Parlour Nouveau

An 8-Week Game Installation at Serpentine Cider & Smokehouse

The Card Game Escape Room

Hundreds of handcrafted wooden parts. An Experimental One-Hour Live Show and Immersion, with a full card game, puzzle boxes, and mini-games. Let's play a whole new game.

The Pitch:

Parlour Nouveau is not, in technical fact, an escape room. Yes, it has hand-crafted puzzle boxes we built at our in-house fabrication shop. Yes, there is a live Puzzlemaster who will offer hints if you wish. Yes, we are an escape room company. San Diego's first, in fact. If you love escape rooms, you will adore this, as it is an iteration on the formula.

This Game is Weird.

If you are reading this, you are the sort of person who has the time and patience to consider playing what may be the most elaborate card game known to the greater Tri-state area. And this area includes LA and Las Vegas.

This is a one-hour tableau-building score-attack game, with an in-game currency, shop, and a Balatro-inspired co-operative card game.
If you ever wanted to play Inscryption in real life, this is not that. But it's the closest you can legally get. Also, consider seeing a psychotherapist.

This is an escape room with a fully-fledged card game built into the core mechanics. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just know that if you like modern board games at all, you are very likely to like this.

It's the most hipster thing we've ever made and I'm not sorry about it.

The game itself isn't complicated: If you can handle a game like Scrabble, you can play this game. The rules of how to play are discovered as you play more of it. But as you get better at understanding the game and nuances of the room, more and more goodies reveal themselves.

An Escape Room-Related Hosted Game & Drink

You and up to 5 of your friends in a highly-themed one-hour puzzle/card game.

One hour timer

2-6 players

A glass of hard cider

Hand-crafted puzzle boxes

A collaborative card game

An IRL Deck-builder

A Hosted "Rolling Start" Tutorial

Reserve Your Session Today.

Getting a Headcount is not necessary:
All sessions are private, and accept 2-6 players.

Only available this Summer for 8 weekends.

$55 Per Player, all reservations good for 2-6 players. Includes Cider.

Teams of 2 not recommended, but we will not charge you extra for 2 players.

Confused? Questions? Excellent. It's working. 619-520-3644 if you would like a detailed explanation.

ChangeLog

Practical FAQ

What is it?

The short answer is that it's a live hosted elaborate card game mixed with an escape room.

What is the long answer?

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See the above scrolling marquee.

Is there a minimum age?

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This game is designed for ages 12 and up, and is recommended for 14 and up. If you elect to bring minors, please be advised we will not be serving them alcohol.

Is this game ADA-friendly?

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The game takes place in an ADA-accessible bar, at a single table that is at bar-height, on backless bar chairs. The game is hosted by a human who will see you and do everything in their power to include everyone. If you can't sit in the stool, it may be a bit more difficult to play, but we will work something out to include you.

Price? Parking? Cancellation?

Price is $55 per person. There's on-site parking. Free amusement for early arrivals is available. Cancellation forfeits the $55 deposit. If you need to re-schedule or cancel, call the phone number that came with your reservation.

Am I required to drink Cider?

We are not legally permitted to hold you down and force you to drink alcohol. That is a different, more expensive service.
There are non-alcoholic options available.

How do reservations work?

Booking reserves a private time slot, and pays for one player. Everyone else pays in-person at the event, and it is not important for you to keep us updated as to the number of players unless it goes over six.

How long is the Game?

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One hour. Plan on additional time for pre-and post game relaxation.

Is there food?

Food is available during gameplay.

What is expected of me?

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Nothing except your friends are required. You will be provided everything you need. If you use reading glasses, you should bring them.

Can I book a session without giving you any personal information?

We of course respect your desire to maximize your privacy. Give us a call/leave a message at 619-520-3644, leave us a way to contact you, and we'll give you a booking so long as it's on a weekend. We accept cash in-person.

Can I date the Puzzlemaster?

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Buy them a cider and we'll talk.

