Boda Borg

Very fun !! Come prepared for the challenges. Knee pads butt pads whatever pads may be useful in the physical challenges game. We were here for 11 hours straight and never got bored. It’s more worth it to get the day pass !!

Not that this place needed another 5 star review, but I’m giving them one. I went there today for a company retreat and it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
Yes — it’s very frustrating, but it’s half the fun. We were there for four hours, and I wasn’t able to fully complete any of the quests. I made it to the final rooms of Jungle, Platoon, Spook House, Alcatraz, and Dance Paus, but wasn’t able to get a coveted stamp. I don’t really think there’s much logic involved — it’s 90% trial and error and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I failed many times simply because I was an inch or two away from where I should have been. It’s VERY important to be aware of your surroundings! And most importantly — have a good team! Go with people you work really well with, it makes a difference. As someone else said, keep in mind that smaller groups might be better for certain challenges. I can tell you that Platoon and Alcatraz may be hard to get through with more than three people.
We started with a two hour pass, but went out for lunch and ended up coming back for a couple more hours because it was so much fun. I don’t see how anyone could accomplish much of anything in the quests in just two hours!
For any pregnant woman wondering if they can do it, there are several challenges that you can! Two of the women in my group were pregnant, one who was heavily pregnant was able to do Spook House, another who is earlier on was able to do both Spook House, Alcatraz, and Platoon. It might just depend on how far along you are and what you feel comfortable doing. Even if you don’t feel comfortable with the physical quests, there are many that don’t require much or any physicality at all.
I will definitely be back — I already have plans to go again next week! However, I’ll be investing in knee pads for next time. My knees are totally destroyed right now :(

This was so amazing. Had so much fun. It was definitely worth getting the whole day pass. We were able to try all the rooms they had.

People who should go to Boda Borg:
coworkers
sports teams
best friends
worst enemies
families
double dates (as long as you have 3 – 5 people)
I describe Boda Borg as «Escape the room» meets «Legends of the Hidden Temple» meets your favorite board game, all in one. It’s literally my favorite thing about Boston these days.
At its core, Boda Borg is a team-​based, problem-​solving adventure. Some of the room involve extreme physical challenges (climbing, jumping, crawling, otherwise moving quickly) and some of them involve only mental puzzles (trivia, matching games, ball-​based games, etc.). Whatever you want, there’s something for everyone, including some really great wheelchair accessible options.
I’ve been four times now and I still haven’t seen half the rooms, since you only get to advance if you pass a level. Each time is a blast, even if I’ve done it before — you get to learn something new, try out a new way of getting to the end, and have a great time with your friends. Way better than going to a bar or watching a movie.
DO:
— wear athletic clothing, including kneepads if you have them. Our knees always end up looking like bruised apples by the next day
— only bring your essentials inside, where you can put them in a locker for free
— bring a snack and don’t come super hungry. When you do get hungry, there’s sometimes a taco bar on weekends and good food options nearby which you can visit and then come back to finish questing
— call about your reservation — I’ve had great luck with going for 2 hours and then extending — paying another $ 10 for the full day — but if they aren’t going to let you do that because it’s booked later, you should definitely pay for the full day up front.
— invite all your friends. You need 3 – 5 people per room but if you have 7, you can split up in different combinations
DO NOT:
— look up the answers online. You will seriously regret it. It took us 4 visits to pass one room (6+ hours invested in Spook House!) but it was SO WORTH IT. Seriously, don’t ruin it for yourself.
— be surprised if some challenges aren’t possible for your team. Some have very tight spaces, or require specific physical challenges that not everyone can do. That’s fine — move along and don’t waste time being bummed out!
— go too late in the day. You’re going to want to stay forever, might as well start early so you have that option
— come with fewer than 3 people. You can’t pick up strangers (unless that’s your thing, generally?) so you need a full, independent team
TL;DR — super friendly staff, T accessible, best day out you will ever have.

Fantastic outing for our company — looking forward to returning with a family group. Challenges were indeed challenging and the satisfaction of completing one is real. The puzzles are only rooms, without ‘actors’ or much in the way of videos, their is no problem of schlockiness that some other similar places face.
The 2 hours we had flew by.

