Clue Chase

We had such a great time. Our host «Vinnie» was the best and made the game very lively! My husband and I along with a friend from Romania were teamed up with a group of 6 from France and between the 9 of us we managed to steal $ 30 million! A very nice haul for our first time as thieves. We all felt like winners!

Fantastic team building — particularly as we filled all their rooms but still had ‘space to have fun’!

Woot! What a hoot! Fun times with friends and keen to come back and explore the other rooms.

We came here because the original Escape the Room was booked out and we were set on our plans for the night. The structure of The Heist is very similar to The Agency in the Escape the Room but it’s a little easier. But unlike the Escape the Room, everyone leaves a winner! Overall, great game. We will return soon to complete the other two challenges.

We had our team building event here today. We did the Egyptian Tomb based on the reviews it received. We had a great experience, it was an amazing communication exercise and the puzzles were very fun. We almost made it out! Laura was awesome and gave us helpful hints along the way. We will definitely be back when they open the «Alien Encounter» room. Thanks for everything!

This is a wonderful, and convenient, location for a team building event. My colleagues and I went here last evening and everyone walked out asking when we could do this again! We participated in the «Heist» option. We had some immediate success and then had some trouble putting a few clues together, so «Vinny» came in to help us put some clues together to make it to the next step. Ultimately we got out of the room and our point score was higher than average :)
I think our team will be returning in the months ahead and I would certainly recommend this to others looking for a fun, engaging and team building experience.

(This review is for the Ultimate Heist.)
I noticed there was a lot of praise for the Egyptian Tomb, and it definitely looks like from the pictures they put a lot of work into that set.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Ultimate Heist.
I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but there’s not exactly that much to spoil. You’re sent to a room full of valuables and told to rob it blind. Unlike many Escape Rooms, your score isn’t just based on how quickly you get out — you can escape empty handed if you want, but what kind of thief would do that? ;-) Your goal is to physically stuff as much loot as you can fit into the bag before you make your escape.
It’s a cool premise, but they dropped the ball on it. Some of the issues:
1) Production messes. Handwritten clues were hard to read. One puzzle had, literally, come unglued (and it was only thanks to a smart member of our team that we managed to figure out what it was supposed to be before it fell apart).
2) Puzzle originality. We were solving the same puzzle over and over again. Unlock this box? Great, here’s another box. Some of the puzzles were actually quite interesting — and again, won’t spoil them — but if I never see another plastic cube again, that’s fine by me.
3) Atmosphere. This overlaps with the previous two a bit, but this is more of an overall critique.
We were supposed to rob the safe of a «master thief,» but a lot of the room felt more like «that den in your basement you fill with whatever you can find at the antique store.» Our minder (who was super nice) had to keep coming in to explain things.
Also, remember how you’re supposed to get as much loot as possible before you leave? We did, of course, because we’re master thieves. =P But I would’ve LOVED to get a $ amount, maybe even a high score board. What kind of thieves are we, if we don’t even bother to count the loot?
tl;dr:
I’ve played rooms from a few companies (Agency from Escape the Room, and Spaceship from Mission Escape) and this was definitely the weakest, in terms of effort and set design. It felt like a room that’s still in beta. If you’ve never played an escape room before, don’t stress if you’ve already bought tickets — you’ll have a good time, even in this one. But I would recommend others.

We did the Egyptian Tomb, and it was awesome. The sets were super detailed, and the puzzle was challenging in a fun way but not tear-​your-​hair-​out frustrating. We got a quick peek at some of the other rooms there, and I am already planning a return trip. 0Definitely worth it to check this place out!

.We had our son’s 13^th birthday party with 11 boys in the Spy Room. Everyone had a blast and absolutely loved the experience. The set was really well done, and the puzzles were extremely creative with a number of surprises throughout. David Chase was extremely helpful before hand and the staff was great during the party. If boys got stumped they were good about giving subtle clues without giving away the puzzle. This was challenging for sure! We would highly recommend this for teens and adults. Really unique and fun time!!!

The puzzles are carefully designed, the room was awesome and you can tell the designers put a lot of thought into it. New York has so many different «escape the room» locations and this is definitely one of our favorites! We had fun doing the «Spy» one and we will definitely be back for the others!

Great team building event or group event with friends! I went with a group of six for a work event, and it was a huge success. We opted for the «Egyptian Tomb» adventure and were pleasantly surprised at the intricate nature of the puzzles and clues. Our guide came in from time to time to nudge us in the right direction given the complexity of some of the puzzles. Even though this could have been detracting from our experience, I thought that the guide came in at appropriate times and gave us the right level of guidance. Our group managed to escape with only one minute left.
Highly recommended experience for those who are looking to challenge themselves and build their ability to communicate with fellow team members. After leaving, my team immediately asked to try another one of the rooms at Clue Chase because they had such a great time. Thanks to David and the rest of the staff at Clue Chase for being so thorough with the booking, set-​up, and guidance!

Super fun! A bit harder than expected, but they do a great job with the Egyptian Tomb and really make you think. Very creative and would definitely do it again!

This was our first escape room and we had a blast! The owner, David, helped us a bit since we only had 4 people but we were so proud with how far along we made it (into the final seconds) through the room! Tough but thoughtful clues, exciting, engaging and so much fun. We will be back again soon to try the other two rooms! I think we have found a new pastime/​date night. Thanks, David!