Additional Information only for Enthusiasts

The Story of Parlour Nouveau:

Years ago, before the great plague, Puzzalarium opened a very special Escape Room. It was called The Parlour, and it was a successful evolution of what an Escape Room can be.

This unique Escape Room, a blending of in-person theater, puzzles, and board game based resource management, was to the best of our knowledge the only escape room in the city to win awards for the design of the game specifically.

But I had a problem with it.

The Parlour was an escape room, yes. But it was also, nominally, a card game. You played cards with a live actor. If you won, you earned coins, which you would use to buy more puzzles and more games to win. There was a dirty secret though:

The cards were a lie.

The cards only served as an elaborate combination lock to enter the answers to puzzles in the room. The game wasn't really a game. There was no strategy. After a brief transference to another escape room, the entire room was lost.

This changes now.

This game, if it goes well over this two-month trial run, will be the next evolution of interactive entertainment. This is going to be, in essence, a hosted board game with ultra-premium props and components.

Thank you for your interest! Your support is greatly appreciated.

Gameplay iFAQ

Infrequently Asked Questions.
The following information is only intended for nerds.

How would you classify this game?

A Tableau or combo builder, technically.

What is Parlour Nouveau's Design Heritage?

Parlour Nouveau is basically Parlour 2: This is what we meant Edition Ft. Balatro. In order of most to least significant, the game draws from:

Our own previous room, The Parlour
The video game Balatro
Video Poker
Deck-Building Gameplay such as Dominion
The Room by Fireproof Games

How do you actually play the game?

The exact rules will of course be explained in-person, but if you are the sort of person who loves to know everything there is to know about a thing first, then here's a brief summary of the rules you may study and strategize with ahead of time:

The object of the game is to, as a team, score as many chips as you can in a one hour session.
Poker d'Tessa is a cooperative game about building poker hands. The more and better poker hands that can be created, the more chips that can be won from each round.
There will be an in-game store, with various items available for purchase with chips.
The store will contain puzzles and items that boost how much you score.
If a puzzle is solved, it will award a selection of items that allow you greater flexibility to play the game.
Checking the ChangeLog will give you a hint as to how many extra secrets there are to find in a given version.
Hints are available at a cost of 2 coins.

What's the endgame here?

An entire room full of tables like this with multiple Puzzlemasters and teams all playing at once. Think of a Casino/themed bar except instead of stealing your money, it's just really good fun.

Can I have Parlour Nouveau at my place of business?

Parlour Nouveau is actually designed to be mobile. It can be installed at any suitable location, if we work out a good agreement. Contact us for details!

What's the best team composition?

So far, the most successful teams have been at least two players who love Optimization Puzzles, and at least two players who love traditional Escape Room-y puzzles.

Any tips for booking?

The last session of the evening is the best session. You run a higher risk of starting late, but you will get to stay after closing and talk about behind-the-scenes details about Parlour Nouveau and Game Design.

Do larger teams get an advantage?

As of the time of writing, objectively yes. Not sure how to fix this other than to note the team size on the Leaderboards. We're looking into balancing options, but the game is still quite fun at 3 players. 2 player teams can work if they regularly love playing complex games together and are aggressive with hints. For the love of God, don't take a first date to this, or any escape room for that matter.

Credits:

Concept
Game Design
Electronics and Software
Woodworking
Workshop Assistant
Web Design Work
Choosing the Background Color

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Streeper
Streeper & Jason Eldred
Jason Eldred
Streeper
Juniper
Streeper
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Special Thanks to:

ScreenMobile of El Cajon, Serpentine Cider and Smokehouse, the EsCon Boardgame Convention (specifically Steve), Dwight Chia, our playtesters, our fans for helping us crowdfund a laser cutter, and the Streeper Family.

_{The Puzzalarium has no affiliation with the game Balatro, which is ©2024 LocalThunk and Playstack Games. They don't know we exist, but from what we can tell, LocalThunk seems like a pretty chill guy.}