Guangzhou boasts an impressive collection of escape rooms. Unfortunately for non-Chinese speakers, all of these Guangzhou escape rooms will require at least one person with a fluent command of Chinese in order to be able to book, play, and win. We got to try out one room while we were there and were impressed with the style and content.

Huge shoutout to local enthusiast Sui Yu (Chinese: 碎语) of China Escape Game Association for compiling and letting us share her recommendations, and Yolanda Chiu of Asia Escape Game connecting us with Sui and translating!

Language in Guangzhou Escape Rooms

Unfortunately, It doesn’t seem like any Guangzhou escape rooms are playable without someone on the team having a solid command of both verbal and written Chinese. Any non-Chinese speaker will run into multiple roadblocks, including:

  • Booking the room
  • Written instructions
  • Important audio clues
  • Hints given in Chinese

Best Escape Rooms in Guangzhou

These are local enthusiast Sui Yu’s recommendations, translated by Yolanda and then edited by EscapeRoomTips.com. All of these rooms use Dianping (Chinese local business platform) as their booking system / website.

Weird Town Escape Rooms (Chinese: 怪诞小镇原创剧情密室)

  • Best Room(s): Sunny Doll (Chinese: 晴天娃娃)
  • Other Room(s): Nutcracker (Chinese: 胡桃夹子)
  • WeChat / Phone: 18665692428
  • Review: This is a new escape room company (opened August 2017), featuring original rooms designed and owned by escape room enthusiasts. They currently have two games available, Nutcracker (90 minutes) and Sunny Doll (120 minutes). Both games require strong Chinese listening and reading abilities, although the company is planning to release an English version of Nutcracker. Book on Dianping.

DisappeaR Escape (Chinese: 消失的密室)

  • Best Room(s): Harry Potter (Chinese: 哈利波特主题)
  • Other Room(s): Time Raiders (Chinese: 盗墓笔记)
  • WeChat / Phone: 13068863847
  • Review: This escape room company is well-known for their quality tech-driven rooms. The set design and decor is also excellent, although puzzle quality is so-so. There aren’t that many written clues. I’ve confirmed with them that no English games are available. Book on Dianping.

Doors Escape Rooms (Chinese: Doors秘道实景密室逃脱广州总店)

  • Best Room(s): Dream (Chinese: 梦), Game Over (Chinese: 游戏结束), Revenge (Chinese: 复仇)
  • Rooms: Terror Museum (Chinese: 恐怖美术馆)
  • Phone: 15017566907
  • Review: Opened in 2015, this escape room company is one of the older ones in Guangzhou. While the story and design are impressive, the decor is outdated. Their Terror Museum game is better in their Shenzhen location, and their other games are roughly around the same level of quality. Book on Dianping.

Real Game Player (Chinese: 大玩家真人版游戏体验馆)

  • Best Room(s): Library vs. Museum Battle Mode (Chinese: 联机PK对战)
  • Other Room(s): Wonderful Museum (Chinese: 奇妙博物馆), Phantom Library (Chinese: 幻影图书馆)
  • WeChat / Phone: 15800209703
  • Review: This is a fairly old company in Guangzhou. They have two escape rooms: Library and Museum. However, the most notable game here is their battle mode, where teams compete head to head in the Library and Museum to collect gems and escape from their room. Their rooms make good use of technology. Book on Dianping.

Escape R Us (Chinese: 逃脱反斗城全机关剧情密室(烈士陵园店))

  • Best Room(s): Deadly Train (Chinese: 夺命列车)
  • Other Rooms(s): Soul Pawnshop (Chinese: 灵魂当铺), Recorder Pen (Chinese: 录音笔), Elevator (Chinese: 电梯)
  • WeChat / Phone: 13380078338
  • Review: This company is very good overall. They also have a location in Shenzhen which also has their Soul Pawnshop and Recorder Pen games. Book on Dianping.

Review: Nutcracker – Weird Town Escape Rooms

We played one escape room while we were in Guangzhou: Nutcracker at Weird Town Escape Rooms. Here are our thoughts:

  • Background: This room is near the popular shopping destination Beijing Road. This is a 90-minute game, which is rare in the United States but apparently uncommon in China. Like most games in China, written / audio / GM clues are only available in Chinese, so bring someone who knows the language.
  • Story: You follow the story of Claire, a little girl, whose parents are away for an event. You receive a magical gift, a Nutcracker, who comes alive in the night. You and your magical companion must defeat the rat king and accomplish the trials in the candy kingdom, all before your parents come home.
  • Cinematic Design: The whole room is narrated as you get whisked along on Claire’s journey. Oftentimes, the narration would give you the purpose and motivation of what you had to do next. The narration was accompanied by parts of the set that moved, which created a magical environment.
  • Build: The set felt lovingly hand-crafted, with most of the the puzzles involving some sort of movement of the decor or set. Some parts of the construction (like tracks and interiors of plywood) were exposed, which made the set feel indie and charmingly handmade.
  • Puzzles: There was a huge variety of puzzles in this 90-minute game, all contributing to the general theme of the Nutcracker story. One of our favorites were the lighthearted puzzles with cinematic feedback, or ones that caused the set to change slightly.
  • Overall: While we can’t compare this game to others in the Mainland market (since we’ve only played one), this is an excellent room and we would recommend it to any traveller that stops by. The new style is refreshing – narrative-driven games packed with puzzle content at a price lower than the typical game in the USA.

Have you played any games in Guangzhou? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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