain the puzzles and solutions. This was a very interesting room to experience and I can see why it has very positive ratings. Personally the lack of story and therefore lack of narrative puzzles was not for me. I was jealous that SCRAP do a lot of escape rooms tied to anime and film which would contain the story element I'm seeking but they're japan exclusive without English. They also have take home escape experiences at the counter and we purchased a North/ South Pole game which is to be played by two players in separate rooms. The staff were friendly and tried their best to communicate with us even if English was limited.

One of my favorite ERs because it's so out of the box thinking.. especially the big reveal 😎👌🏻

A really unique and interesting experience that focuses purely on puzzles and requires you to think outside the box and work together as a team. A little strange to have your gamemasters (we had 2) in the room with you at all times, but in hindsight I can see why it’s necessary. Not a lot of puzzles for a 40-minute room but they can be real head scratchers. We got to the final puzzle but panicked as time was running out and just failed to get over the line. Maybe we should have asked for a hint but weren’t sure if we could. Still, it was fun in a different kind of way and is definitely worth trying, especially as there aren’t many escape rooms in Tokyo for non-Japanese speakers.

A very cool room that you’ll probably not find elsewhere. We went there as a group of 2 and got paired up with another Japanese player (non-English speaker), and sadly we did not escape. I really love the fact that they tried to make the room language barrier free with no words at all. However, I still think language barrier creates communication difficulties within our group and we do not understand each other’s ideas very well. Aside from that, the main concept of the room is super cool and unique. Puzzles are okay with no story and music at all during the experience. We are treated really nicely by the GMs and they are super friendly. GMs will stay in the room with you during the experience but in my opinion, their hint system is not extremely useful (they use very subtle languages to try not to spoil the room). Overall, it will be a cool experience if you do it with players speaking the same language. I love their effort in making their escape room more accessible for mixed language group and language barrier free. But if you ask me, I’ll probably still want to do it with people speaking the same language as me.

The language barrier is what killed us. The room was amazingly designed, it was such a fun room to do, just kills me that I didn't escape!

Tokyo’s ‘Escape from the Red Room’ is a long-running, interesting experience and likely to be SCRAP’s best English-friendly escape room in Tokyo. ‘Red Room’ is first and foremost a puzzle room with some rarely seen mechanics that will impress most escape room enthusiasts. There is no narrative to speak of, so the language-agnostic puzzles feel more random than thematic or diegetic but some are fun nonetheless. It is worth noting that this is a public booking experience — you will be paired with other groups to fill the room. We loved our experience with this group of teachers, but can see very easily how this could impede, rather than bolster, the experience.

An interesting concept in this room that I haven’t seen done anywhere else. The aha realisations were fun, especially the initial “no way” moment we had. Beyond this however, no story, the puzzles were just okay and the hint system left a bit to be desired. Despite being advertised as a language barrier free game I definitely was glad I played with two other English speaking players. There was communication necessitated between players in different rooms that I can’t see being easy without understanding each other. The hints system also left a lot to be desired, the staff member is in the room with you the entire time and often we found the hints to be unhelpful due to the employee not speaking very much English. Overall a cool idea in a cool space, maybe better if you’re a local.