Clothing discouraged
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Date Played: April 22, 2024
Team size: 2-7; we recommend 4-6
Duration: 90 minutes
Price: from €45 per player for teams of 2 to €23 per player for teams of 7
Ticketing: Private
Accessibility Consideration: This game includes sitting on the floor, crawling, jumping, and a costume change.
Mess Meter: 0 (out of 5)
Emergency Exit Rating: [A] Push To Exit
Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints
For more on our trip to Spain, here's our field report.
REA Reaction
After more than 1200 escape rooms, Tao Room Escape: Japanese Massage Center was a novel experience.
Structurally, this was an escape room, but the interactions were unusual. In the early game, it was the theming that made some of them memorable, but in the later game, the interactions themselves were very different. What the game asked of us was so constantly over the top and silly.
The tone was glib. The game poked fun at us from the opening moments. Players need to be comfortable with this in order to appreciate and enjoy the hilarity of the experience. The whole group has to be on board.
Beyond the tone, Tao Room Escape: Japanese Massage Center took risks with a foreign culture that won't land for everyone. In fact, some players will find the theming downright offensive because it certainly feels like Virus Escape Room is leaning into the otherness of Japanese culture. For the most part we felt like the game was laughing at us, the players, far more than it laughed at anything else, which helped us stay in the moment.
I was able to take this all in stride, because at this point in my escape room playing journey, I value well-executed but different over comfort. That isn't to say the execution was perfect. Parts of the game needed maintenance and there was opportunity for scenic improvement.
However, what lingers in my mind thinking about Tao Room Escape: Japanese Massage Center is the bizarre interactions, and how funny it was to laugh at ourselves trying to do these ridiculous things with a group of wonderful friends, all dressed in a rainbow of flowery kimonos. It's weird, it's funny, and I cannot imagine this flying in the US.
If you are in Barcelona, this one is a ways outside of town. However, if you are looking for novelty and humor, it's worth the drive. Go in willing to embrace it 100% or don't play at all.
Who is this for?
- Players looking for something different
- Players who can laugh at themselves
- Players who are comfortable in their own skin
- Any experience level
Why play?
- The unusual premise
- The glib tone
- To play an escape room in a kimomo
Story
The premise of Tao Room Escape: Japanese Massage Center was straightforward: we were going to get a massage in the Japanese tradition. The center's website advertised a unique setting with ancestral family objects, exquisite staff led by Matsumoto San, and secret massage techniques. This was just the relaxation we needed in the middle of our hectic Spanish travel schedule.
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