Book at least 3 weeks in advance if you want a particular time slot like the weekend for all you can play. Other than that, the weekday is the best time for line/​kid free experience.
$ 28 to play as long as you want or $ 18 for 2 hours, walk-​ins on the weekend are hard to get for both, so reserve, reserve, reserve, and sign your life away on Boda Borg’s waiver before you get there to save über amounts of time.
18 themed challenges of 3 – 4 rooms and some even have 3 levels of 3 – 4 rooms, fail, fail and fail again to finally succeed. There are three levels of difficulty from mental, mental/​physical, physical. Go in knowing nothing but come out feeling challenged. Best to go in groups of three, which is the minimum number of people you need in a group, while 5 is the max and is really a stretch for these challenges. There’s plenty of hand sanitizer everywhere and it smells good too.
$ 10 all you can eat tacos in one sitting till 8PM every night. Snacks and bottled beverages are available for purchase too. Bring a water bottle to fill up on water because cups are scarce.
Check the picture for parking info. Wish they printed the map of the place behind the stamp card you’re given, but other than that maps are on the walls.

Every time you hear the word «escape room» it usually, for me at least, conjures up standing around trying to solve puzzles for an hour. This is NOT that. Boda Borg is something else entirely. Like a series of multi-​leveled real life video games. There’s a haunted house, a jungle, a laser room, a prison escape, and more. Myself and 2 friends went, and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
If you’re worried about the physical nature of some of the rooms, don’t be. I’m a 30 year old fat guy. I still did everything from crawling through vents, to walking on pipes, to swinging on vines.
Besides, there are many skill levels to choose from, from mental puzzles to full on physical ones, but each is very fun and challenging.
The one downside of course is that, at certain hours there are A LOT of people here. More specifically, a lot of kids. This means tons of little ones, running around, losing their minds in the puzzle rooms. If you’re a comparatively old fart, like me, it’s best to come on off hours.

I came here twice so far. The first time was during grand opening and lines were fairly quick. By the time we got out the room, we were able to go back in again. The second time, we went during the weekend and the lines were very long– around 10 – 20 minutes wait. The people there recommend going during the weekday for shorter wait time and more parking. It took us forever to find a parking spot and we had to circle around for 10 times!
Anyway, this innovative idea of questing is really exciting and fun. We went with a group of 6 people and we were able to split into two groups. I highly recommend going into each room with 3 – 4 people because the rooms are timed and some rooms are more difficult to finish with a larger group.
FYI, the staff wants you to figure it out yourself so don’t even bother asking them. It’s very frustrating when you can’t figure it out and the time runs out and you have to leave the room and wait in line to go back in again but keep trying! You’ll get it eventually…

Visited this place twice so far. Always a fun time here! Go in threes! And I recommend getting the full day pass!
Don’t treat this place like a gym, you won’t have fun! Many different kinds of quests, ranging from physical to mental. and some a merge of both. Note, it’s a team effort! So make sure you go with people you actually like.
Quests are challenging and if you don’t mind failing and failing again, give this place a try! Promise you’ll be the most satisfied once you get to the stamp station!
May the odds be ever In your favor!

Wow. That kicked my butt!
We were hoping to get more than three rooms done. We are relatively smart people. And we kept failing. For five hours we failed repeatedly. I have bruises on my spots and bumps on lumps and sore muscles I had long since forgotten I’d even had. I haven’t been this sore since playing college rugby.
We can’t wait to go back!
Hints to hanging out there — not actual game hints, that would be cheating.
Parking — use the garage one block south. It’s fairly inexpensive as far as parking goes.
And the two hour ticket isn’t nearly long enough. Plan to spend the day.
The beverages are fairly inexpensive, but you can have a free locker if you want to bring your own water bottles.
Wear sneakers. Wear shorts, or leggings, or athletic pants. Skip jeans if you can. Not comfortable.
Oh! Ladies! If you keep your nails long I STRONGLY suggest you cut them way down.
And batting gloves would be useful for anyone who hasn’t done rope climbing in a while.
If you can schedule a massage for the next day your body will be grateful, especially if you’ve turned into a slug, as I have.
I can not recommend this place highly enough.

