On a stormy night, four detectives step into the foyer of a lavish hillside mansion and find themselves staring at a locked door. Beyond this obstacle is the kitchen, where they’ll use their wits to stop a murder by identifying the culprit before it’s too late.
This gang of gumshoes must sniff out clues in the adjoining rooms, too, including the candlestick that’s lying on the floor of the library. Only by snapping these hints together like the pieces of a scattered puzzle will they be able to end the evening with shout of triumph rather than a bloodcurdling scream.
But first, these seasoned sleuths must deal with the locked door. As a clap of thunder above the mansion rattles the décor, one of the investigators looks at a collage of portraits hanging on the wall by the door and says, “Hmm.”
OK, these would-be detectives are actually Chattanoogans who arrived in the lobby of Breakout Games on East Brainerd Road a few minutes earlier to play a game of “Clue.” Known for developing and hosting popular escape rooms like “Mystery Mansion” and “Museum Heist,” Breakout Games has teamed up with Hasbro, the creator of the mystery game “Clue,” to launch a mashup of the board game and their popular escape scenarios.
It’s an inspired idea. In the timeless tabletop version, which first appeared in 1949, each player rolls a die to move their token along the squares and into the rooms in the mansion. As they proceed, they ask questions and whittle down the list of suspects until someone thinks they know the identity of the murderer, as well the weapon they used and the room in which the homicide took place.
Was it Professor Plum with the wrench in the bedroom? Or Miss Scarlett with the revolver in the library? The only way to find out is to announce your theory to the other players.
Breakout Games’ “Clue” offers a twist on the original. Instead of solving a murder, the players must stop one before it happens. All the usual suspects are present and accounted for, so Col. Mustard could very well be planning to snuff the victim with the candlestick in the kitchen.
In true escape room fashion, players must search each of the game’s rooms for clues, solve puzzles and unlock new rooms. For example, a careful eye-sweep of the first room and a little linear thinking can easily reveal the solution to unlocking the kitchen door.
Breakout Games’ “Clue” also delivers a few twists on the typical escape room experience. For instance, in “Mystery Mansion” and other scenarios, a timer counts down to the end of the game, when the players run out of precious minutes to open the exit. However, in “Clue,” the players begin their investigation at 7 p.m. – the time at which a dinner party elsewhere in the mansion begins – and must solve the mystery by 8 p.m.
Clever touches designed to immerse players in the “Clue” experience abound. For starters, the scenario consists of four square rooms laid out in a grid, like the board game.
Also, objects from the board game appear in the escape room, such as the aforementioned candlestick, as well as the player tokens. (The tokens are used in one of the escape room’s most inspired puzzles.)
Finally, the escape room replaces the player’s notepad with a large touch screen in the foyer that serves the same purpose.
The four amateur detectives I watched from behind the scenes took to “Clue” like ducks to water. While sitting next to game master Tommy Greene as he observed the players on a monitor that simultaneously displayed every room, I watched the players unlock the kitchen door in a matter of minutes and make their way deeper into the scenario.
The puzzles eventually grew more complex, which slowed them down and required more lateral thinking, but the players were rarely stumped for more than a few minutes. As Tommy watched, he used a touch screen tablet connected to the game to trigger surprising events that I won’t ruin here, and watching how the players responded and adjusted their approach to solving a puzzle was fun.
Although players can ask a game master for three hints via the audio feed in each room, the foursome needed only a few subtle nudges from Tommy to progress to the end of the game and stop the murder.
It appears the designers of the “Clue” escape room poured a lot of creativity and smart game design into their brainchild. I especially liked the use of background music to indicate changes in the state of the game, including a speedy melody that accompanies an anxiety-inducing timed portion.
Above all, the players seemed to enjoy the experience. Watching them solve the scenario with less than four minutes to spare and then congratulate each other with shouts of triumph and high fives was gratifying.
It’s possible that more than a few of the giftwrapped boxes resting under Christmas trees throughout Chattanooga right now contain Hasbro’s “Clue.” A nice complement to the board game would be a gift card that pays for access to the live version at Breakout Games. It’s a wonderfully executed idea that has the potential to please fans of both the board game and escape rooms.
Just watch out for the falling oranges.
Schedule a game of “Clue” at breakoutgames.com/chattanooga.