My horror escape room — Dr. Frankenstein.

 

Hi everyone!

It’s been a while since I posted something useful in the blog, and now the time has come. Today I’d like to tell you about several producers we worked with while building my first horror escape room — Dr. Frankenstein.

Funnily enough, just like the professor’s monster, our Frankenstein is assembled from parts (puzzles) made by different producers. And with each of them, we had a very different experience.

Let me briefly explain how the game is set up:

It has three rooms, each with a centerpiece puzzle from a different company. As players progress, they encounter jumpscares. The goal was to make them feel scared of everything — every puzzle they solve should give them a bit of fear. In the third room, players finally meet Frankenstein himself — built by Indestroom, but of course fully customized to fit our own gameflow.

 

 

1. Indestroom – Frankenstein

Since I mentioned it, let’s start with Indestroom. In my opinion, their Frankenstein is one of their best — if not the best — products. It’s big, epic, and impressive. The puzzles inside might not be the most original, but they leave plenty of room for creativity and a personal touch. It makes for a strong, dramatic final puzzle in the game.

But there are a few caveats. First — maintenance. We had to make about a dozen modifications to the construction to protect ourselves from future repair issues.

For example, one puzzle requires pressing the monster’s fingers in the correct order. The problem is that many players try to bend the fingers backward, thinking there’s something underneath. So we had to chain them down to prevent this. Maybe these issues have been fixed by now — I have the 2022 version.

Second — gameflow. The original version is quite linear, so we reworked the sequence, and now multiple players can work on reviving the monster simultaneously.

If you’re ordering it, make sure to mention you want the Conundroom version of the gameplay. And of course, a big shoutout to Indestroom’s support team — they implemented all our requests and changes quickly and professionally.

One of the best reasons to work with Indestroom is their customer service. In general, it’s everything you’d expect: solid factory-grade product, very reliable, customizable, and with excellent support.

 

2. Thrill Builders

By chance, I got two escape rooms from Thrill Builders for 25% of their original price.

I’ll try to choose my words carefully here. My impression is that Thrill Builders are not making escape rooms for escape room owners — they’re making them for FEC operators who don’t really understand escape rooms but want to add one to their facility with as few problems as possible.

Let’s put it this way: the quality of props and build is good — everything is solid and durable. But the gameplay and puzzle ideas? Honestly, most people reading this could come up with better ones.

We ended up disassembling the whole thing for components (mostly PicoBoo controllers). Some went into Frankenstein, others into our other rooms.

Unfortunately, this is the first producer I can’t recommend.

As an example of their support: my game was missing the SD card that was supposed to contain all the puzzle logic and sequences. When I contacted support, instead of sending me the file, they simply said, “The SD card should be there.”

Oh — and check out Thrill Builders’ episode on Shark Tank, and look up the employee reviews on Glassdoor.

Let’s just say — the product is fine, but overpriced for what you get.

 

3. Deluxe Autopsy Body by Dapper Cadaver

The game starts with players extracting organs from a body on the table. It’s a fully anatomically correct body… but seriously, for $2,300, can’t they paint it properly?

Somehow, it’s painted with acrylic paint over silicone, which starts peeling and flaking off. It looks like they forgot to apply a sealant or protective layer. In 2–3 years, the paint will likely be gone.

We were disappointed with the quality, but since the production already took several months, we didn’t want to go back and argue.

So if you’re ordering from them — keep this in mind.

Had I known the paint job would be like this, I would’ve ordered from someone else.

 

 

4. Grub Silicone Prop Creature (Larva) by Shattered VFX

This one is a masterpiece. Absolutely fantastic.

High quality, creepy to the touch, super durable, and it looks amazing. I would buy this again and again.

It took 5 months to produce, but it was worth the wait.

Compared to the Dapper Cadaver body — this is night and day.

 

5. Two puzzles from escaperoomshop.it

They just work. No issues.

I used them in our popup Holiday Escape Room in 2023–2024, and now reused them in this one. Reliable stuff.

6. One puzzle from EcoDecor

Also absolutely no issues.

It’s a circular wall maze with disks — I asked them to modify the puzzle so that the marble always stays inside the maze and resets itself after completion.

They delivered exactly that.

I love this team — they make high-quality puzzles that just work.

One of their puzzles in our older room has been working for almost 8 years with no repairs.

That’s it for now!

Always happy to answer questions.

Good luck with your projects!