Review: Bam Kazam in Scottsdale, AZ

A fun new "Escape Park" just opened up in Scottsdale this year, called Bam Kazam.  I stumbled across the place looking up escape rooms for when I was in Scottsdale this past weekend and was intrigued to hear about a place that offered an extended experience.  I don't usually write reviews about places I visit like this, but I had so much fun that I had to share and let my friends know so that they can check it out!

I describe Bam Kazam as an "Escape Park", but they call it a "Human Arcade".  Basically there are various themed games and each game takes up a section of the building.  Each game has 3 levels inside, where each level is basically a room.  You have to clear the first room to get to the next and so forth to finish a game.  If you fail in any room, you have to exit fully and start over at the beginning, just like a retro video game.  You can attempt each game as many times as you like until you are successful in completing all 6 games (a total of 18 rooms).

Each level can be completed in about 1-3 minutes and if you don't figure out the solution within 3-5 minutes, you will fail, so you also have to be quick.  The games have a mixture of puzzles that require both physical activity and mental acuity.  It's really unlike anything I've ever tried and I'd say they're way more fun than your conventional escape room.

My group consisted of 4 people and we booked 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon.  (Groups are a minimum of 3 people and a maximum of 6 people and there are clearly reasons why it's these numbers).  There are other groups there, so you might have to wait a short while for a room to open up, but we were always busy going back and forth between games.  The games were also really challenging and in fact, we only fully solved 1 game out of the 6 and in two games we didn't even get past the first level...

For $35 a person, you get 2 hours to explore and try the games.  I honestly don't think 2 hours was enough time to do everything successfully, but my guess is that they made it difficult so that you will come back to try again.

The place has grown steadily in just 4 months.  They had 4 games in August, 6 games as of October, and they are building 2 more games that should be ready by the end of the year.  That's 24 unique and challenging rooms!

I can't recommend this place enough for anyone living in or visiting Scottsdale, it's sooo much fun!  I can't wait to go back and I'll probably book 4 hours so I can try and solve everything the next time.  It's family friendly too, although I imagine if the kids are less than the age of 12, they might struggle or even one kid found the haunted game way too scary.  You also might struggle to make it through the physical rooms if you are very out of shape, overly obese, or don't have people in your group who can climb awkward structures well.  Some rooms are clearly not intended for senior citizens either.

Check out their website at: https://bamkazam.com and enjoy a new and unique experience!

Playstation 5!

So I finally got my hands on a PlayStation 5, but how I did it was not very common (at least I don't think it was).  If you haven't been tracking how difficult it is to get a Playstation 5, it's been really challenging with the pandemic and bots buying them when they go in stock only to resell them for more than they MSRP.

I had to tried to use some websites to track when PS5 would go on sale, but I had no luck or perhaps the notification process wasn't working for me.  Regardless the reason, I basically gave up on trying to get one myself.

Enter my cousin! So recently, one of my cousins found my Twitch channel and started watching me.  He wanted to get into streaming himself, so he was super excited to know someone that was already into it and he says that my channel has been an inspiration for him.  Anyway, I told him that I haven't been able to get a PS5, so he offered to get one for me!  He had gotten one for himself and said he'd continue to use his tracking methods to try and get one for me.  And since he's my cousin and someone I could trust, I just gave him my home address and he was eventually able to order one for me from Walmart!

The PS5 is a massive system, so much larger than the PS4 or PS3.  The first game I loaded up was Final Fantasy VII Remake, since you get a free copy of the PS5 version if you own the PS4 version.  PS5 is also backwards compatible, but just with PS4 games.  I plan on playing FF7 Remake Intergrade and then venture into the Dark Souls and Demon Souls games.  Excited to own one of these highly in-demand consoles and thanks to my cousin for making it happen!

If you want to follow my cousin on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/itsalwayssunnyc

Commenting on this past NBA Playoffs

I didn't really know what to blog about this month, so let's blog about sports!

The 2020-21 NBA season was an interesting one, coming out of a global pandemic where arenas around the country had 0 fans.  Players missed a lot of games due to being in health and safety protocols.  And the season was even cut short from 82 games down to 72 games.

Nonetheless, I still had fun watching this past season, spending most of my time watching Philadelphia 76ers games and as usual, I still made my yearly bet for them to win the NBA championship, putting down $75 on 14:1 that would have paid $1050.

But of course, we know what happened in the playoffs in the East, with the Sixers getting eliminated in a 7-game series with the Hawks.  One of my favorite Sixers players (Ben Simmons) was the major scapegoat for the series, many blaming him for his extremely poor free throw shooting and offensive tentativeness.  I have to agree, because the games are still won by scoring points, something that Simmons just didn't do in that series when we all know he's capable of averaging 15 a game throughout the year.

With the Sixers out, that basically destroyed my interest in the Eastern Conference Finals.  However, the Phoenix Suns had managed to blow through the entire Western Conference, easily knocking out formidable teams like the Lakers, Nuggets, and Clippers.  Granted, each of those teams had a major player out (Davis, Murray, Kawhi), they still were able to take care of the matchups they played in.

I've lived in Arizona my entire life, but the Suns haven't really been good since the Barkley years.  I still remember watching games on channel 45 growing up as a kid.  My dad loved watching the suns and one of his quotes he'd always tell me is "When the Suns run, the Suns win!"  Also, I remember Al McCoy with his "Shazam! Another 3-pointer! Suns donate $50 to charity!"  I even had a chance to meet Kevin Johnson as a kid and I was so nervous that when I went up to him, I looked away and couldn't make eye contact.

That was almost 30 years ago, and the Suns had finally made it back to the NBA finals.  I even won my NBA pool because I was the only one who picked them to do it, netting a modest $200 for my confidence in them.  But after Tuesday, you all know how the finals went.  The Suns, after taking a 2-0 lead, fell up way short by losing the next 4 games, a disappointing turn to the series.

Kudos to the Milwaukee Bucks, who in their own right had not won a championship in 50 years.  Giannis is very deserving of a title.  Maybe the Suns get another chance down the road, but hey, that's just the way sports go sometimes.  Now I patiently wait until next year, to see what players end up where...

Best Bowling Season Ever!

The 2020-21 bowling season was an interesting one. The IBM league didn't have enough players returning to comprise a full league, so as a result we had to go join the house league.  At the beginning of the year, I was on the fence about playing, but I was invited by one of the IBM teams to be their 4th bowler in this new league, so I decided to give it a shot.  Something last year just clicked for me.  I don't know if it was the new competition, the fact that I was bowling on a team with other good bowlers, or the adjustment in my approach (stepping up closer to the lane and starting more boards to the left), but I ended up bowling my best season ever!  I finished with a 206 average, which is simply incredibly considering in my 15+ years of bowling, I had never finished above a 193 average and had just come off a 189 season.

In case you're wondering what I look like when I bowl, I uploaded a bowling video to my YouTube, which I live streamed on Twitch: 

It was a fun season, but also a long one at 30 weeks.  And while we came up short of winning the first half, I'm very proud of the improvement I've had with bowling.  I'm gonna enjoy the offseason and hope to put together another 200+ season next year, since I've now set the bar for high expectations. :)

Hope everyone is doing well!  On a side note, I finally got my 2nd vaccination (Pfizer) as well and I felt alright afterwards.  The only side effect being a sore throat for about a week.  See ya next month!