I Played Squid Game IRL With 5 Friends And Nobody Got Eliminated (Emotionally, Anyway)

 Immersive Gamebox turns a single room into a full-on video game, and my group of six was the perfect size to take it on.

Immersive Gamebox is part arcade, part escape room, part “why didn’t this exist when I was a kid.” You and your crew get your own private box where the walls, floor, and tech react to your movement and touch. No gaming experience needed, which is good, because I’m not sure any of us would have qualified.

It’s also private. You never get paired with strangers, even if there are only two of you.

You show up about 10 minutes early to check in, and there are free lockers for your stuff. Then you grab a visor, which you wear like a hat for the whole game. Mine made me feel like an extra in a sci-fi movie, and I loved it. Drinks can be brought straight to the box, which is a flex I didn’t know I needed mid-game.

Boxes max out at 6 players, so my crew of six filled one perfectly.

Game 1: Squid Game

This is the Top Pick and also one of the hardest on the menu, so naturally we started there. You take on six challenges from the Netflix show, and yes, that means the games you’re picturing right now. Within minutes, six adults who share group chat memes were fully sweating over a children’s game.

The best part is how seriously everyone starts taking it. Friendships were tested. Trash talk happened. Someone suddenly became very competitive about something that, in real life, they’d never care about.

Game 2: Escape AI

After all that chaos, Escape AI felt like a totally different mood. It’s billed as the world’s first immersive escape room, and it’s a “brain buster” where you work together to solve the mystery behind an eccentric inventor’s disappearance. It’s a bit lower on the difficulty scale than Squid Game, but it asks a different muscle of you. Instead of reflexes and nerves, it’s communication and “wait, does anyone have the thing?”

Squid Game made us yell. Escape AI made us whisper-argue. Both are valid.

The experience is perfect for

✅ Friend groups who want something more interactive than dinner and drinks.

✅ Anyone who loves the idea of an escape room but wants more movement.

✅ Birthday plans, work socials, or date nights, since the games scale up and down in difficulty.

❌ Skip it if you want a quiet, sit-down hang. This is loud, physical, and a little ridiculous.

Immersive Gamebox is the rare group activity that works for people who say “I’m not really a gamer” and for the one friend who absolutely is. Play Squid Game when you want chaos and Escape AI when you want to feel clever. Better yet, book both, as we did, and see which friend turns into a villain.

Midtown’s Latin Steakhouse Is Quietly Running The Show Near Rockefeller Center

 Inside Amasa, where Peruvian flavors and big steakhouse energy share a dining room.

Tucked into the ground floor of the Kimpton Era Hotel, steps from Rockefeller Center and Radio City, Amasa is a contemporary Latin steakhouse from chef Christopher Loeffl that takes time-honored Latin American cooking techniques and gives them a modern, polished glow-up. The space itself does a lot of talking before the food even arrives: moody lighting, a statement bar, and a dining room that splits the difference between "business dinner" and "date night that's going surprisingly well."

We started with the Papa Rellena — a stuffed potato croquette packed with braised short rib and draped in huancaína sauce — which is basically what would happen if a steakhouse and a Peruvian abuela's kitchen had a baby. Crispy shell, rich, falling-apart beef inside, and that creamy, slightly spicy huancaína tying it all together. 10/10 start.

The Grilled Octopus followed, paired with heirloom potatoes, chipotle aioli, and a bright herb salad — tender octopus with just enough char, and the chipotle aioli bringing a smoky kick that kept things from feeling too delicate.

Then came the Peruvian Roasted Chicken — a half chicken marinated for 48 hours in garlic, herbs, and chili, served with papa fritas, mixed greens, and ají verde sauce. This is the kind of chicken that makes you side-eye every other roast chicken you've ever had. Juicy, deeply seasoned all the way through, and the ají verde is doing dangerously addictive things.

And then, the headliner: the 16oz Ribeye topped with Crab Oscar — crab, asparagus, and béarnaise piled on top of a perfectly cooked ribeye. It's a lot, in the best way — the richness of the crab and béarnaise on top of an already-great cut of beef is a full sensory event. Steakhouse classic, Latin steakhouse execution.

Amasa isn't trying to be a straightforward steakhouse or a straightforward Latin restaurant — it's doing both at once, and doing it well. If you're in Midtown and want steakhouse heft with way more personality than the neighborhood usually offers, this is the move.

I Got Locked In A 1950s Prison And Almost Lost My Mind (10/10, Would Be Wrongfully Convicted Again)

 The Escape Game NYC’s Prison Break is billed as their toughest room, and I can confirm it did not come to play.

First, the premise

You didn't do it. Obviously. But you are serving time at Iron Gate, a 1950s prison run by a warden who treats inmates like pawns in his own personal chess match. Today he's offering you a shot at freedom, and you have exactly 60 minutes to take it.

I walked in feeling like the main character of a heist movie. I walked out humbled.

The split-up start is NOT a drill

Most escape rooms ease you in. This one separates your team into two different prison cells right away, so you're solving blind while your friends are on the other side of a wall doing who knows what. Communication becomes a survival skill. I have never yelled "WHAT DOES YOURS SAY?" so many times in a row.

The set design is chef's kiss

Iron bars, striped uniforms, a tiny mirror on the wall, and a stack of books that includes 1984 (the room is not subtle, and I love that for it). It looks and feels like an actual prison. The details held up when I got close, which is the real test of a good set.

The puzzles will test your friendships

The game is rated 9/10 difficulty, and I felt every point of that. You decipher clues, crawl through secret passages, move through a utility hall, and eventually reach the warden's office. Each stage felt like a new level in a video game, and the chess theme gives it a "he's three moves ahead of me" energy that kept me on edge. There's a lot of "wait, are we being dumb?" followed by "oh. OH." Peak group-chat material.

Who should (and shouldn't) book this

✅ Book it if you're a seasoned escape room person who's bored of the beginner stuff, or you want a team bonding activity where everyone has to participate.

❌ Skip it for your first-ever escape room. Start with an easier game, then work your way up to this one.

Prison Break is a fantastic, stressful, brilliantly designed hour that will make you appreciate the people you're trapped with, and also quietly judge a few of them. Bring your most observant friends, and maybe a snack for afterward. You'll need it.