Parlour Nouveau

An 8-Week Game Installation at Serpentine Cider

Puzzle Bar

An Escape Room-Related Live Game Experience

One hour timer

2-6 players

A glass of hard cider

Hand-crafted puzzle boxes

A collaborative card game

An IRL Deck-builder

Welcome to the next evolution of Escape Rooms.

Ten years ago, Puzzalarium opened the first Escape Room in San Diego. And we are ready to evolve the format yet again.

This is an escape room with a fully-fledged card game built into the core mechanics, which has food and drink built into the room.

There's a live actor that you will be interacting with directly.

You've never played a game like this before.

Practical FAQ

What is it?

The short answer is that it's an Escape Room with a live actor, in a bar, that comes with cider and a souvenir.

What is the long answer?

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See the above scrolling marquee.

Is there a minimum age?

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While the game itself does not have any restrictions, it does take place in a bar, and as such we must enforce a 21 and up age restriction.

Is this game ADA-friendly?

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The game takes place at a single table

Price? Parking? Cancellation?

Price is $55 per person. There's on-site parking. Free amusement for early arrivals is available. Cancellation forefits 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?

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We are not legally permitted to hold you down and force you to drink alchohol. That is a different, more expensive service.
There are non-alchoholic options available, and you can order some food instead.

How do reservations work?

Booking reserves a private timeslot, 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 save friends and a valid driver's license are required. You will be provided everything you need.

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 transferrance to another escape room, the entire room was lost.

This changes now.

Gameplay iFAQ

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

I hate the color you chose for this background.

That's not a question. But fine. Refresh the page.

How would you classify this game?

This is a co-operative deck-building economy-driven puzzle game, performed by a live actor that does card flourishes, featuring a save-game system that permits replay.

What is Parlour Nouveau's Design Heritage?

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, (And if not, then frankly you have read entirely too far on this page already...)
then here's a brief summary of the rules:

The object of the game is to, as a team, score as many Gems (Victory Points) as possible in a 1 hour period.
Gems are won by playing rounds of Poker d'Tessa: A special variant of Poker whose rules are explaned on a seperate, secret page of this website.
Players will start with a standard deck of 52 cards and three coins.
Once every ten minutes, players may play a round of Poker d'Tessa. If a round is started, all players must play the game.
Poker d'Tessa is a game about building poker hands. The more and better poker hands that can be created, the more Gems that can be won from Poker d'Tessa