Holy cow this place is a blast. This is one of the most fun activities I’ve taken part in during my 10 years of living in Boston.
The basic gist: when you first enter the Boda Borg facility you register, then are given some quick instructions by the staff. Quests are split into three categories: Green (purely mental challenge), Red (mental challenge with some physical elements), and Black (very physical challenge with mental elements). You choose your Quest — each quest has a theme — enter the room, then try to figure out what to do. There are very few rules and very few hints. Usually it’s not so obvious what to do. Once you figure out how to get through the first room, you move to the next, and then the next, until you officially solve the Quest and add a stamp to your «passport». If at any point you fail (and you will, over and over and over again…), you have to exit and start over.
All of the five star reviews speak for themselves, so I’ll address a few questions people might have before visiting:
Location and parking — Boda Borg is in Malden, fairly close to an orange line T stop. There is a parking lot across the street that has 2 hour parking, and lots of street parking around.
2 hour vs. day pass — I highly recommend getting the full day pass ($ 28 vs $ 18 for 2 hours). You will need and want more than two hours.
Teams — Teams are made up of 3 – 6 people. I would suggest keeping your group to 3 – 4 members. Some of the more physical quests would be tough to get through with a huge team. As it says outside one of the Quests: «Choose your team. Wisely.»
Clothing — If you plan to do any of the physical quests, wear workout clothes, comfortable shoes, and knee pads if you have them (the bruises on my knees were so crazy). Otherwise you’re good in jeans and a t shirt.
Food and drinks — Bring snacks or use the all you can eat taco bar for $ 10. You will get hungry and thirsty after a few hours of Questing. There’s access to free cold water up in the food court. There are lockers where you can put your stuff and access it at any time.
Who should do it? Pretty much anyone of any age can complete at least a few of the quests. I’d say you have to be at least mildly interested in puzzles/​games and have a decent level of physical strength/​agility if you plan to take on the Black or Red Quests.
My group of physically active 20-​somethings were there for almost 5 hours and solved 6 Quests. We completed a few of the Quests after 2 – 3 tries, some took 4 – 5 tries, and some we tried 6 – 7 times before calling it quits. The key is not to get too frustrated and know that you’re not alone. These Quests are made to be extremely challenging to get through!
My final tip: Consider locking up your cell phone. It’s not required by Boda Borg, but when’s the last time you spent 5 hours without anyone stopping to look at their phone? Plus, it will save you from getting pissed when your teammate gets distracted by a text and you fail a Quest!

Now that escape rooms and escape rooms with zombies are becoming more popular in the states. Boda is bringing this type of team/​group exercise with different scenarios.
My favorites rooms to try out: Alcatraz, Platoon, and Jungle.
Don’t worry this isn’t the intense brain teasers you might have heard of from MIT alums.
16 rooms will keep you busy all day. You have physical ones, which some may need ninja warrior training. Skill based are similar to carnival games, and knowledge based are like puzzles and closer to the escape room challenges. I hope they have new rooms in development because after a few visits you might be able to complete them all.

OBSESSED!
— A million times better than your usual escape the room games. Fun literally for the whole family.
— Don’t bring your little cousin (aka your ego) who will cry every time he can’t win something. Because you will fail. A LOT.
— Wear comfortable clothing and prepare to be hungry afterwards (taco bar on premise or plenty of food options nearby).
— We’ve only solved 1 puzzle each time (2 hr sessions) and damn proud of it!
— Can I buy some company stocks? They’re jam packed on weekend (book ahead of time!). And yes it’s like crack, you just want to keep coming back for more.

Boda Borg is like the crack of weekend activities. I mean, it’s certainly my drug of choice when it comes to planning some sort of weekend activity, and I keep coming back because there’s always a challenge waiting for you, one which you may or may not figure out. That’s the key to success at Boda Borg — they leave you with unfinished business that, if you’re like me, you need to tend to.
Each time I try to explain this place to people, I reference those old school Nickelodeon shows which we were never cool enough to be a part of — Guts and Legends of the Hidden Temple. Boda Borg is the 21^st Century love child of those two beloved shows. I know your mind is racing with incredible visuals and I promise you those fantasies come true at Boda Borg, but you have to experience it for yourself!
Just get together a team of at least three people (it’s a magic number), and plan your day around never leaving this place. My suggestion is to purchase the all-​day pass. The other option is a two hour pass and it’s not enough time to accomplish much, and you’ll realize you’re having way too much fun to leave after such a short stint of childhood dreams coming true.