My wife & I did the ‘Egyptian Tomb’ escape room and it was one of the most expensive-​looking we have done. The «set» is really cool and has some nice hidden surprises to it. We had a lot of fun, but the reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I felt some of the puzzles were too convoluted. I like when puzzles have a certain intuitiveness to them that I felt some of these puzzles lacked. (Full disclosure: we didn’t escape, so maybe I’m biased).
One extra tip: Make sure you get there 15 minutes early! This building has security and it can take some extra time to get your ID badge, especially if you’re in a large group.

We hosted two separate birthday parties for our tween children at Clue Chase over the last month. Picking out an escape room was not easy as there are many options in Manhattan, but early Unilocal reviews narrowed my choice to Clue Chase — we were not disappointed. Dave and his team have been meticulous in arranging the themes — the clues, décor, and theatrics had the kids talk about how the rooms could be movie sets. Some of the clues were challenging for tweens, but the game masters nudged them in the right direction without being overly prescriptive. Dave suggested that we hide treats in some of the clue «boxes» and the kids loved that touch. He also «warmed them» up with puzzles in the waiting room, some involving team work. Clue Chase has an amazing maze coffee table — I might go back just to see if I solve it!
While I understand that Clue Chase is building out another escape room, we were able to use a small room for our kids’ parties. We brought in pizza, drinks, and cakes — the kids had pizza, solved the room, then came back for cake, where they deconstructed the whole experience. Dave responded to all my queries leading up to the parties and the events went off seamlessly, which does not always happen when time precludes visiting the venue in advance.
The kids are now lobbying us to return to conquer the Eypgtian Tomb — and we plan to go back when our extended family is in town later in the month. Can’t wait to see how three generations escape the tomb!

This rating was tough and would round up to a 3.5. I would give:
5 Stars: Service
5 Stars: Room budget, immersive experience
4 Stars: Cleverness of puzzles
2.5 Stars: Overall room experience
Pros (+)
— Beautiful, high budget room!
— Clever, well thought out puzzles and décor
— Excellent service. The guy was awesome and we would go back just to do a different challenge with him again. :)
Cons (-)
— Max of 10 people per room just doesn’t work. We had 8 in our group, and it was chaos. No one could keep up with each other and two or so people ended up driving the entire challenge. 3 – 5 of us were behind on most of the clues — mostly because we couldn’t see over people — and ended up just walking around for most of the time. Once you’re behind from the beginning, you are behind the entire time. I would cap the size to 6 MAX in these rooms so true teamwork can be encouraged (and rewarded).
Other Tips:
Directions to get there should be explained better on the site. It’s a big building and the entrance is on 42^nd Street. Give extra time to go through security and take a photo (typical corporate building in the city) and get a pass with a barcode. All this should take 5 – 10 minutes.
Summary:
Going in it with strangers you don’t know makes it tough for communication. Three of us who are usually very involved with the escape rooms we go too, somehow got so behind of the stronger alphas in the group who took over most of the clues. Because there were too many people, we couldn’t hear or see most of what was going on in that mini-​group.
That said, personalities and synergy amongst the group are beyond the staff’s control. But to mitigate the possibility of having a pretty subpar experience (for a rather high cost) with potentially more aggressive team members, I would cap the size. That way, we can ‘buy out’ the whole room more easily as well (maybe offer a discount for a buyout?).
Hope this helps!

I arranged for my university to visit Clue Chase with 60 alums and everyone had a blast. Our group ranged from 20 — 60 year olds and everyone enjoyed it. It is a great bonding activity and there are so many puzzles and things to do within the hour you have to escape.
The props and atmosphere are great. The clues were trickier than we had expected, so we really had to work together to brainstorm how to crack the codes, etc.
I highly recommend that you visit Clue Chase!

Fantastic job with the props, atmosphere, and theatrics. The briefing they give you before you enter the room really sets the stage for the mysteries and clues to come. Couldn’t recommend this place more!
I would stick to their recommendations, and don’t hesitate to bring the max number of people for the room. There really is so much to do.

Our group did the lost spy-​cold war mission room and had a blast. We had a group of 6 and there was lots to do to keep us busy the entire hour. The room and clues were well thought out and in theme throughout the mission.
The guy on staff Saturday was very friendly and helpful– he gave us tips prior to starting the escape room, popped into the room to help guide us, and took time out to review all the clues that we got and missed after the hour was up. It was great to do the walk through after because during the mission I was so busy working on my part that I missed some of the clues that others in my group handled. It was great to see how it all got together.
I highly recommend this place if you are looking to do an escape room.
This was the first one I attempted although 2 people in my group had done one previously at another location.
Make sure to arrive early because you need to check in at the front desk of the building before you can head down to clue chase.

I love escape rooms and I can say authoritatively that Clue Chase has more polish put in its environments and into its clues than any other escape adventure I’ve ever done. The attention to details is amazing and the owner, David, is adamant about each of the clues fitting the theme and adding to the atmosphere.
If escape rooms are something you really love and you’re looking for the best and most challenging rooms in NYC, head to Clue Chase. I did the Cold War scenario with a group of escape veterans and we barely made it out in time (1 minute left!).
Great puzzles, amazing props and décor, and an overall wonderful time.