My ten-year-old daughter is an avid fan of suspense and mysteries – she loves reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys books. I wanted to challenge her problem-solving skills by having her play detective and found the perfect place: Hoodwinked Escape – an Escape the Room venue.
For those of you who have never heard of an “escape room”, basically you get locked in a room and use clues to solve puzzles and riddles in order to figure out how to escape it. We recently visited Hoodwinked Escape and had the time of our lives trying to escape the room! 
I want to keep the challenges a secret so this is one of those rare posts on The Mama Maven where I can’t really describe much of what I did. Here’s what I can tell you: I took my daughter and friends to Hoodwinked Escape and we went into one of the rooms: Spy Academy. A woman greeted us and explained a few rules – it was as if we were students in a spy academy and had a mission. We were referred to as “agents”. Once the woman left and locked the door we had about an hour to escape the room – there were locked drawers and a variety of challenging riddles and puzzles that we had to solve.
There were different clues around the room that we had to put together to try and figure out how to get out of the room. Each time we solved a challenge it led up to another which led to anther, so it was very rewarding to solve all of the puzzles. My daughter and her friend turned out to be very resourceful and really surprised us with their out-of-the-box thinking and ideas!
At the end we were not able to complete the mission but we were very, very close. It felt like we got a workout for our brains and the entire time I felt like I was in a Mission Impossible movie – many of the puzzles were high-tech and very clever and it really felt good to know that I helped figure them out. We worked as a team and helped each other solve the challenges – each person had their own talents and skills and the girls, ages 9 and 10, worked really hard and more than put in their fair share. They were so thrilled with their experience, they’re already planning to come back!
Hoodwinked Escape is mainly for adults but kids ages 10 and older will be able to solve many of the challenges (you can also ask to modify some challenges and make them a little easier). You have about an hour in the room and you can ask for 3 clues. There is a camera in the room so the employees can monitor you at all times so you’re not really alone. There are 2-8 people in a room so unless you book all tickets you may be in the room with people you don’t know.
Aside from Spy Academy (the challenge level is hard), there are three more rooms to escape from: Spirit of Harlem (which is perfect for multi-generations, challenge level is easy), the Hangover room (which is more for young adults and gets altered to make it appropriate for kids, challenge level is easy) and The Experiment (for all ages, challenge level is medium). Hoodwinked Escape is perfect for date night, birthday celebrations and family gatherings.
Visit Hoodwinked Escape to learn more and to book a room.
I was not compensated for this post. I received complimentary tickets.
Senior Reviewer Maytal Wichman has also written for The Huffington Post. She has been living in New York City for fourteen years and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature as well as a Law Degree, but blogging is her true passion. Maytal is a stay-at-home mom to three kids (ages 10, 8 and 4) and loves finding great products that make her family’s life easier. S
That looks like a lot of fun. There’s an Escape Room business that opened up a few months ago in the town where I live. I need to get over there and give it a try.