I want to start off by thanking Sweden for all its done for me: Steig Larsson, inexpensive furniture, veggie balls, and now BODA BORG.
I cannot believe how lucky I am that I happen to live close to the first Boda Borg in North America! If you are able-​bodied and live anywhere in the northeast – nay the US, I insist you make your way to Boda Borg.
I have been here three times since the opening and am not sick of it yet. Although I am not yet a quest master (10 out of 16, thank you), I pray and believe that one day, I will be. (It’s my destiny.)
There are, of course, a few flaws (e.g. wait time for quests and lack of sound proofing in quest rooms); I recommend small games or riddles outside of the quests to make the waiting go by faster; something as simple as tic-​tac-​toe would be helpful. These flaws, however, are heavily outweighed by all the amazing fun that happens here!
As far as quests go, I really recommend trying them all, but I suggest starting with Farm or Rats and then slowly making your way to more difficult ones like Platoon and Infra (because they can be somewhat discouraging, especially if your blank stamp sheet is mercilessly mocking you from within your pocket). You might also consider doing the more physical ones (e.g. Tough, Spider, and Step Up) while you still have energy.
Bring kneepads, patience, and at least two friends here and you’ll have the time of your life!

Amazing. Escape the Room meets Tough Mudder meets Legends of the Hidden Temple. Prepare to crawl, climb, and THINK. 20 series of mostly 3 – 4 rooms each and don’t expect to solve more than maybe 7 after a full day. You’ll likely have put your phone and watch in the free lockers so you’ll have no idea what time it is and won’t get distracted and time flies. Stayed from noon to 9pm, including the $ 10 taco bar for dinner. I had time to try all 20 challenges, though for most I couldn’t get through the challenging final room, and for many even the first room stumped our team of four.
I was really impressed with how Boda Borg appeals to kids, college kids, and adults alike. The huge range of challenges makes certain groups better at different rooms, but as long as you’re in decent physical health, they’re all accessible. I would, however, caution the elderly or those with knee problems (and maybe back problems) from most of the challenges. You need to be in absolute top physical shape to complete a few of the rooms (and know a decent bit about American culture for some trivia rooms). Make sure to being snacks and a water bottle. I would suggest gloves and maybe knee pads as well. As for how it’s organized, a green challenge is all mental, black is all physical, and red is a mix, and you’ll know from the door what to expect ahead of time.
Otherwise, facilities worked 99% of the time, lines were reasonable to short (though weekends are likely packed), and no hints from the staff. Worth several visits, just don’t spoil the challenges for friends! Would recommend to virtually anyone.

7 hours and (only) 7 quests later, I can’t wait to come back for a third time! This type of adventure is groundbreaking and addicting, and I love working in teams to solve these ridiculous puzzle rooms.
Pros:
+Highly active way to spend a day (you can DEFINITELY skip the gym)!
+Totally different experience than any you’ve had before (unless you’ve been to the Boda Borgs in Sweeden or Ireland)
+Awesome staff
Cons:
–The waiting is real for popular quests. Come with a team that you feel comfortable talking to because you will spend much of your time waiting.
Tips for Boda Borgers:
+BYO knee pads (or rent for $ 2). You WILL be bruised from crawling otherwise.
+Wear athletic gear.
+Make a reservation and fill out the online wavier! Saturdays are packed and usually there are no walk-​ins allowed.
+Get the day-​long pass and BYO snacks (and go on a day you have at least 5 – 7 hours to spend there). Two hours is not enough time to do many of the quests, especially if it is packed. You’ll spend at least an hour just waiting to get back into rooms.
+A 3-​person team might be ideal (getting 5 people through some of the physical quests is challenging unless you are all in tip top shape)!
+Free parking in the Centre street garage on weekends!
+Water bubbler upstairs near taco bar
+Check your key and lock in the lockers to make sure they work before you start because sometimes you don’t get the right key or lock for your locker
Tips for Boda Borg management:
1. These rooms need (more) soundproofing. You can hear conversations the groups in the rooms adjacent to you which is an unfair advantage. Even more annoyingly, if you are in the first room you can usually hear hallway chatter/​yelling/​kids pounding on doors which is super distracting.
2. The «fail» sound is too soft – if a team member isn’t looking at the monitor (usually way at the far end of the room) the group may waste time not realizing that they already failed. Maybe there could be more monitors throughout the room so at least one team member will definitely see it?
Also, for some reason every time you enter a room you hear the fail sound. It must be some kind of «reset» sound, but it’s definitely confusing.
Finally, it’s a real neck strain to look at the monitor above the door when waiting outside the room for it to open. Any way these could be at door level instead? This also might minimize waiting with people not realizing the room changed to open.
3. The lockers are super finicky – we’ve now had problems on multiple occasions. Most recently a staff member told us we were given the wrong lock for the size of the locker we used, so maybe the front desk staff needs to be more careful when handing out locks/​instructing people to use lockers.
Despite these minor shortcomings, I can’t wait to come back. These quests will haunt me until I solve them!

