A future TERPECA winner? It should be.
The master has been enjoying his retirement in his humble tea shop for a long time.
But now he needs your help.
Are you prepared?
Generally when we plan our escape room holidays, we turn to the TERPECA Room Finder to help us plan it. As good as this list is, it’s limited in that it only reflects last year’s awards and any games that have opened since will not be on it.
Fortunately for us, we’re part of a TERPECA group chat, and before we went, I asked for any recommendations for games that could be TERPECA worthy. There was simply one recommendation that came back, Miyagi’s Team Room. (Turns out hey were right. Miyagi’s Tea Room made its debut in the 2025 TERPECA rankings at a very impressive #17)
I grew up with the Karate Kid movies, and Mr Miyagi was, and still is, a bit of a hero to me (he taught me how to clean a car and paint a fence). So playing a game that was themed around Mr Miyagi was too good to pass up. It was a no-brainer we were going to book in – spoiler alert – I’m so glad we did!
We arrived at a very convincing looking tea shop at the time of our slot. Unfortunately they had a slight issue so we were delayed for ten minutes, but even this was handled perfectly in character. After the ten minutes was up, we were greeted by our host, given instructions, and we entered the tea room.
Inside the room we received our briefing from Mr Miyagi himself, and with our mission clear in our minds, we locked away our personal possessions in the cupboard provided. With this, Mr Miyagi went for a nap, and we got started on our very important mission.
It’s worth noting with this game that although there is a bathroom, you can’t use it before starting the game. I believe it does become available during the game itself, but best to make sure you don’t need the bathroom before you arrive.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
The immersion for this game began well before we even arrived in Valencia, thanks to the WhatsApp messages from Don Escape/Mr Miyagi. These messages not only enabled us to book our game, but also set the tone for the humour we were going to encounter – animated gifs are a wonderful thing.
One day I would like to visit Japan, but for now I have to settle for experiences like Miyagi’s Tea Room – and to be honest, that’s not a bad compromise. All of the areas we encountered in the tea room were lovely, and one area in particular I thought was beautiful and I would have gladly spent more time there.
Every area was there to progress and enhance the story, and captured aspects of the Japanese culture that one often reads about. There were even little plaques of information throughout the game that served no other purpose than education. Ambient noises and music helped to deepen the immersion and convince us that we were actually in Japan, and nothing felt out of place. There was also one moment that was subtle and would have been very easy to miss, but added to the magic of the room perfectly.
I’m not sure how accessible this game would be. There is a step to get in and then a large step in the game. There is also one area where at least one member of the team would need to be a little more mobile. If accessibility is a concern, contact the venue to double check, as if you can play this game, you really should.
PUZZLES
This game was chock full of puzzles, and kept our team of four busy throughout. At times the game was linear, other times it was multi-linear, but there were many points that brought us all back together to experience something that inevitably was there to drive the narrative forward.
I can’t think of any puzzle in this game that I didn’t like; observation, teamwork, communication, audio, following directions, wordplay, logic, and searching – basically all of the good stuff and none of the bad. Each puzzle was improved by how it perfectly belonged in the design of the game, and how it made sense. Diegetic puzzle design at its finest.
I’d love to write more about the puzzles, but really, there’s no need. They were great, enjoyable, and a delight. Ok, I made one puzzle a little harder for the team by being a tad too eager, but we all make mistakes, right?
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Our host was the one and only Mr Miyagi, although of course there was a man behind the mask (RIP Pat Morita), and that man was Roger. Roger played the role of Mr Miyagi perfectly, and interjected as and when needed. If we needed help, it came over a speaker system, in character, from Mr Miyagi.
The role of the gamesmaster in this game went beyond simply giving help. He was there to drive the narrative of the story, and at times add some extra humour to the experience. One could argue that this game had two finales, and each one was great in their own way – simply delightful.
ANYTHING ELSE
I probably need to think about what was my favourite game in Valencia, but I’m pretty sure it was Miyagi’s Tea Room. This game had a beautiful set, great humour, excellent hosting, and enjoyable puzzles – plus, Mr Miyagi! What’s not to love?
Although we have seen all of the Karate Kid movies (even the 2010 film, sadly), and the Cobra Kai series, there was no outside knowledge needed and you definitely don’t need to have watched any of that to have a great time.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 4 Players
Address: C/ de Polo y Peyrolón, 13, El Pla del Real, 46021 València, Valencia, Spain
Website: https://www.donescape.es/
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