Escape The City - Indianapolis [Outdoor]

Nice walking experience with a decent variety of puzzles, there are around 6. They were more on the easier side but not too easy. I did like the mix of phone use, real-world objects, paper, and physical items that come in the box. You do not need to download any app, it web-based and everything worked smoothly. If you start at the suggested location, it is just under 1.5 miles to the last location. However, the path is mostly linear and heads West and does not loop back so you may walk almost 3 miles to get back to the start if that's where you parked. We did it at a leisurely pace and took us around 2 hours. I do wish it was less walking and more puzzles. Personally I felt the outdoor walking part was a bit boring, but I am very familiar with the area, it may be more fun in a new city that I don't know as well.

We played this on Labor Day and followed the recommended start place. This is in downtown Indy, so street parking is limited. We found a spot a couple blocks down that was free due to the holiday. There are also, of course, always parking garages nearby. This required more walking that I think the box tells you. It said it’d be 1.5-2 miles but my health tracker showed closer to 2.5 miles and my partner and I bowed out of the walking portion with one stop remaining. This box has clues that need to be solved, but I found we spent more time walking to places than we spent actually playing the puzzle. I also, personally, don’t think the puzzles highlighted much of Indianapolis in particular, as a resident of the city. It used clues from around the city but it didn’t teach me anything about the city or its history. The story itself was pretty interesting though. I think I would have enjoyed it more if we sat in a dining room or bar establishment with pictures needed to answer the clues and did this over a glass of wine. Some of the puzzles were really interesting; I liked the first puzzle a lot and I liked how there were different “paths” for two of the puzzles which both took you through the same story ending. Overall, this was a fun holiday weekend adventure but I don’t think the “explore the city” aspect is necessary or done well.