Barcelona, Jan 2025
As a rule of thumb, dinosaur themes are good silly fun, and involve plenty of suspension of disbelief. After all, it’s a pretty tall order to convince a group of players that they’re not just in some room solving puzzles, but exploring a tropical rainforest inhabited by gigantic extinct creatures; but with good will and imagination, some rubber foliage and plastic dinos can go a long way.
Golden Pop’s game is a much more ambitious take – this is the kind of dino escape room that Spielberg might direct. There’s an extended build-up, through pre-game intro and scene setting and the earlier stages of the game, but with a two hour play time that doesn’t take away from the main attraction. One of my favourite moments was in fact the point that marked the start of the central section of the game – it was lower key than some of the later set-pieces, but the use of lighting and sound combined beautifully to create a genuine sense of awe and anticipation.
The booking confirmation warns that your clothes may get dirty, which hints at the degree of realism in the set. In all honesty, I’ve been in actual rainforests that felt less like a rainforest than what they’ve created here. They’ve also taken great care in reproducing details that you may recognise from the movie, in the buildings and fences.
Many of the puzzles here are a little procedural, based around some form of instructions; others are much more physical. As the game processes it gets increasingly intense and frantic, and also loud, which is fine until you’re not sure how to do something or can’t find something, and then all the audio and darkness just add to the confusion in a way that undermines the atmosphere. At least, that was my experience, though it was only for a shortish section of the game.
But Jurássico isn’t really about the puzzles – they’re an important part of the game, but what will stick with you are the visuals, the lushness of the environment, and the big dramatic moments that I’m not going to describe for spoiler reasons. Admittedly those could have been a touch more visceral, and instead gained a humorous edge that I’m not sure was intended – but that just added to the fun. Few rooms are anything like as over the top as this one, and it’s a spectacle well worth seeing. 
