Newark, DE: Axxiom Escape Rooms – High School Mystery

July 29, 2018 – After staying just a bit too long in Philadelphia, I was on a tight timetable to solve an escape room in Delaware and catch a bus to Washington DC before the night’s end. Thankfully, Axxiom has a few conveniently placed locations along the nearby public transit routes, so we had an opportunity to complete the state.

Of all the states I visited in 2018, Delaware is the one I most regret not seeing more of. For other states in which I spent less than four hours, I did at least a modicum of sightseeing and stopping to appreciate the scenery. I passed through Delaware too quickly for a state with such a rich history.

The game master at Axxiom was very helpful in getting us set up quickly enough for us to reach our bus after the game. We settled on High School Mystery, a sort of Scooby Doo / school theme. After a really quick intro, we jumped into the game.

The objective of the game is to work through assorted “classrooms” in a school to uncover the underlying mystery, catch the monster, and release the final lock. The decor was somewhat simple, and I’d guess this is one of the venue’s earlier room designs (it appears the High School Mystery has been discontinued).

I have to admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of the puzzles in this room. They were somewhat haphazard, and the player was often expected to try locks based on random numbers which appeared on sheets of paper. There was one elaborate logic puzzle, but through what appeared to be a design flaw, most of the logic in the puzzle could be skipped.

There was a nice little surprise toward the end of the room. I wont offer spoilers (even for a discontinued room), but there was an unexpected twist which was fun, albeit only really used for the last puzzle, which felt like a wasted opportunity. We solved the room with just enough time to make it to the train station on time after a victory photo.

Not too much more to say here! We booked it to the bus stop and jumped on our ride to DC.

I’ll get back to Delaware sometime- I wouldn’t even count out a similar trip between New York and DC in the future. It’s a remarkable stretch of the country with so many places pivotal to the foundation of the country, and I can’t stay away from there for too long!