Puzzle Buffet is a walkthrough mini-game produced for a National Escape Room Day meetup hosted by Crossroad Escape. The game is self-resetting and allows up to 6 teams of 4 players at a time with 4 physical puzzles and a final meta puzzle. Players leave with a custom fortune cookie with my website on it.
It took most groups about 10-20 minutes to complete the game. The game required at least 2 people at all times to run. We served over 200 guests within the 5 hours this event was running.
This capacity was only possible with the self-resetting mechanic. Each of the puzzles had 4 different solutions so that answers blurted out would never become spoilers to another team. One group's answer becomes the next group's starting point. Our biggest constraint was space. With a bigger table, we would've been able to accommodate more groups at a time.
There was no time constraint. However, we found that the atmosphere of the buffet line was sufficient to create a sense of urgency. We only stepped in when it was necessary to move players along.
I designed and produced all aspects of the game. I ran this event with help from Kevin Burns and Jubilee Pham. I received help from Brett McKim to laser-cut the pizza slices.
"The Puzzle Buffet was cute, fun, and clever. The only problem was it made me hungry!"
- Deborah Cogley, escape room enthusiast
- Deborah Cogley, escape room enthusiast
"Your booth was our favorite!"
- Allison Kirkner on Instagram
- Allison Kirkner on Instagram
