Which Escape Game Is Right for Your Family? We Put Ruins: Forbidden Treasure to the Teen Test
- Tamir Rosenblum
- Aug 12
- 7 min read
When parents look for things to do in New York City with kids, escape rooms often end up on the list.
But “escape room” doesn't tell you very much. A 10-year-old who loves searching for hidden objects may have a completely different experience from a 15-year-old who wants difficult puzzles. One child may immediately take charge, while another hangs back until there's something physical to explore. And a game that's perfect for a family trying its first escape room may be far too easy for teenagers who have done five of them.
So when we visited The Escape Game NYC, we weren't only interested in whether the game was fun. We wanted to see who it was fun for and why.
We brought a group of teens to Ruins: Forbidden Treasure at the Times Square location and watched what happened once the door closed and the clock started.
The Game We Tested: Ruins: Forbidden Treasure
The premise is straight out of an adventure movie. Your plane has crashed in a remote jungle near the ancient Ehlari Ruins. Somewhere inside is a legendary treasure that generations of explorers have tried and failed to find.
You have 60 minutes. 😬
We won't tell you much more about what happens because discovering the environment is a big part of the experience. What we can tell you is that this is not simply a room filled with locks. You search, notice details, connect clues, experiment with things in the environment and gradually uncover new parts of the adventure. And that gave us something much more interesting to watch than whether our teens could solve the puzzles.
What We Were Watching
When FunDay evaluates an experience, we're looking beyond “Did the kids have fun?”
We're looking at how they participate. And Ruins gave us plenty to watch.
Some of our teens immediately started searching the room. Others wanted to understand the logic behind every clue. Someone would discover something and suddenly everyone would gather around it.
There were theories.
There were disagreements.
There were very confident theories that lasted approximately 30 seconds.
And then there was that moment every parent of teenagers recognizes: they completely forgot the adults were there.
That's usually a very good sign.
The problem-solvers
These were the kids trying to connect one clue to another and understand how everything fit together.
Ruins gives them plenty to work with without making the entire experience dependent on one type of puzzle.
The explorers
These were the kids touching, looking, checking corners and wondering whether something everyone else ignored might matter.
In this game, that instinct is useful.
The communicators
Escape rooms reward the kid who says, “Wait, I found something over here.”
A clue that makes no sense to one person may immediately connect to something another player discovered.
The quieter kid
This was an important one for us.
An experience doesn't have to reward only the loudest or fastest person in the family.
Because players can search different parts of the environment and notice different details, there are opportunities to contribute without having to take control of the group.
That makes Ruins particularly interesting for families with different personalities.
The Family Fit: Where Ruins Works Best
The official difficulty for Ruins in NYC is 6/10, with up to eight players and a 60-minute game time. For us, that difficulty level is actually part of its family appeal.
It provides enough challenge that solving something feels satisfying, but it doesn't require everyone in the group to be an experienced escape-room player.
Strong fit
Ruins: Forbidden Treasure is a great fit for kids who love mysteries, treasure hunts, puzzles, exploring, and finding hidden details. The experience is immersive, interactive, adventurous, and focused on problem-solving, with everyone working together rather than competing against each other. It’s also a good introduction for families trying an escape room for the first time, while still feeling challenging and engaging for teens. For mixed-age families, younger kids can get involved by searching and exploring, while older kids and adults can tackle some of the more complicated puzzles and connections.
What About Ages?
Age alone doesn't determine whether a child will enjoy an escape room, but it does change how they are likely to experience it.
Ages 8–12
At this age, we would focus less on whether they can solve every puzzle independently.
They don't need to.
Searching the environment, spotting details, discovering hidden elements and contributing pieces of information can make them feel genuinely involved.
A curious 9-year-old who loves treasure hunts may actually get more out of Ruins than an older child who dislikes puzzles.
Ages 13–17
This was the group we tested, and it's a particularly strong age range for the experience.
Teenagers can work much more independently, develop their own theories and take ownership of solving parts of the game.
More importantly, it gives them something active to do together.
They're not following parents around an attraction.
They're part of the team.
One Thing Parents Should Decide Before Going In
How competitive is your family?
Not with each other. With the clock.
Some families will want to solve everything themselves and use as few hints as possible.
Others would rather take a hint than spend 15 minutes staring at the same clue.
The Escape Game offers unlimited hints without penalties, which we think is particularly useful for families.
