Valencia, Jan 2025
Spanish games – at least the top tier ones – have a fondness for cold starts, where the game begins without meeting any staff unless they’re already in character. That’s the case here too, though there was an initial intro with a chance to use the bathroom before things got going; and then we headed to the hair salon. The mission is to find and remove a piece of evidence being used to blackmail a certain celebrity – a specific real world celebrity, and the way this game doubles as a kitsch tribute to that celebrity is a delightful part of its bonkers charm.
The larger part of La Peluquería is, at heart, traditional escape room fare with plenty of codes and padlocks, and objects that need to be placed in the correct position. And those sections are exceptionally well executed, with sequences of puzzles that are well signposted but not easy, built around the theme and the environment, satisfying to complete and absolutely logical when solved. Not every puzzle is memorable but none are bad, and the best are original and delightful.
The puzzles are only part of the room’s appeal though, which also gets fairly physical in places – though in ways that are dialed down if needed for the team. There’s a major dramatic element too, which managed to create moments of genuine surprise and tension while remaining tongue in cheek. (During booking you have a choice between low and medium tension, and we chose the latter.)
In turns dramatic and joyously silly, in places it also invites you to join in the silliness if you enjoy interaction. For me the various elements combined beautifully to make it a delight to play – I had a great time it from start to finish. We apparently finished with three minutes left of our ninety, but for most of the game I wasn’t paying any heed to the time, I was just enjoying the experience. This is the kind of game I want to bring non-enthusiasts to, to show them just how distinctive and entertaining and funny an escape room can be – it’s a superb room and you should make strenuous efforts to play it. 
