LeavinRoom: Around the world in 60 minutes

Game experience: ENTERTAINING
Immersion	Puzzles	Hosting

A well-balanced mid-level escape game.	No real scenario. Some red herrings.

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Update (March 2018): This room has been closed.

LeavinRoom was the 10th venue to open its doors in Paris, in January 2015. I was passing by in Paris for a few days in June 2016 and really wanted to try their game “Saw”. I had time to cram one more escape game in my schedule just before, so I convinced my friends to join me for two escapes in a row! And as I probably had a premonition that some day I would “escape around the world” with “Phileas” as a pseudonym, it is “Around the world in 60 minutes” (“Tour du monde en 60 minutes”) that I chose for our warming up before “Saw”.

In this game, Phileas Fogg offers you to join his very select LeavinClub. But for this, you will have to solve all the puzzles he put into place in his office, in 60 minutes. Don’t worry, he will guide you through the process! Or maybe you should actually worry, as two teams out of three don’t make it out of this room…

The immersion is simple but pleasant: there is an atmosphere of a 19^th century English club in the room, with a string of exotic objects or maps; one could regret the absence of a real scenario though.

Most of the puzzles were rather classical, although one included an original manipulation. As you could expect, they revolve around the theme of travelling, though I thought the thematic of “Around the world in 80 days” was slightly underexploited. There were also a few red herrings that were not necessary in my opinion.

The gamemastering was adequate, led by the voice of Phileas Fogg, and the welcome was friendly.

Note that you can chose your level of difficulty for all LeavinRoom games. We chose the higher one, which actually only changes slightly the searching for one puzzle – I would recommend it if you have already played a few escape games. We eventually escaped the room with a few minutes left on the counter.

This is overall a very classical but pleasant escape game that will be well-suited for players who have 3 or 4 games under their belt. You should read the review of its big brother “Saw” though, which belongs to a whole other league!

Game played in June 2016

Other reviews (in French): Escape game Paris, Escape blog, Kiss my geek, Par ici les sorties, Escape game blog