Dayton, OH · Escape Room · Great Escape Game Dayton · Private Room · Reviews

The Tomb: Pharaoh’s Revenge @ Great Escape Games Dayton

Date played:  Saturday, June 2, 2018
Number of players:  5
Max number of players possible for this room: 8
Public or private game:  Private (only because no strangers booked with us)
Outcome:  Escaped

First Impressions
We chose to play a room at this location because it had some of the best reviews in the area. The company is located in a strip mall and the lobby is nice. I enjoyed seeing that some of the other rooms have costumes to wear, even though ours did not. There is also a “plinko” type game in the lobby where you can play to try and win a free game or other prizes (I think.)



The Game Master walked us to the room and went over the general rules outside the door (nice), then let us inside and we placed our personal belongings in there (not as nice as an external area, IMO.) The GM left and we were shown an intro video.

The story for this room on the website is as follows:

“Your group of tomb raiders have been hired to retrieve the riches of the Egyptian pharaoh. After you enter the tomb, the door shuts behind you, and a curse has come upon you because of the powers of the pharaoh. The group of tomb raiders before you has not yet been heard from. Furthermore, the left overs from a past group tomb raiders in the room opposite of the entrance. The only way to escape the curse is to get the treasures of the pharaoh, lest the people in the tomb suffers the plagues of his curse. Hence, you have one hour to find the riches and escape or endure the same fate as the tomb raider group before you!”

Game Play
The clue system for this room was to communicate with the GM via walkie talkie, which, if you read about my recent Sherlock Holmes experience, you know is not my favorite. I was actually kind of surprised that this was the arrangement because it seemed like a more established place that could afford a better setup. I know some might have an issue with immersion, in that you wouldn’t normally find walkie talkies in an Egyptian tomb so it makes them out of place, but I tend to give a free pass to anything related to the clue system in the room in that regard.

Overall I thought the puzzles in this room were very good. There was a lot of variation in the types of puzzles and a lot of creativity in their design. The Egyptian theme was used appropriately in the items and the room was lit in a way that added ambiance without making it too difficult to see. (One person in our group does have very poor vision and struggled a little, but was still able to do many things.) I like tactile puzzles and anything “sensor”-driven, whether by weight or touch or anything else, and this room had it all.

Another thing I liked about this room was that many clues had multiple layers. For example, we had to solve one thing that would give us the order of a different thing that we would then need for a third thing. I suppose that might make it difficult if you were playing with strangers and weren’t communicating well within the group, but that’s the case with any escape room. For our group of 5, there were just enough puzzles to keep everyone busy and involved and working together.

There was one solution in the room that was given in an item that could easily have been moved around and “ruined,” but the room was designed in such a way that you also received the solution another way. As I mentioned with the Sherlock Holmes room, that is the correct way to design your room!

There were only two puzzles that I didn’t enjoy in the room. One involved letters on a piece of material, and I want to give this one the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe I didn’t like it just because I never would have thought of what you needed to do in order to get the solution. However, after we used a hint from the GM to find out what to do, we still struggled for a very long time with it. There was a lot of room for error in the execution of what we needed to do. That makes me think the design of the puzzle should be tweaked, or a hint of instruction should be included somewhere.

The second puzzle I disliked involved needing to come up with a word solution that was not specifically found in the room anywhere. Even though I consider myself a “words” person (and I think I was even the one who came up with the answer for that puzzle), I felt like it was kind of a leap to get from what we had in the room to what the solution was. I also thought anyone who had learned English as their second language might struggle with that puzzle. It just wasn’t as strong as the other puzzles in the room and it stuck out because pretty much everything else was designed better.

There was also one technical thing in the room that could be chalked up partly to our own stupidity, but I think also at least partly to construction. We solved a puzzle that opened something, but we didn’t realize it for probably at least 10 minutes. The way this thing was built, it was not clear where the opening was, so in trying to be careful and not break it we left it closed, even though it had been solved for quite some time. I think maybe some different paint or adding an extra piece to show where the opening was could go a long way. But who knows, maybe other groups get that right away.

One final thing I have to mention: there was a puzzle in the room that made me feel like I was holding a piece of gold, it was so cool. I had not yet seen a puzzle like that in a room and even said “Wow, this is really cool” while standing there with it. After we played the room I Googled it because I was curious, and it turns out that just that one puzzle alone is worth over $300. I’m sure other things in the room cost a lot more than that, but I was still impressed that they had invested that much money into one small piece of the room. I think it’s rare that you come across something in a room that you can feel a high value of in your hands like that, so I give them a lot of points for that.

Final Touches
There were no trinkets given for beating the room, but the GM was very friendly and took our picture for us. And I will say that I enjoyed the ending of the game; it was cute and fun, especially for a group. 🙂


In conclusion…

Play This Room If…
-You want a wide variety of puzzle types
-You have a large or small group (I could see this working for 2-8 people)

Skip This Room If…
-English is not your first language and/or you struggle with the language at all
-You have poor vision and can only play in very brightly lit spaces

Overall rating:  4 out of 5

Company website:

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