«What the heck?! Do we just stand here? WHY WON’T THE DOOR OPEN?» «Guys…I think we already failed.» #epicfail
I went with a group (there were five of us) thinking we would stay for a couple hours, but ended up running around the place all day — 7 hours and a handful of stamps later, we were exhausted and starving. Boda Borg is a fun and challenging way to spend your day, but only if you like working in a team and enjoy a challenge. You’ll pat your friends on the back for doing a great job and two minutes later you’ll probably be yelling at them for not crawling fast enough. It’s awesome, hilarious, frustrating, fun, etc. #allthefeels
When we went, they had about 17 challenges set up. We weren’t able to get through all of them (we probably could have, but we didn’t like waiting in line at the door). My favorites were Platoon, Alcatraz, and one that involved thinking like a rat (…yeah, things get pretty weird here).
I’d definitely recommend going with 3 people instead of 5 and bring water/​snacks. Have fun!

Boda Borg is a MUST-​DO for anyone interested in escape rooms, puzzles, or live video-​games. I came here with 3 other friends during their opening weekend, and we stayed for over 10 hours!
Each room is unique and forces you to think in different ways. The rooms are challenging but not impossible, and after hours of questing, our team was able to secure 7 stamps (out of 15!). I can’t wait until they open some more new rooms — I will DEFINITELY be back! :)

I have now visited Boda Borg again after my initial visit with Unilocal.Yes, I came back two weeks later, and no, I am not ashamed.
I am in love, love, love, with Boda Borg and have been telling everyone I know about it. Our group of five spent 5.5 hours here today and probably could have stayed for longer, except we missed the taco buffet and were starving so our stomachs forced us to leave.
The venue is extremely large, with 16 quests to be completed in teams of 3 – 5 (two more in construction, and one more in design). Quests are grouped into one of three categories: green, which focuses on mental challenges, red, which they say is a bit more physical but I think of them as more cooperation challenges, and black, which are physically rigorous. Each quest is made up of multiple rooms, and you need to solve the puzzle /​complete the challenge in the room with no guidance to move on to the next. At the end of each quest, you get a stamp to prove that you’ve completed the quest. And it’s damn rewarding to get a stamp.
A day pass is definitely the way to go at Boda Borg ($ 28 versus $ 18 for a two hour pass) and you can throw in the taco buffet (which ends at 8PM) for another $ 10. Work out clothes and sneakers are recommended for sure.
The lines get a bit long for the popular quests like Alcatraz and there will be some down time waiting, but usually there’s some quest off to the side that you likely haven’t tried yet, that is available.
Personally, I think the black quests are the most fun. We managed to get to the final room of Superbanan today and man, was it HARD. We still haven’t finished it, but really hope to muscle through it next time. Jungle is another good one, as is Tough, Tougher, and Toughest. We got through Tougher and still need to work on getting through Toughest. The friends I brought along today really enjoyed it – I don’t think any of them anticipated being there for so long, or for it to be so physically rigorous.
Chad, the owner, is more liberal about giving out hints compared to the rest of the amazing staff. Hunt him down if you want to get pointed in the right direction or figure out if you’re close or not! One of the other staff members, Zack, is super funny (and completely unhelpful and unwilling to give out hints – he was like that camp counselor that just watched you fall into the lake when you were trying to canoe as a kid) and actually quested through a few of the rooms with us. He joined us for a level of Spider and three levels of Superbanan and we really enjoyed his company even though he provided no emotional support (I say that in the most loving way possible).
My boyfriend and I can definitely see ourselves coming back a third time and just focusing on conquering the black quests next time around.