Lab RatHatch EscapesEscape roomIRLLab Rat is one of those escape rooms you've heard about so many times that eventually you have to try it, and hopefully the hype and high reviews have not set the bar too high for you. After playing it ourselves, I can see why it's so beloved. I can imagine that when it first opened, it would've been top notch. Its set design and immersion is solid; you really do feel like, well, a "lab rat." Now, it's been some years, and a lot of high-tech, modern escape rooms have since opened, but I can see why Lab Rat with its older tech still gets positive reviews nowadays. As aforementioned, its immersion. Then the puzzles are clever and unique. There were definitely a handful we'd still never seen before, and they were fun and satisfying. There's some unique and fun mechanisms at play, too. It's a well put together room and experience overall. About the only "negative" thing about Lab Rat might be its (weekend) price at $70/person. Weekdays are $40/person, which is better. You also can't play with just two people unless you pay for the price of 4 people (Saturday) or 3 people (any other day). HOWEVER, there are Groupons for the Hatch Escape rooms for Tues-Thurs for groups of 4 people. There's one for Lab Rat for $100. We got it for $80 with a sale discount on Groupon that day. So our usual group of 4 got to play for $80 total instead of the $280 we'd normally pay to play on a weekend. Something to keep in mind. Because although Lab Rat was great and still a strong recommend, it's probably not in my favorite favorites and therefore $70 is a quite steep for an escape room (with no live actors or extended gameplay time). [Lab Rat is 60 minutes of gameplay but it says 75 minutes of experience to include video clips, during which they thankfully pause your game clock]
Ink & AshesExodus Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis is now one of my favorite rooms! In my top 10, likely top 5 as of writing. It's so well-put together. It's rare that the puzzles, storyline, theme, effects and set just tie altogether throughout the entire experience. We're about 70 rooms in, and there were numerous puzzles we hadn't seen before. You can tell there was a lot of thought put into the details of this game design. Definitely really immersive and enjoyable. I can see why this room is on the difficult side. The puzzles are not necessarily straight-forward (but they were so, so, so appreciated because they're not just simple!). There were so many clever and fun puzzles, and they all helped advance the plot nicely. We did this as a group of 4 and escaped with slightly under 6 minutes remaining. We had 2 beginners and 2 experienced players. Our experience definitely helped us recognize the intentions of certain clues and puzzles a lot quicker. Otherwise, this would be a tough room for a newer group of players. There is definitely a decent amount of things to do, so definitely use your group's size to your advantage. When the room ended, I already knew it was one of my new favorites. It was very satisfying and I really didn't have any complaints. A couple special effects were just so unexpected but fitting and these specific details just really enhanced the experience. I love new and clever puzzles and mechanisms and this room nailed it all. This room did have a good amount of locks/combo locks, and that can age or detract from a room, but there was also a good mix of tech, and honestly the puzzles were so fun that I didn't mind the combo locks at all. Emanual is a passionate and enthusiastic GM and we appreciated his energy. I wish there were other rooms of this caliber here, and elsewhere. This is a highly recommended room!
InksidiousEscape Room 66 - Los AngelesEscape roomIRLI can see why people love this room for a Gen 1 room. It's a cute room with cute/clever puzzles. Even though you see a lot of locks, the puzzles to solve them are satisfying and fun. Recommend for a small group, maybe even just 2-3 if you're decently experienced players.
Through The Sugar GlassQuest TavernEscape roomIRLThis was such a great room! Cute gingerbread house/candyland theming (with actual candy you can keep!) We did this with two ppl. We usually play rooms with a team of 4 so we were unsure of how we'd do. This room is hard-medium probably. The puzzles were varied and interesting and fun. Having done a decent amount of rooms by now, it's great to still see new types of puzzles for the first time. There is at least one section where having 3 players would make it physically easier, but this room is totally doable with two experienced players who can communicate well. We got out with about 10 minutes to spare. Nothing really stumped us but our experience definitely helped, especially considering the nonlinearity of the room. The room is a small one but the entire space is utilized super well and completely interested in the theme/storyline so it's a strong recommend for 2-3 players!
