Legend of the YetiThe Escape Game - ChicagoEscape roomIRLJust as good as the room it replaced, gold rush. This room had many multi-step puzzles that made players make one extra connection more than may be expected in a room like gold rush. The puzzles were the standout feature, aside from one that was unexpectedly difficult due to darkness and one technological glitch. The puzzles were on theme and required collaboration. This room had a lot of locks, but it didn’t take anything away from the room, and there still was a good amount of tech. The set design was solid as expected from the escape game, and one transitional scene stood out as a highlight for the way that the dynamic set was able to control your attention to make some magic happen. The story was a bit confusing and it felt like we were just solving puzzles for the sake of it, but they were so fun that I didn’t mind. I think special ops is still the best room I’ve done at this location for the strength of its set design and storyline.
Starship: Final Frontier60 to Escape - GurneeEscape roomIRLWow! 60 to Escape continues to level up in the immersion department. The intro to this room helped us understand the storyline but was too long, and no visuals made it a little boring. The set was strong and the highlight of this room, and the puzzles all made sense with the story and ranged in difficulty, with a good dose of communication puzzles, correlation/observation puzzles and logic puzzles. There was one minor time suck puzzle, one annoying puzzle towards the end and maybe a slight reliance on color puzzles, but they were solid overall, with one endgame thematic communication puzzle being a highlight. This room didn’t have the personality of other 60 to escape rooms, but I still think it is the best room at this location! The ending was memorable as well.
The House of SpecterEdge of EscapeEscape roomIRLDefinitely a room you should try to see if in the northern suburbs of Chicago, or even the Chicagoland area. The set design was great, some of the best in the area, with everything from floor to ceiling feeling integrated into the theme. Every room was high quality. The puzzles were solid, with a good variety of difficulty. A few things felt under-clued or ambiguous, but we were able to get through all but one puzzle without hints just through trial and error. It wasn’t too much of an issue. There was a booklet of sorts that had a lot of info and tended to bottleneck, so I don’t think this room would be good for 4 or more people. There was one prop that was so unpolished and messy that it was impossible to understand and we needed a clue. The special effects were well done and the feedback on puzzle inputs was appreciated, as were the very bright flashlights which made sure the difficulty was only derived from the puzzles and not from the darkness. The GM and owner is amazing, super friendly and awesome overall.
PlaygroundThe Escape Game - CincinnatiEscape roomIRLThis was a teamwork oriented game. Every task and almost every puzzle required constant collaboration, more so than most escape rooms. The puzzles were pretty straightforward, fun to complete, and on the easier side but took a lot of time to complete, especially with 2 people. We never really got stuck and we still only escaped with a minute to spare. The set was bright and didn’t feel worn out, which is always a plus, and was fun to traverse. Overall a solid game but I think I prefer gold rush and special ops over this one, but I think this one is better than heist.
Revenge Of The CabinCU Adventures in Time and SpaceEscape roomIRLThis is a fun game with a pretty set and a cool hint system. The puzzles were solid, but it is obvious that they are of an older style. All of them were still logical and on-theme, but expect more locks and less tech than in other rooms at this location. This game also requires some decent levels of searching, but all of it felt fair. The room was dark for the sake of atmosphere, but it felt a little too dark at most points. The puzzles weren’t too challenging and our group of 2 was able to escape with a few minutes left on the clock. This one has some personalized touches that really sell the creepy atmosphere, but it’s never scary. This one doesn’t have as rich of a story as some of the other rooms at this location, but it still works well.
The Last Video Store in AmericaEscapade 360Escape roomIRLThis room was a fun puzzle-centric take on the video store theme. It was on the harder side with some satisfying layered puzzles and a mostly non-linear flow, and a good deal of puzzles. The set was well done and had a ton to look at, so it was easy to get overwhelmed if you weren’t paying close attention to everything. The opening sequence was fun and made sense with the storyline. The puzzles were all logical and pretty unique, aside from one puzzle that had extra parts that only added confusion, but the owner showed interest in removing it. The last puzzle teased you throughout the whole room which built excitement for it too. One puzzle maybe needed a little better clueing but overall everything was very well thought out. I think I liked it a tiny bit better than candy factory and it’s my favorite room at Escapade 360. The owner Dan is amazing and we talked about the room after and escape rooms in general.