Our advice? Don't turn refusing hints into a matter of family honor.
Being stuck for a few minutes is part of the fun. Being stuck long enough that everyone becomes irritated with the person who insists they're “very close” is not.
Which Escape Game Will Your Kids Love Most?
This is where choosing an escape room gets more interesting.
The Escape Game currently has 11 different games across its two NYC locations, and they aren't interchangeable.
If your kids have a very different personality from the group we just described, another game may actually be the better choice.
If your child wants the hardest challenge: Prison Break | 9/10 difficulty
The group begins separated into prison cells and has to escape a 1950s prison.
We'd look at this for experienced escape-room families, puzzle-driven older teens and kids who specifically want to be challenged.
If your child loves spies and secret missions: Special Ops: Mysterious Market | 8/10 difficulty
A spy mission grows into an international crisis involving coded messages, hidden rooms and a race to stop a global disaster.
This sounds like a particularly strong match for teens who enjoy mysteries, strategy and mission-based games.
If your child is fascinated by space: Cosmic Crisis | 7/10 difficulty
A science-fiction adventure involving a threat to the galaxy and a highly visual environment.
We'd consider this for kids drawn to space, technology and futuristic experiences.
If your child loves history and time travel: Timeliner: Train Through Time | 7/10 difficulty
Players travel through different periods to repair a broken timeline.
The game combines traditional puzzle elements with technology, which makes it an interesting choice for kids who enjoy history, science fiction and figuring out connections.
If your child loves science and underwater exploration: The Depths | 7/10 difficulty
Your team investigates an underwater laboratory after its researcher disappears.
This one stands out for kids interested in submarines, science, exploration and mystery.
If you have younger kids or a bigger family: Playground | 6/10 difficulty | Up to 12 players
This is the one we'd investigate first for larger groups and families with younger children.
The setting moves through a classroom, playground and field house, with multiple things for players to work on.
If your child loves a classic treasure hunt: Gold Rush | 7/10 difficulty
A more traditional treasure-hunting adventure and another good option for first-time players.
If your teen wants a heist movie: The Heist | 8/10 difficulty
The mission revolves around recovering a stolen piece of art.
Think detective work and pulling off a mission rather than jungle exploration.
If your child wants another big adventure: Legend of the Yeti | 8/10 difficulty
This time you're heading into the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.
A better fit for adventurous kids who want a stronger challenge than Ruins.
So How Would We Choose?
Don't start with: “Which escape room has the best reviews?”
Start with your kids.
Do they like solving difficult problems?
Do they like searching and discovering?
Do they want something adventurous or funny?
Will they enjoy working together?
Are they experienced enough to want a 9/10 challenge, or would that turn an hour of family fun into an hour of frustration?
What kind of experience gets your particular child involved?
That's the question we think parents should be able to answer before spending part of a vacation and a significant amount of money on an attraction.
That's Also Why We Built FunDay
Most travel sites are very good at telling parents what exists.
An attraction has five stars. It's indoors. It takes an hour. It's “good for kids.”
But families aren't interchangeable.
A great experience for a highly active 9-year-old may be completely wrong for another 9-year-old. A teenager who loves puzzles may happily spend an hour trying to escape a prison cell, while another would much rather compete on a game-show stage.
At FunDay, we look at experiences through a family travel lens.
We break down things parents actually need when deciding whether something belongs in their trip: recommended ages, experience style, how kids participate, the type of child it's likely to engage, family dynamics, practical considerations and overall Family Fit.
That's why our review of Ruins isn't simply: We liked it. Go.
We want you to understand why we liked it, which kids we think will love it, and when another experience might be the better choice.
Because the goal isn't to find the highest-rated things to do in New York.
It's to find the experiences that fit your family.
Our FunDay Take on Ruins: Forbidden Treasure
For families with tweens and teens, particularly those who enjoy puzzles, mysteries, exploration and working together, Ruins: Forbidden Treasure is a strong Family Fit.
We especially like it for first-time escape-room families because the 6/10 difficulty leaves room for challenge without making difficulty the entire experience.
But our favorite part had nothing to do with whether our teens escaped.
It was watching different personalities find different ways into the game.
One searched.
One solved.
One connected something nobody else had noticed.
And pretty quickly, they were no longer a group of teenagers we had brought somewhere to evaluate an experience.
They were a team trying to find a treasure. That's the difference we look for.
Comments