Hijinx at Joffre ManorNerdy by Nature Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLDefinitely as close an experience as you'll get to a real Scooby Doo adventure! It was really enjoyable. Very cool opener for the set design, and the set design stays solid impressive the whole way through. It was expansive considering how well it used all its space. The whole set all fits to the Scooby Doo mystery-solving storyline, so the immersion is really, really great. The vibe is mysterious-spooky with some dim lighting, but nothing scary overall. The puzzles were of a good variety. We definitely enjoyed them. I will say there was at least one puzzle where the leap was a little much for us. Even with all the experience we have (~70 rooms), we didn't make the connection and had to ask for a hint. Some puzzles were really simple and we overthought it too hard, and others you definitely had to think more lol. So keep your minds open and think both deeply and not so much. We did this as two experienced players and escaped with maybe about 10 minutes remaining? This is a great game for anyone because of the immersion and story and set design. Definitely great for families, too.
The Mad RapperScenario Escape RoomEscape roomIRLI can see why this room is so loved. Its custom sounds for its theming and storyline definitely is a highlight. The puzzles were varying and clever and fun. Storyline/immersion: really solid. The plot makes sense, moves along, and it's a satisfying enough ending. The set design is solid. It's not a fantasy or adventurous theme, so not the most special visually, but the sound design throughout the game makes up for that. Puzzles: Love it or hate it. I loved most of the puzzles. My partner did not enjoy them as much, so I can see why there are some reviews that knock on that aspect. There were a variety of puzzles. Some were visual, some were audio, some were critical thinking, some were skill based. So depending on what you like/dislike, that might affect your opinion here. That said, I will say there were a couple puzzles that I also didn't like as much. One especially required a decent jump in logic/association that I didn't expect and we ended up having to ask a hint for. Another puzzle I personally liked but I could see others struggling with (esp if English isn't your first language, or you just don't like playing with words lol). In that sense, it sorrrrt of felt like outside knowledge being required. There is a decent amount to do in this room, but maybe it felt that way with only two players. This can be done with two experienced players, but it's definitely meant for maybe 3-4 decent players. Overall, I loved this room a lot and would highly recommend it!
Big Brain Labs60Out - HollywoodEscape roomIRLThe newest room in Fall of 2025, so it's full of new tech and it's so clean and modern. Fun story, fun room, fun times. My only possible critique is that a lot of it felt linear in that our entire group felt like we were just moving from one puzzle station to the next. There was not much need to look for things or think super hard about puzzles because you just arrived and did them at a specific place in the lab. We were told later that we could've split up in at least one part of the room so I'm not sure about the linearity if that was the case for other parts of the room. But i will say that my entire group got to experience all the puzzles together by sticking together, and we still had a lot of time to spare so maybe it was better that way. We went with 4, but this wasn't that difficult so it's probably doable with 2 experienced players
Black DragonEscape Room LAEscape roomIRLLike many others have said, this is probably one of my favorite starts to an escape room ever. My unimpressed parents didn't recognize this part of Hong Kong, but the set was nicely done and expansive. There were a lot of great details put into the set and decor. The set was a good size and there was a solid amount of things to do. It definitely was on the easier side because we had 6 people (escaped in 42 min). In comparison, we struggled a bit more with 6ppl in Atlantis (57 min) and with 2ppl in Here, Kitty, Kitty at this location. Puzzles were relatively set to the theme well. GM is in the room with you, and s/he's in character.
Wrongfully ConvictedThe Escape RevolutionEscape roomIRLI was wondering about the contradiction of positive and negative reviews for this room. After doing this, I'm closer to the negative side and relate to most of the negative descriptions of this room. First off, time starts when the GM opens the door. You still have to put your stuff away into lockers and be given all the rules. And if you have questions, that's going to burn time too. So you're already definitely down at least a few minutes before you can even start. The split start was promising and cool. Things kinda fell apart after that. The "puzzles" didn't feel like puzzles but more like a scavenger hunt. They didn't really flow or make as much logical sense as you would like. We ended up having to ask for 5 hints because we knew we were falling behind and kept hitting walls, which hasn't happened to us before. We finished with 4 minutes left but it wasn't satisfying. This is all especially a disappointment because the prison break theme has a lot of potential. And the set design and props and tropes they included really helped the immersion. But the puzzles and flow just ruined it. Our GM was great though! Not a recommend from us though. We've had so many more fun and satisfying experiences already that this just didn't hit.
Wizard's Treasure60Out - HollywoodEscape roomIRLSuper cute room. It's easy but super fun and immersive. The GM recommended we just slowly enjoy all the puzzles together because any experienced group would not have issues finishing this one. This is a great recommendation for beginners looking for an immersive set. We spent our extra time just talking to the GM about escape rooms!
