ExcaliburClue IQEscape roomIRLWe loved this room! We did it as a duo with 30ish escape rooms under our belts. It was immersive and creative. The way that they measure passed time, and their hint system, both keep it immersive. We had 2:49 left on the clock and we got 2 "hints" which were both basically "look harder over there." Overall we loved the room and will return to ClueIQ for more!
ClueBreakout Games - ColumbiaEscape roomIRLOverall, it's a fun game, but quite easy, and a lot of things didn't actually connect together but were just triggered by the game master, which was kind of strange. We did Monopoly a few weeks ago, and came back for Clue. Monopoly was much more complex and had better flow. But, Clue was fun for its set, the nostalgia of the game, and a few of the elements were unique.
Monopoly: Get Out of Jail!Breakout Games - ColumbiaEscape roomIRLThis room was super fun! We had one puzzle we got stuck on for quite a long time, but we had 14 seconds left at the end. We played with a team of 3. Loved the Monopoly theme, and there was a lot of variety in the puzzles.
Pirates Of TortugaPanIQ Room - Long BeachEscape roomIRLWe had so much fun! Escaped w 22:16 left on the clock. Team of 4, and we've done a few rooms together before. Unique elements, great atmosphere, GM was Jenna and she was awesome (we didn't use any hints or nudges, so her job was easy... ;)
The AtticSherlock's Escape Rooms - FlorenceEscape roomIRLWe did this game 3 years ago, and it still goes down as our worst ER experience. I will note that I had a phone call with the manager afterwards, and she refunded our money, even though I wasn't asking for a refund, I just wanted to give feedback. A big part of the problem was that our game master wasn't paying attention at all. And we were the only ones in the building, so there was no excuse for that. He had no idea where we were with the puzzles, would give us a "hint" that we'd already done, etc.. BUT, the worst part is that there is a physical "skill" element that we spent at least 20 minutes on and our clock ran out. We honestly executed it with beautiful communication multiple times, and it seems that it was misaligned and impossible. At the end, our GM would not prove to us that it worked. However, in addition to this, there were other things that made the game frustrating. Multiple available of the same locks at any given time, so that if you figured out, let's say, a 4 digit code, you would have to try it on 3 different locks - one of which might be up a flight of stairs, and there was no rhyme or reason why a code would go to a particular lock. (We had one code that we were putting into the wrong lock, and when we asked for clues, our GM didn't realize that we just had the wrong lock and so even with asking for a clue it ate up a bunch of our time.) There's also a ton of "noise" in the room, meaning that there's just tons of information, dates, etc., lying around, and it's very difficult to determine what is pertinent. Some people enjoy this style. If our GM had been awake, and we didn't get stuck on one skill element for 20+ minutes, we may have been able to discern things through the noise a bit better. I strongly suggest not to do this room with 2 people. We couldn't work on anything else when we were doing the "skill" element that absolutely 100% requires 2 people, and with a bigger team, we would've had a chance to progress in other areas. Overall, we just had a terrible experience. Again, we were given the refund, and the manager spoke with me at length about our experience. I'm disappointed to see that she didn't take my suggestion to highly recommend more than 2 people to do the room. I would say minimum 4.
