Escape (The Curse of the Temple)

Today's game review is of the 2012 release, Escape (The Curse of the Temple).  For 1-5 players, it takes 10 minutes.

Overview
You and your fellow explorers are in the center of an ancient and mysterious temple.  Too late you realize the curse- you have 10 minutes to get out before all hope is lost.  To escape, you'll need to do two things: return gems to certain rooms and explore new rooms to find the exit.  A cooperative game, you will succeed or fail together . . . which will it be?

Simplified Gameplay
You each start with 5 dice (unless playing solitaire- then you have 7).  Each die has 2 green men, 1 black face, 1 golden face, 1 key, and 1 torch.  When the timer is flipped, you have 3 minutes  20 seconds to roll them as many times as you can/want.  This is a real-time game, so there are no turns- everyone is rolling all at once.  To explore new rooms (place new tiles), you'll need to roll two green men.  To enter new rooms, you'll need a man and a key or torch.  To return gems, you'll need a number of keys or torches.  But watch out!  Rolling a black face 'locks' the die (it can't be re-rolled) until you roll a golden face (which unlocks up to two black face dice).  If all your dice get locked, you'll need a teammate in the same room to roll a golden face for you (or pay other penalties to continue).

At the end of the 3 minutes 20 seconds, you must be back in the starting chamber- or you must forfeit one of your die.  Then the timer starts again for the next 3:20, giving you a chance to explore more rooms/return more gems.  Again, when time's up you must be back in the starting chamber.  Then you have one last 3:20, but this time, you must locate the escape room and exit successfully- all of you.  The number of keys you must roll to exit depends on the number of gems returned- the more you return, the fewer keys you must roll.  A game in progress is below.

a game in progress; image from here

Review
Fast, frantic, fun . . . this is a great and unique experience.  The theme works perfectly.  The real-time aspect of it is exciting and stressful (in a good way).  It's simple enough to be doable in 10 minutes, but varied enough that it's no guarantee.  And it's fun for solo players, too (a rarity in board games).  It's more of a party game than anything- and a good one at that.

Rating: A