Irvine School of Wizardry and the Goblin's SecretsHidden DonkeyEscape roomIRLOne of the best rooms we have done to date. The owners put a significant amount of care and detail into this room that makes it almost unbelievably realistic. The.... transportation is something I have never seen before. The game play and their unique way of adding or subtracting puzzles based on your team's speed through the game is amazing. I don't think we have played a game that does this and it makes the experience all the better because we truly feel like we got ours money's worth. 10/10.
Pyramid ParadoxTick Tock Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThis room BEGS for 3 or 4 players. We escape with two and 4 or 5 hints. There was a point where you really need 3 people, but we managed. Having a third person would have allowed another person to work in one area while the other two completed other puzzles. It was a fun, tech heavy room. And it was exciting with tech puzzles I haven't see before in other places.
Heart Of Bastet [prev. Red Giant]Lara’s Labyrinth - San Diego [prev. Quest Room]Escape roomIRLI think we did this in 30-40 + some odd minutes as a team of 2. It was definitely on the easy-medium side but WORTH it. We loved the puzzles and the ending was hilarious and fun. A couple of these puzzles felt like "ahhhh I'll just go through it all until I get there" but they weren't able to be solved that way which was good. I loved all the rooms and the use of tools to get through to find the heart. Gm was phenomenal.
CannibalLara’s Labyrinth - San Diego [prev. Quest Room]Escape roomIRLGreat game only made better by Maddie, the gm. We had a great time and I loved how the puzzles were so different from normal escape rooms. It was fun to do things we don't normally "get" to do in rooms. Maddie was awesome and we had booked 2 back-to-back rooms when she recommended we do this one instead of our originally-booked second room. I think she made a great rec and we were pleased with the level of difficulty. It wasn't too hard, but there were a couple sticking points we had to get through as a team of two. The ending felt super anti-climactic after the ending for Heart of Bastet, but it was still funny and played right into the theme. This felt like back to basics on an "escape" room with lots of unique takes on locks/combos/keys/etc.! I'm glad we did this one because it was a good challenge! Still a fair amount of "tech" involved to keep it from feeling super key/lock heavy.
The Weeping WitchCross Roads Escape GamesEscape roomIRLReally good game. Puzzles were medium to hard, very few easy puzzles. We had a group of 4 and did escape, but with a fair amount of nudges from our fun game host. This room was a lot of fun for our group, I would say 4-6 is a good number, but 6+ would feel cramped in this small space. Linear at times, but I think our team went "out of order" and it didn't matter - and a good mix of tech, puzzles, and locks. Really enjoyable, especially with the GM. It was scary at times but well done, with 1 jump scare if you're the lucky one. Hint system was awesome. Some of the puzzles were, what our group considers, absolutely very almost impossible to figure out without a hint. Loved the ending and we laughed a lot.
Escape Operation: End Of DaysMission Escape GamesEscape roomIRLFun high tech. 2 experienced people and finished with 19 mins left. We used a few hints and were impressed with the level of tech and good range and easy and difficult puzzles
The Basement: UnhingedTHE BASEMENT: A Live Escape Room Experience - Kansas CityEscape roomIRLLoved this room. Great mix of tech and locks, loved the set & live actor(s). The plot was great. We had a team of two and still managed to escape. I wouldn't say it was exceptionally hard, I'm surprised It's marked as "expert". It was definitely challenging. Loved the SFX and the actor(s) and game master were phenomenal. The overall vibe in the place is awesome. We even got a t-shirt. Loved it!
The Big Bear AsylumBig Bear Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis was one of our first "higher tech" rooms. We enjoyed it a lot and loved that communication was of the utmost importance. We did have a tiny glitch but the game master was attentive and came in and fixed it as soon as we/he realized. It was fun.
The Inventor's WorkshopMountain Room Escapes - Big Bear VillageEscape roomIRLThis was GOOD. Great tech. Great AMAZING game master who was really nice and came and helped us when we were spending time on a puzzle that we had found our way around and didn't need. Loved the lobby area and the plot of this room was awesome. We did this with 2 people and I probably wouldn't recommend less than 3 people. There was one puzzle that wasn't necessary hard, but it was time consuming - it would've been nice for one person to work on that while the other 2 did other puzzles that required more than one person.
Kidnapped!KeynundrumEscape roomIRLThis will always be one of my favorites. I love the ratio of puzzle to locks and the concept. Lots of team work and fun/creative ideas. The owners are the best and we always have fun here. Not much in the way of tech, but just a good plot and fun puzzles.