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F.A.Q

Escape The Room NYC: FAQ

Have you ever wondered what an escape room game is like? If you’re looking for something fun and exciting to do in NYC, Clue Chase is the perfect choice. At over 2,700 square feet, we are among the largest escape room game centers in New York City. Each mission is incredibly detailed, with rooms built by professional set designers and escape game designers. The only thing missing from our rooms is you, the player. Your presence and exploration bring our interactive experience to life!

Each of our escape room games is tied into a larger overarching plot, with cryptic items linking different time periods together for our repeat players to find. You’ll need to work together to solve mysteries, find hidden relics, infiltrate secret lairs and steer pirate ships safely to land. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever done before.

Although our time travel technology technically allows us to be located at many different places and times, our escape room games headquarters is located at 39 West 32nd Street. Please enter through the glass doors immediately to the left of Cafe Bene. One member of your party may need to briefly check in with the front desk, and then you will proceed up to the fourth floor.

Reservations ensure we have the necessary space available for you to play when you want to play! Especially during these strange Covid times, reservations are important, as expecting you helps us prep for you. You can reserve your private game via the Book Now buttons scattered throughout the site.

Tickets are only $35 per person, so reserve your mission today! We recommend that reservations are made at least 24 hours in advance. Private bookings are available at a rate of $10 for every unused ticket blocked to create a private game. For example: a five person team wanting a private game would pay $50 total for the five unused tickets they are blocking in order to play privately.

Some people have inquired about the safety of our escape games following a fire incident in an escape game in Poland. Many have also wondered what an escape room is like. The short answer is that Clue Chase is without question safe, about as safe as one can possibly get for an escape room game.

  • First our space has been checked by Fire Inspectors and passed with flying colors, no issues or concerns identified.

  • Second, unlike many escape rooms our entrance doors for each mission are always open, so you are never technically locked in, and always have an exit should you need one. (We trust your imagination and the other elements of our experience to provide you with the fun and immersion shared by our many thousands of customers).

  • Third, the safety of our patrons is of paramount concern to us, and all our designs are carefully reviewed to ensure that any risk of injury is minimized to the utmost degree, and indeed there are no aspects to our games that require physical exertion (only mental acumen). Finally, we monitor the games continually. In short, you could not be in better hands for your escape room game experience than at Clue Chase.

Clocking in at over 2,700 square feet Clue Chase is one of the largest escape room game venues in Manhattan. This means that we have plenty of space. Our rooms can accommodate groups peaking at 10-12 players, depending on the room. We have also hosted corporate groups in excess of 100 total players within a two-and-a-half-hour period with our mobile & portable escape room.

Clue Chase would be happy to host your child’s escape room birthday party! As one of the premiere escape room games in NYC, our rooms are a fun and hands-on way to get kids working together as a group, and they make for great fun on a birthday. There will need to be at least one adult present at all times to serve as a chaperone.

Our games are, by default, shared experiences, but private games are available as an additional option. If no one else has booked into your desired time you will have the option to select “private booking” during checkout. If you select this option you will be able to reserve any unused tickets at a discounted rate of $10 per ticket. If you arrive with more folks than you were originally expecting, any extra players can simply pay the $25 difference on their tickets.

Saturday 12PM–11PM
Sunday 12PM–8PM
Monday 12–9PM 
Tuesday 12–9PM 
Wednesday 12–9PM
Thursday 12PM–11PM
Friday 11AM–11PM

Yep! Send an email to info@cluechase.com and we’ll be happy to help you coordinate your event with Clue Chase.

There is street parking (good luck) as well as a garage 24hr within a block of our location on 32nd street.

Plan on arriving 15 minutes before your scheduled start time. (If you book for 7:30 that is when your game starts, so try to arrive at 7:15). This will give everyone ample time to get checked in, use the restroom, and receive their specific instructions for the day’s time travel expedition.

Here at Clue Chase Labs we try to be as accommodating as possible. That being said, there are some limits even a time travel agency cannot bypass. If you are sharing the time bubble with other players then your game time will start at the designated time, and you may join them up to 15 minutes past the starting time. If you have booked out the entire time bubble we will hold the start until eight minutes past the designated time. You will be able to enter your time bubble at any point, but you could well do so with a severe time deficit if you are very late.

Your time in the room will last exactly one hour. You should expect a total time of one and a half hours spent at Clue Chase between arrival, gametime, and post game debriefing/photos.

Like most things in life, escaping is never a guarantee, and some of our rooms are designed to be quite difficult. There’s no penalty for losing, and ultimately the goal is to have fun trying your best to solve puzzles as a group! Winning isn’t the fun, the game is the fun. Well – winning is pretty fun, but we guarantee you’ll remember playing the game more than winning the game.

We will offer clues as you play, but we won’t go to the point of offering solutions for you. (That wouldn’t be fun!) Fear not, we won’t leave you hanging. If at the end of your game some things remain unsolved, your game master will be happy to walk you through the solutions.

