The bomb ticks away as the same annoyingly discordant tune repeats on the speakers. As you and your partner(s) rack your mind trying to solve the next clue, the madman intent on detonating his bomb butts in via the speakers and offers a glimpse of his insanity. Players experience this kind of rush and are challenged to think creatively at Puzzah!, a new puzzle room and store downtown.
The store change to Puzzah! opened on Halloween of last year, and includes two components. The first is a store that sells small novelties and brain-teasers such as interlocking boxes and complex sets of keys; these are designed to challenge users to think differently to solve the puzzles, and the majority of these products are designed by Denverites. The second component of Puzzah! is a series of puzzle rooms where groups of two to four players work together for 60 minutes in an attempt to solve a themed riddle.
The puzzle rooms are designed to challenge groups to solve increasingly complex challenges that test various skills and ways of thinking. Puzzah!’s method is unique, and includes clues designed to help every group reach the last stage of the puzzle…eventually, that is.
Our group discovered this firsthand when we solved our room’s challenge with just seconds remaining. While we won’t reveal any spoilers, this particular puzzle, called “Tick Tock,” forces people to use all manner of skills, including careful listening, observation and reasoning to conquer a multi-staged puzzle set by a theoretical crazed musician. Additionally, Puzzah!’s puzzle forced our group to make split-second decisions when it came time to do so, and played on the strengths of different group members during different levels of the challenge.
While “Tick Tock” is Puzzah!’s first puzzle room, and the only that is currently operational, another with a different theme is scheduled to open this month. The store has the capacity to host several other unique puzzle rooms as well, and the owners — who design and build the intricate aspects of the rooms themselves — plan to put these into operation to give customers a wide variety of options for their team problem-solving adventures.
Puzzah! advertises itself as a location to host corporate, birthday and other groups, wherein members of a team are forced to collaborate and work together to solve mind-bending puzzles. Whether it’s defusing a bomb or solving whatever the next mind-bending puzzle Puzzah!’s madmen create, teams of all types will certainly benefit from this experience of solving imagined crises together.
Prices start at $80 for a team of 4.
Puzzah! is located at 1440 Blake St., a few blocks from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Union Station, which makes it easily accessible by RTD lightrail. Reservations can be made at www.puzzah.com.
