I am sitting in the airport writing this and feeling more than a little sad that our escape adventure is over for the time being, but at the same time sooooo happy that it got to happen!

Our final day also had a single escape room. Mondays are usually dark days for escape rooms, but Escape Room Junkie was very gracious when we were booking rooms back in May and were willing to have us book their game, Corpse Inc., with them on a Monday! We were very grateful.

Canadian Bumpkin Moments

It is difficult to keep up with all the transit rules abroad so it’s pretty nice that people in the Netherlands are so nice and patiently explain that no, you can’t just tap your credit card on this like everywhere else, but rather buy a ticket. I thought I had the system figured out! I was wrong.

Our escape journey brought us through more quaint Netherlands countryside, and yes, we were yelling (okay, Lizette was yelling) “IT’S SO CUTE!” while the rest of us snapped pictures. No one was around and I am assuming the residents were hiding from the tourists. But I do agree with Lizette. A lot of stuff in this country is picturesque.

Also, the trees are so much more lined up! There are lots of trees in Canada but they are not nearly so artfully placed.

Netherlands seems to be a few steps ahead on the reusable cup front. They charge an extra 10 cents if you get a takeaway cup at Starbucks! In Canada, at least Ontario, we phased out plastic bags and have to pay to use paper, but coffee cups have not been affected yet!

We actually did a tourist thing yesterday! We went on a canal tour! Errol did so under duress, but I think learned some fun facts like that 20,000 bikes a year are fished out of the Amsterdam canals and that bike fisher is an actual job.

Frizz Status

I know no one cares about this except me, but it’s my blog! Our last day was just as frizzy as ever. I am dreaming of returning to my curly hair mousse. I will never take it for granted again.

Today I tied half my hair back and that appears to be the best solution for fighting frizz. And I figured it out on the day I leave. Go fig.

The Escapes!

As I said before, we only had one escape. It was a fun one to end our trip on!

Escape Room Junkie- Corpse Inc.

In Corpse Inc., you play an elite team hired to steal a corpse from a mortuary facility. Well, in this case it wasn’t so much elite team as it was the only one left available.

Corpse Inc.’s main mechanic involves some stealth and social interaction puzzles. We were each given a role (mechanic, cleaner, or doctor) and then had to try and work our way around a grumpy security guard to complete our mission. If you know Errol, you will know this was his favourite part of the game. Once he picked a character for himself, he went 110% into it, and would not break character for the rest of the game. This pretty much amounted to him “cleaning” every bit of the room and rambling incoherently while the rest of us solved puzzles.

For myself , I enjoyed making up a story as a useless repair person, and I have to say our actor, Jerry, was very good at being a no nonsense security guard with zero patience for our shenanigans. Sometimes with these games, I shy away a bit at the last minute from fully committing to a bit. Part of me wishes I could do it again and fully commit, but I still had fun with the interactions.

At first I was a bit worried when I read the instructions and learned that if the security guard thought we were too suspicious, we would be out of the game. Luckily this was not exactly the case. Yes the security guard would escort the imposter out, but we would figure out a way to get them back into the game. It’s a nice added complexity to the game. We didn’t have to use it, but it was good to know it was there.

We were… definitely slower in this room. And it was not the game’s fault. I don’t know whether the escape binge or jet lag was catching up with us, but we definitely made a couple of errors in the heat of the moment that the hosts thankfully were quick to help us out with.

I would talk about the puzzles, but honestly I solved maybe 1 of them. They were, from what I saw, logical and made sense. They mostly tied to the narrative. The social deduction puzzles involving how to deal with the guard were the most fun, and helped heighten the heist atmosphere.

Being a heist style game, I was fearing a laser maze sequence. My frizzy hair and heavier physique do not make me the ideal candidate for avoiding laser alarms. Corpse Inc. And while Corpse Inc. does have something similar to this, it was set up in a way that was fair and gave us a good chance to try multiple times.

I also had a first for me in this room: I broke my first lock! Yes, it seems I accidentally reset a 3 digit lock to its factory settings and then locked it again, making it unsolvable. The game host, Beau, had to interrupt the game with a set of bolt cutters to rectify the mistake. Sorry, Escape Room Junkie!

Corpse Inc. was a great note to end on even with the self-inflicted hiccups we had. It had all the hallmarks we have been seeing in general across the Netherlands: dedication to a complete story arc, fun interactions, bringing the experience outside the game space, and ensuring we got to the end. I hope we get to see more from them!

Bonus Visit!!!

Juat a few hours before I had to leave for the airport I managed to find some time to visit with Ruud Kool of Diorama Games! He created The Vandermist Dossier and The Medusa Report, which I did some narrative design work for.

I was so glad to finally meet him in person as we had been working together remotely for the last couple of years! We talked games and design, as well as just caught up in general. I was too much of a dunce to notice we were at the same apple pie place Viktor from Sherlocked had taken us. It was only when the same waiter came by that I recognized it. Myra also came and knew right away. That’s why she is our puzzle solver.

Talking with Ruud just reiterated how amazing the escape and puzzle community is. These are some of my favourite parts of my trips and getting to meet so many new people in the Netherlands as well as old friends whom I have never even met in person before was fantastic.

Wrap Up

My second journey to the Netherlands was just as wonderful as the first. It’s been five years since I was here last, and it’s so exciting to see that not only do the old games hold up, but that there is just continual evolution and experimentation happening.

I realize that the games we played were somewhat cherry picked from the best rooms listed, and that there are likely at least a few duds in the Netherlands. But even the oldest game we played still blew us out of the park, and the consistency in quality through all the games we played was mind boggling.

The Netherlands continues to be a region that aligns with my preferred game style and philosophy. The focus on narrative and a complete game experience from the moment you book to the moment you exit is what I love in an escape. The community feels close knit and collaborative. I loved being able to hang out with my friends, play some amazing games, and be inspired by all the Netherlands has to offer.

Oh and of course thanks to my awesome friends for being an amazing escape room team and travel buddies! Especially to Lizette and Margaux for planning. And it was fantastic to meet Myra, an online escape friend, in person! And Errol….well, it’s great he is still Errol.

Now….to start scraping money together for the next escape trip…