Have you ever played an escape game? It turns out time travel is a lot like playing an escape room game. Think of a time bubble as a room. A room that is unstable on a quantum level. So, a very exciting, potentially dangerous room. (Nothing’s actually dangerous. That’s a time travel joke about quantum instability.)

We’re so proud of our prop and set design that we feature them prominently on our website. The photographs featured at the bottom of each room page are all from the actual sets you will be playing in.

As one of the premiere escape room games in NYC, Clue Chase is unique in that we take a highly collaborative, iterative approach to our designs. Rooms and puzzles are adjusted on the fly based on customer feedback and employee experience. Everyone wears the hats of puzzle designer, set decorator and maintenance from time to time. Our sets are primarily built by a very talented man who worked on the sets of Boardwalk Empire with HBO, among many other credits. Our puzzles are largely designed by our founder, our creative director, and our lab techs (the little underlings you see scampering about in lab coats). All our rooms are unique to us, you will not find these rooms anywhere else in the world.

None of our games are designed to scare you with sudden motion or sounds. Some themes, such as the Egyptian Tomb, may be unsettling to younger players – but even that room is very well lit so it’s unlikely.

Yep! We have some of the largest escape room games in NYC, and you’re never truly locked in.

Kids are some of our most curious customers and are always wondering what escape rooms are like. Kids are great, and plenty of them are great at puzzles. However, due to the difficult nature of our rooms we do not recommend them for players under the age of eight. All children under 18 must play with adult supervision. No unaccompanied minors will be permitted entrance to Clue Chase. 

Nope! None of our escape room games require any strength, and in fact, you should never apply strength or force to puzzles or items in our rooms. Our rooms are designed so that anyone, from the height of a child on up, can get to everything they’ll need to access in order to complete the game.

All sales are final. (Not even if your cat has managed to steal and drive off in your car. Although, we will be very impressed with your cat. Can we have your cat? For science?)

You can. That doesn’t mean you should. But you can.

We do have Wifi. But not for you. Our time travel equipment is very sensitive to fluctuations in the available bandwidth so bogging it down with extra devices isn’t something we can safely do. In the event of an internet emergency we can provide you with a passkey.

We do have restrooms. They’re very spacious and handicap accessible.

Yes! Our entire space is easily accessible to people at all levels of mobility. Some rooms (Pirates of the Bermuda Triangle and Guardian of Gotham) have a relatively small available floor area and so may not be the best fit for a wheelchair or any large mobility devices.

All of our games are monitored remotely by a dedicated time travel technician. The technician will provide clues at their discretion. This means that while you are free to ask them for a clue, they are also free to ignore you. Fear not, our technicians are trained to be very friendly, and no one wants to see you stuck on one puzzle for an hour, so they’ll help. (Watching someone try to solve one thing for one hour is very boring. Our help is entirely selfish.)

No, food and drinks are not allowed inside the escape game rooms. If you are looking to pair this activity with a restaurant/bar/catering in our event space, shoot us an email at info@cluechase.com and we’d be happy to send you a list of options. 

No. In order to not be in violation of fire safety laws we leave the first door to every room unlocked. That means if you need to run to the bathroom, answer an important call, or just catch your breath, we won’t stop you.

Whatever you feel comfortable in! As long as you feel comfortable in clothes. Wear clothes. Please.

Yes! Just as long as you make sure to not get the solutions to puzzles caught in your pictures, we don’t want the games to be accidentally spoiled for anyone!

At the moment we’re at but one location. Stay tuned for future expansions! Our newest location is our Harold Square escape room games. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay tuned for additional updates. We can be found at Facebook.com/cluechasegame and on Twitter: @ClueChase

VIRTUAL ESCAPE GAMES FAQ

This is like an escape room you play on your computer. You will still work with a team solving puzzles – but unlike a normal escape room there is no set time limit, you can take as long as you need, and you can even stop playing and return to the point you left off at a later time.

We recommend each team consists of 2-6 people. The games can be played solo, if desired. Larger teams will need to split out into separate teams of six across multiple copies of the game. For team building or other large group events we can assist with setup and hosting of the games, please reach out to us at info@cluechase.com to get started.

You book a game as though you are booking a physical escape room. Head to our Booking Page, select the game you want to play, select the time you wish to play, and go through the regular payment process.

After purchasing a game you will receive an email with further instructions, a game link, and a unique Team ID for everyone to enter on the game page. Make sure everyone has the game link and Team ID to play.

There is a hint system in the game that will provide you clues if you are having a hard time. Every few seconds a new hint is available for you to click on should you need a hint. Otherwise there is nobody watching your progress.

If you are all in separate areas, we recommend using various online communication applications such as Zoom, Skype, or Google Meetings.

You can play from any place that has internet access so long as you have your Team ID.

Our virtual escape games do not have a set time limit, you can take as long as you need. If you need to stop playing and pick the game up later you can do that as well, just re-use the link you joined the game with, and it will take you back to where you left off.