Siren's CoveEscape Hour Point RustonEscape roomIRLI am surprised this room received so many hearts. First, the customer service was the worst: they demanded that we surrender our phones. Notably, nowhere in the waiver does it say that they will take our phones from us or require us to put them in the lockers. Below is the exact wording from the waiver: "All items including but not limited to your personal belongings, stuff, object, luggage, baggage, watches, wallet, item and/or property, shall be kept by you at your sole risk." And: "Escape Hour Point Ruston Owner / Venue Owner including the employee or agent shall not be held liable or responsible for any loss of your personal belongings…" Translation: Your personal belongings are kept by you at your own risk, and they disclaim responsibility for loss of personal property. Yet they demanded that we surrender our phones to them! They didn't care that we promised not to take any pictures; we could even turn off our phones. Then, after the game, they demanded that we hand them our personal notebooks we used for quick scribbles during the game. Second, the room itself was very worn down and full of dust. I was sneezing there. At least two puzzles were broken or not reset. All my clothes were dirty with white dust after I needed to crawl in one of the tiny rooms. One puzzle was poorly done, so we could see the traces and solved it prematurely. Third, the puzzles were mediocre. For example, you just input what you see without any extra thought process or any layer to make things harder. The only puzzle we liked was about the jars. Fourth, the room is very dark, and the light they provided was mediocre. The bad light was hurting my play partner's eyes. Given the price tag of $75 per person, including taxes/fees, and the factors listed above, I do not recommend this company given their aggressive rules not clearly disclosed in the waiver and their lack of care for the players' physical health.
Lombino's CasinoIn Search Of An ExitEscape roomIRLSurprisingly, we did not have fun. The puzzles felt different than other escape rooms we have done - but we couldn't get attuned to the flow. We did not realize that the room is linear so our attention was scattered among different puzzles instead of focusing on only one solvable puzzle. Also we do not like hints generally and apparently this room was designed with the intent to give plenty of hints via a pager. However, the game master did not give clear instructions that the hints were built into the pager so I read several hints before I realized that they were hints and not mandatory to enjoy the game. The room is very old (11 years old) and some things looked worn down. And one puzzle was frustrating because it required us to notice (which we did not) a small detail on one-use-only "something". Also some objects must be reused for different puzzles - we did not expect that.
PlaygroundThe Escape Game - Seattle Westfield SouthcenterEscape roomIRLFun puzzles including three physical puzzles, good theme, great flow. You can track your progress on the whiteboard. The last puzzle was the most challenging requiring keen perception.
Back to ChildhoodClockwise Escape Room - PleasantonEscape roomIRLThis was a textbook definition of fun. My favorite room so far at the time of writing.
Ronnie’s HouseNW Escape ExperienceEscape roomIRLOutstanding immersion: rain, and thunder, boarded-up windows, spectacular performance of the live actor. No-touch policy but a few nicely done jump scares. Birdy was the live actor/game master and she is amazing at doing her work: she adjusted well to the players. One perception-based puzzle was expert/super hard difficulty. We played as a team of two; better bring three or four players for the optimal experience. I was also happy with the number of different rooms. This is a gruesome setting, we did not like it, especially when you have to touch certain objects, but some people may like the setting. Play this room soon because they are going to replace it with a new room this year (2026).
Candy Cane ConundrumPortland Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLCute theme. Great flow. Nice surprises. A few physical puzzles. All puzzles are fun and satisfying
Assassin's Deadly GameHour to MidnightEscape roomIRLBad flow. Unclear on what you need to focus your attention. Unclear on what you are missing to solve a puzzle. Three puzzles were hit or miss, where a logical reasoning will not help you to reach the puzzle. You either know it or will be stuck. One puzzle was very original, and kids would probably like it, but we felt disappointed with the execution and the anticlimactic ending of the puzzle. Single room. The globe map puzzle was frustrating because font is tiny and hard to read. We played two people but the company compels you to pay for at least three players and never offers any reasonable discounts. Left with the bad taste.
The Final CutMindTrix Escape Room Games - TualatinEscape roomIRLUnexpectedly well executed. Non-linear. We were pleased with the experience. The puzzles flowed well. The flow was slightly hindered in the final room because the game became more linear. Some puzzles felt original. I liked the contrast between the first and the last rooms. The story makes sense. There is one optional mini-puzzle just for the story, and it was scary. Everything about this escape room was right: no skill-based puzzles, no memorization puzzles, no weird agility-based physical exercises, we had a good mix of perception, physical, and logical puzzles. Take your time, be calm, be perceptive, reset your mind if you are overwhelmed, and you'll be fine.
Genie's LampPortland Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLPros: non-linear puzzles; great setting; the hardest puzzle was fun; the tactile puzzle was satisfying; variety of puzzles such as visual, perception-based, tactile/sensory, logic, physical, audio puzzles. Cons: the first room is too dim; the audio puzzle was hard to follow: we asked for a written transcript; one puzzle had cursive letters using a weird hard-to-distinguish font.
Atomic CafeNW Escape ExperienceEscape roomIRLThe story is mediocre, and the puzzles are mostly simple. Three puzzles were frustrating time-wasters: you understand what needs to be done, so you just repeat the same thing over and over. The final puzzle felt illogical from an engineering standpoint. One perception-based puzzle and one physical puzzle were nice. The room itself is very small - two players is the right fit - yet the company requires payment for a minimum of three players. No satisfaction from solving the room and no "aha" moments.