Cabin in the WoodsMastermind Escape Games - State PkwyEscape roomIRLA very average escape room. It just doesn’t feel like a new room in 2025. Nothing about this room was particularly good or bad. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun though, it’ll still be fun with the right group of people. The second room is really dark, so be prepared for that. There isn’t much of a storyline, it’s mostly themed puzzles in a themed room. And the puzzles are decent, albeit simple. All of them were pretty logical, aside from 2 issues with overlapping clues for separate puzzles. There are a lot of locks, but there’s also some tech. The set is solid. It’s not too difficult either. Bank Heist and The Shed are both better options at this location in my opinion, but it’s still a decent room.
Mad ScientistParadox SquaredEscape roomIRLWow! What a great experience. The game master/owner loves what he does and it’s obvious in every puzzle of this room and with every interaction we had with him. The puzzles were all logical, all felt different from each other, were very fun to solve, and encouraged teamwork. The set design isn’t anything crazy but wow is everything well thought out. No guesswork required. No “I solved this puzzle but I don’t know what it opened”. No frustration, just anxiety of not knowing if you would escape. This room has quite a lot of puzzles. A lot of the puzzles were very unique and creative. This is probably the best one room escape room I’ve ever done. You will be immersed from the second you walk through the door!
The Forest of FablesCU Adventures in Time and SpaceEscape roomIRLThis is exactly what an escape room should be! It’s a disservice to this experience to just call it an escape room. It is an immersive puzzle experience. The puzzles were fun, unique, tactile, on theme, encouraged teamwork, varied in complexity, and advanced the storyline. Everything felt so on theme in the story world and it was easy to become very immersed. And you will have to be because the players felt like active participants in the story, not just like viewers of it. The story was intertwined with every last inch of the set and every puzzle, for the whole time. The actor elevated the experience, and did a great job. The set was gorgeous and expansive. There were always new surprises throughout the room, of varying levels. 75 minutes allowed you to fully enjoy the experience and not feel rushed between the scene changes and actor interactions. The puzzles were very approachable for anyone as even though there were a lot of them, none of them were particularly challenging. CU Adventures in Time and Space has another banger on their hands!
DraculaMastermind Escape Games Schaumburg - Plaza [prev. Odyssey Escape Games]Escape roomIRLTalk about Dollar Store Dracula! This room had some pluses, but they were few and far between. To start, the ending was cute to vanquish Dracula for good. It was also very anticlimactic, since the room had no audio. The first room looked pretty good, but from then on the build quality dropped and looked cheap and unfinished, which is uncharacteristic of rooms at this location. A ghost puzzle haunted one of the rooms, too. Some puzzles had logical leaps, albeit small, where you will be asking yourself how you were supposed to make that connection. Our GM was nice but sometimes overbearing, she would give too much help when we just wanted to solve things on our own. Some of the tech was finicky, and things got stuck and the game master had to come in to fix it. The puzzle flow was not good and the puzzles were a little bland and pretty boring for the most part. Not terrible puzzles, but nothing standout. One of the locks the code was 4 letters and the game master literally had to tell us that we had the right code but to just change the 4th letter because that’s how it is. They couldn’t find a lock with that particular letter in the last slot. So that was weird. I guess it’s just because at the other mastermind location and with the other rooms here I expected a decent room, but we ended up getting a room that was fun to play just to point out its flaws. And seeing Dracula… the real Dracula does not look like that. You’ll still have fun if you come play, but don’t expect anything like the Titanic Room here or the Jack The Ripper room.
