
Aurianna
29 escape rooms
This room may be the most delightful surprise in my escape room career. While I rely heavily on Morty and often seek out the absolutely highest rated rooms when I visit a city, doing this room was more spontaneous. We wanted a room near us with a timeslot open in the next hour. Board to Death fit that bill. Based on Morty I expected a cutely themed room with a solid puzzle experience. But what we got was one of our favorite games of all time. The experience starts as soon as you walk in. The staff were friendly and seemed to clearly enjoy their jobs and each other. The waiting area was also totally decked out in games and activities. The room itself is darling. It's nothing big, but the props were all good quality and each portion of the room captured the spirit of the board game it was emulating. The puzzles are fabulous. They're intuitive and logical and clever... and so nostalgic. This is also the place for you if you really like tactile puzzles. There are A LOT of puzzles though. We had 3 and I think could have stood to have one more. And while no specific knowledge of any of the featured games are necessary to solve the puzzles, it will probably help you get through a couple a little quicker. The finish is fun and satisfying. Even the way you ask for clues is completely immersive. If you grew up on classic board games this is a 100% do not miss.
Gameplay
Puzzles were very fun. I do think most were pretty straight forward on what you needed to do, but I like intuitive puzzles. The fact that most of the puzzles were themed around beloved childhood games just made them that much more fun to solve. Many puzzles were also so tactile. For those that enjoy getting in there and playing with pieces, these are very satisfying. Only a couple of things prevented a love from me, and one is a personal preference more than anything: 1. One of the things we needed to interact with was pretty fiddly (though cool) and we lost a lot of time trying to get it to work right. 2. I personally don't love when I have to play hide & seek for an item, especially in a very cluttered room. There are a couple of puzzles in here that require some of that and they're just not my taste. But on the counter side of that, if you have folks in your group that are iffy on puzzles but are very observant, you have a good task for them! 3. There was something in the room that wasn’t exactly a red herring… but it was easy to think a lot of time should be invested in it… and that was not time well spent so I was irritated (also likely a me-problem though). One other thing of note: There are a lot of puzzles in here. My group of 3 had to divide & conquer more than I'm accustomed. So if you're the type that wants to be involved in every single puzzle, you may need to set your expectations. But to summarize: this was a fun room. The puzzles were fun. That’s the simplest, most honest way to describe it. :)
Atmosphere
This room lived and breathed its board game theme. It was so clever how they sectioned off the room and each piece embodied its theme. And just board game nostalgia everywhere. We were just so happy when we were finished. :)
Customer service
The staff was so welcoming. They seemed to be really enjoying themselves too. I love GMs that clearly like escape rooms and being GMs. Camille was great!
Particularly interesting or different
Yes
The incorporation of classic games gave this room pounds and pounds of extra charm.
Story
Difficulty
Hard
Lots and lots of puzzles. I think the puzzles themselves were pretty intuitive, but the sheer number makes it challenging, especially if your group is accustomed to all working together linearly; divide and conquer is necessary for this room.
Game tech
Mechanical
Primarily lock & key, but they did a great job making it obvious which combo locks went to which clue (placement, color, etc). So it wasn't frustrating.
Ideal number of players
4
We had 3 and struggled with getting everything done in time. A 4th would have been the sweet spot I think.
Scary
Not scary
Minimum age
7
I would not bring a whole crew of 7 year olds, but a child or two could potentially still help out in this room. There are things to go looking for. There are objects that need to be arranged. Lots of "ok put this here" "try to find that" “read me this” that a kiddo could contribute to. And honestly there are a couple of puzzles that involve games a child has potentially played more recently and may honestly pick up on faster than the adult. Either way they'll like the theme, so I think this could be a great room for a family of enthusiasts as long as there's at least a couple of experienced escape roomers in the mix.
Was anything broken?
No
Live actors
No
Physically active
Not at all
Accessibility
Several puzzles involve color. Also probably need at least one person 5'7" or taller (or be prepared to ask GM for assistance) to retrieve one item. That's how tall I am and I had to stretch.
Easy to find location
Yes
Parking
Limited
Safety
Yes








