What People Say About Sherlocked Escape Rooms in Amsterdam

One of the best activities in Amsterdam to do with a group of friends! After hearing the story of architect Berlage you get locked up in a room and have to find your way out in one hour. You really have to work together as a team to get out, that's all I'm going to say ;) We managed to get out in 51 mins, woohooo! Can't wait to play their new escape room!

Some quick logistical points before I write my review: you can do the Vault (90 minutes) and the Architect (60 minutes) in any order, but I strongly recommend that you try the Architect first. We did the opposite, and it was still very enjoyable, but I think Architect-then-Vault would be optimal. Also, to put our review in perspective, we are a family of 4 with two young teens, we have done over 30 escape rooms around the world (US, Asia, Europe, Oceania), and we escaped both rooms successfully, with ~10 minutes left for the Vault and ~20 minutes for the Architect. (We also completed the Escape Room experience by Sherlocked at the Rijksmuseum; I'll give a review of that when I review the museum; short version is I recommend it.) Okay, with all of that established, both of these escape rooms are AMAZING. Both of them are incredibly well constructed, with a range of puzzles that go well beyond simple locks (there are a few locks, of course, but there is so much more than that) and absolutely immersive decor that makes the most of the incredibly historic location. The rooms are also (mostly!) very spacious - I have never before been in rooms this big. The game guides are completely on-point - they are never intrusive, and know just the right moments to give encouragement. We didn't require a lot of hints, but from the other reviews + our experience, I would guess they are very good at that whenever needed, too. For the Vault, there is role playing involved on the part of the hosts, and they were convincing, excellent at improv, and knew just the right moment to inject a bit of humor. The Architect is more of a traditional escape room, with some puzzle structures that you might have seen before if you have done a lot of rooms, but we found ~75% of the puzzles to be unique, which is amazingly impressive. The story behind the room is straightforward, but complex enough to motivate all of your actions and interactions throughout the game. There is a great combination of technology and basic logic. The Vault is more immersive - our game started off-site, and we enjoyed the scene-setting emails and texts that we received in advance. You have to be able to get into character to enjoy this game, and I would urge you to take the risk and do so. You end up feeling like you are really part of ring of thieves (albeit, in our case, one that has a teenage member that shrieks at certain surprising moments!). There are fewer traditional puzzles, but as with the Architect, those that are there are mostly unique to this game; the minds that are behind these challenges are incredibly creative. We also thoroughly enjoyed the balance between solving puzzles together and solving them individually in parallel. If you are at all experienced in escape games, you must, must, must book these rooms. If you have never done an escape room before, I would also recommend these; even if you don't end up completing the room, you will have a great time. My only hesitation is that you might be ruined for all of the other mediocre rooms that are out there!

GEWELDIG!

Had a great time doing both the challenges, would highly recommend

Went away for my Stag do to Amsterdam for 3 days, group of 8 mixed ages from early 20's to over 50's. Read about Sherlocked here on TripAdvisor and decided to give a go as a ice breaker/party starter for the weekend. And we were not dissapointed. Originally we booked the new room (The Vault) along with the original Architects room but unfortunately was informed before coming to Amsterdam that the vault wouldn't be ready due to technical issues and our booking will have to be cancelled. A quick response back to the booking managers email and they kindly agreed to give us the exception to have a party of 8 participate in the Architect room together. A fantastically thought through experience, which everyone in our group thoroughly enjoyed. Great puzzles and tasks and certainly was above all of our expectations. The setting in the old Stock Exchange building gave it such an authentic feel too. Unfortunately with 8 people we still didn't manage to finish before the hour was up. Our host told us we were very close to the end and we struggled on a particular section which we lost a lot of time on. We all agreed we'd love to do it again and solve the mystery and hopefully next time take a shot at the Vault too. If heading to Amsterdam for the weekend with friends, family or whoever I would strongly recommend giving this a go.

I’ve tried both scenarios and I have to say it was amazing. Best part would be how immersive is the setting. The Vault challenge is very challenging, and the role play part was sometimes a bit too much; but The Architect was very fun and a good balance between enigma and rewards.

Didn’t feel like a traditional escape room where you just solve everything alone. Felt more like I’m in a story and I constantly have to talk to the instructor to continue forward.

Me and three friends grouped together for Sherlocked and had the time of our lives!! We worked together and laughed the whole time. I highly recommend doing this. It's great for any group/family.

We did the Vault. This was the #7 best Escape room from 2018. It was fantastic. This is a more immersive role in which you have to talk to a few people. The setting where the Vault takes place cannot be beat. The location is near the center of town. This is a destination escape room that you must do if you visit Amsterdam.

We participated in The Vault and it was great from the beginning to the end. The story and challenge includes some role playing which makes it very realistic and even more exiting. The rooms are very realistic and the puzzles are challenging. Loved it from the start to the end.