Bubble Tea [竹本家]

Stupid Particle - Taipei Baoqing Branch (Taipei, Taiwan)

Time limit: 60 minutes

Age limit: Under 12 requires adult

Player limit: 5-6

Difficulty: Hard

Date visited: April 2026

Our final game on this Taiwan trip was the famous Bubble Tea [竹本家] room at Stupid Particle! I had heard good things about this quintessential Taiwanese escape room, but was somewhat concerned because it's apparently very difficult for foreign players due to having a significant amount of reading. With 5 players being the minimum (I'm not sure why other than for economic reasons; the Taichung replica of the room only requires 4), I brought my mother along to make up the numbers and to provide an extra pair of Chinese-reading eyes. My thoughts:

• Bubble Tea was a lot of fun! The story revolves around a 30-year-old bubble tea shop called "Zhu Ben Jia" (the game's Chinese name), currently being run by three brothers after their father and founder of the store passed away. However, there appears to be a saboteur in the mix amid reports of food safety issues...

• As workers, we started off in the back of the store and had to solve an assortment of mimetic puzzles ranging from cleaning and stocking to even making a (non-drinkable) bubble tea!

• With a bubble tea store theme, there wasn't much hi-tech wizardry or special effects, though I enjoyed the old-school nature of the puzzles and how they utilised various media such as audio, posters, newspapers, video, and even a smartphone. Yes, this was a rare game where players had to bring at least one phone into the room.

• Unfortunately, there was indeed a lot of reading involved, as well as some listening. We were lucky my mother came along, as I don't think we could have finished the room without a second Chinese reader. That said, she nearly prevented us from finishing in time as she really struggled to crawl through a low opening and wasted almost a full minute when the time was really ticking down lol.

• We felt the room was rather difficult not just because of the reading involved, but also the complex logical deductions and mathematical calculations we needed to do without any writing apparatus at hand. Astute observations and attention to detail were also essential. We ended up getting a couple of unprompted hints from our GM through a very-difficult-to-hear walkie talkie and had to ask for a clue in the final section in order to get over the line with only 30 seconds to go. This was apparently a solid effort as even many local teams fail to finish.

• As usual, Stupid Particle did a great job creating a mystery around the narrative that we had to figure out through the storytelling and puzzles. As we managed to complete the game in time, we were shown a touching video with the "good" ending.

Escape time: 59 minutes and 30 seconds

Theming	Atmosphere	Puzzles	Creativity	Fun
B	B	A-	A	A-

Verdict: Hard to imagine an escape room in Taiwan more Taiwanese than a bubble tea room! While quite plain in terms of decor and tech effects, I would recommend it to any visiting team with at least two Chinese readers simply for the novelty and storytelling.

OVERALL RANK:

H	E	Z	J
A-	B	B	B