Mr Hasselhoff Will See You Now
What do a hairdressing, David Hasselhoff and an earthquake have in common? Come and find out. You will be immersed in the extraordinary story of Remigio, the celebrity hairdresser. An experience full of surprises, tension and humour.
When we visited Barcelona in January 2025, the staff at every venue we played asked us about our trip to the city, but also told us we absolutely had to go to Valencia, and specifically to play La Peluquería (or, as it’s translated on The X-Door’s website, The Hairdressing). We don’t really need much encouragement to book an escape room holiday, especially for a game that was ranked within the top 15 games on TERPECA for two years running, and only dropping to number 40 in 2025. So needless to say, when we spotted a decent deal on flights, it was a no-brainer to get out of the rainy UK, and head to Spain.
When we book a break that revolves around escape rooms, we often like to book the highest rated game for the last day, and preferably as the last game, of our trip. So, by the time our appointment for The Hairdressing rolled around, we had already played quite a few games over the week, and we were looking forward to seeing what all the hype was about. We had hoped to play all of the games at The X-Door, but the time slots didn’t work out for the Dark Years, and instead we only had time for The Last Dragon and La Peluquería (The Hairdressing).
Spanish games are very fond of a cold start, and The X-Door follows that trend, although there is a moment to deposit belongings in lockers and visit the toilets if required. We did skip a bit of this, due to playing The Last Dragon first, but it was no surprise when our contact arrived to give us the low down on our mission, and lead us to the Hairdresser, where we finally met Remigo, and settled in for our haircuts.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
There are many words one could use to describe La Peluquería, but the one that predominately springs to mind is “Bonkers.” This game was just silly, but in an absolutely wonderful way. And X-Door have really committed to the bit, making everything just that much more delightful. But ignoring the humorous aspects, and the absolutely absurd narrative, La Peluquería is also beautiful. The set is stunning, and full of surprises. In fact, there were so many surprises in store for players that La Peluquería felt like a game of two halves, with each half distinctly different from each other. Just when we thought we were approaching the end, there was a dramatic shift, and into the second half of the story.
La Peluquería is silly, but it also works. You want to follow the story, if only to see what wild thing happens next. The game tests not only your brains, but also your agility, and packs so much into 90 minutes, that it is almost nonstop. Even after the initial shift into second gear, there are still so many moments where you think, “This is it!” but then it keeps going.
PUZZLES
One thing is certain, La Peluquería doesn’t suffer from a lack of content. This is a game of two halves, but this is true regardless of where you are in your journey. Throughout the first half of the game there were plenty of puzzles to keep our experienced team of four busy. Many were variations on classic escape room tropes, but there were plenty of clever moments, and while they were well sign posted, they were by no means easy. With the volume of puzzles on offer, the game set a quick pace that had us excitedly flitting from one challenge to the next, thoroughly enjoying each reveal. The second half of the game was far more focused on the adventure, and silliness of the game, but was still by no means lacking in content, but for us there were a few points that just didn’t click.
Once the game took its rather dramatic turn, whilst the vast majority of the puzzles were just as well designed as the start, there were two that stood out, and not in a good way. One such puzzle just killed the flow. We knew exactly what we needed to do, and it was the only thing we could do, but because we had been quick in other parts, the timing wasn’t right for us to do it, causing the pace to just take a dive. The other was a “puzzle” (and I use that term very loosely) that just doesn’t really work, at least not well for international visitors.
Fortunately, there was a work around for this, but it’s a very dubious thing to include in a game, (especially one that by its very nature is supposed to be able to be solved without any outside knowledge) without any forewarning. In fact, I dislike its inclusion in this game so much that I’m breaking our rules and including a spoiler about this “puzzle” at the bottom of this section, just in case you want to be forewarned. Now in all fairness, perhaps the problems presented by this task aren’t actually a problem for the local Spanish teams, but for international players it is potentially a massive hurdle, and The X-Door would actually be far better off redesigning this, rather than working around it in the way that they did for us.
**CLICK TO REVEAL POTENTIAL SPOILER**
The dubious puzzle in question involved knowing a phone number. And it’s not a number that you find in the room. No, it’s any number you know. Now, 25 years ago, this would not have been a problem – I knew every single one of my friends’ numbers by heart. But since one can now store numbers in the memory of one’s mobile, the only phone numbers I know off the top of my head would have either connected to a phone sitting in a locker in the lobby, or to someone that was anywhere between one and seven time zones behind and, in my case, would have assumed that I was calling because someone was dead. (I’m ashamed to admit that is pretty much the only time I actually pick up the phone to initiate a call outside of the holidays.) Nor would any of my family actually have been able to answer the question I needed them to in the time limit we were given. Add to that the fact that it would have been an international call, and it was just a recipe for disaster.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
The website gives very little away with regards to the story, although it does an excellent job of teasing just some of the silliness you’ll encounter, but needless to say, our host was paramount to an excellent experience. Yes, there is a live actor in La Peluquería, but unlike many such games throughout Spain, this is not a horror experience. X-Door do class it as “Tension,” but it isn’t scary. The performance by our host, Arthur, was excellent, adding to the drama, and of course, the humour.
Of course clues were available, and the method of delivery fit well within the story. And when we did find ourselves in need of help, it was provided quickly. In fact, our only issues with the hosting arose from the fact that we are a rather quick team, making it difficult for Arthur to keep up and be ready for the next bit, causing us to wait and the pace to slow to a crawl in some places.
ANYTHING ELSE
For me, La Peluquería perhaps suffered a bit from all of the hype we encountered for it both in Barcelona and Valencia, but even with that, it was still a ridiculously fun time. Irreverent, full of puzzles, and more adventure than I’ve ever had at a hairdresser’s before, this is definitely a game that’s worth a visit.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 4 Players – 20 mins remaining
Address: Carrer del Literat Gabriel Miró, 25, Extramurs, 46008 València, Valencia, Spain
Website: http://www.thexdoor.com/
Leave a Reply