Ghost PatrolTrivium GamesEscape roomIRLLoved how well crafted this escape room was. It is obvious that a lot of love and care went into crafting this room. The puzzles were all unexpected and fairly unique. They were not too obvious, but also not too difficult once you figured them out. Nothing felt tedious, but rather satisfying. I also really enjoyed the story too. It was a touch spooky, but not at all scary. Everything was very family friendly. Would recommend to anyone. The only downsides of this room are that it can’t be played with <4 people and that it is priced expensively. Our group was only in there for 65 minutes and we weren’t exactly trying to do a speed run.
Revenge Of MedusaClockwise Escape Room - PleasantonEscape roomIRLThis company has great set design and theming across all their rooms and this held true for “Revenge of Medusa.” I only wish they could build out bigger experiences because I have no doubt they would be that much more immersive. One thing I will say about this room is that it left me in want of more puzzles. We played as a group of 2, were not rushing, and finished with 20 minutes to spare. Nothing in here was super novel or surprising, but I’d say it’s a solid room for beginners. My only complaint is that our GM gave us unprompted nudges, which we did not ask for and would not have wanted. Particularly not needed since we escaped with 20 minutes to spare too, so we were never in danger of falling behind the timetable for escaping. I wish the GMs were trained to not do this.
Back to ChildhoodClockwise Escape Room - PleasantonEscape roomIRLThis room was so much fun. I enjoyed feeling baby-sized at the beginning and then having the millennial childhood nostalgia later on. The theming was overall a lot of fun and a more unique theme than you find at most escape rooms. The puzzles weren’t too difficult, making this room definitely on the easier side. But I’d still recommend it if you think you’d enjoy this vibe, or are newer to escape rooms.
The Conspiracy of Silicon ValleyBreakout Studios - San JoseEscape roomIRLThis room takes you back in time to the year 2005, to a Blockbuster video look alike. We really enjoyed this room! The puzzles were a great challenge and flowed very well. We didn’t end up using any hints, but still felt challenged. A great use of a pretty small space. The room incorporates a little bit of tech with mostly gen 1 puzzles, but it’s enough to make it an enjoyable storyline. We enjoyed playing as 2. I wouldn’t want to play with any more than 4, due to the small space. Would definitely recommend playing this room!
The Last SupperQuest TavernEscape roomIRLOverall a very fun room that includes a live actor. Not as many puzzles as a typical escape room, but much more immersion in the story, which may or may not be preferable to you. If you enjoy roleplaying games such as D&D, then I imagine you’ll enjoy this room a lot. If you’re uncomfortable with playing a part, though, then you might not be able to enjoy this room.
Legend of the YetiThe Escape Game - DowntownEscape roomIRLThis was a fun room with some great puzzles to interact with. Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend, but I was disappointed by The Escape Game’s open booking policy, which allows up to 8 people to book a room, unless you are willing to pay for all 8 spots in a time slot yourselves. Playing with random strangers is never anyone’s idea of fun and lessened my enjoyment of my experience in this room. I very much appreciate that other escape room companies don’t do this.
Inksidious - CLOSEDEscape Room 66 - Los AngelesEscape roomIRLAbsolutely enjoyed this room from start to finish. It was jam packed full of puzzles (my favorite!) and had such a unique and fun theme! Despite the smaller footprint, they do a great job of giving you a lot of gen 1 puzzles to solve in the smaller space. I really appreciated the creativity of the story in this room and also that it took most of the full hour for us to complete it. This is definitely a family friendly theme too, good for anyone. We played as 2 enthusiasts and got out with just a few minutes remaining, so I was really pleased and felt that I really got my money’s worth in this room. For newer players, I would recommend 3 or 4 people. I agree with this being a TERPECA room and am so glad I got to try it out before it shuts down (temporarily while it is relocated) after June 28th! Would highly recommend!
Paradox | The Incredible Time MachineRabbit Hole Recreation ServicesEscape roomIRLLoved this room! The set design was great—probably the best time machine that I’ve seen in an escape room so far, after 165+ rooms. My favorite part about this room was how complex the puzzles were. They often involved multiple steps, which could be messed up to yield an incorrect result. We got really close to asking for clues, but ended up being able to solve everything without, which felt pretty rewarding. I felt it was a good challenge level. I’d definitely recommend this room the next time you’re in the area!
Frost Base ZRabbit Hole Recreation ServicesEscape roomIRLThis seemed like a really great room with an amazing set design and lots of great puzzles. The story was great too. Unfortunately for us, something went wrong for us in this room. We couldn’t figure out what it was and even the GM afterwards said he wasn’t sure what happened, but apologized and gave us a discount code for future use. It seemed like we solved puzzles out of order somehow or something didn’t get triggered when it was supposed to, so the ending was quite strange and the story happened out of order. I imagine this to be an excellent room when the experience works as it is supposed to. Unfortunately for us, it was a bit confusing. Additionally, there was one puzzle that we solved unintentionally in the process of trying to understand what the puzzle even was. Later we found the directions for how to solve the puzzle, so we were robbed of one puzzle. I don’t love that it can be solved so easily on accident. Our GM told us that happened to him too when he played this room. All in all, I think our bad experience may have stemmed from the fact that 2 GMs were running 3 rooms and seemed unable to keep up with it all.
The Weeping WitchCross Roads Escape GamesEscape roomIRLThis was a super fun room! The theming was great and the live actor helped to dial up the realism. If you hate horror and scares, then this room wouldn’t be for you, but overall I think it’s pretty tame and that most people would enjoy it. I enjoyed the story and its through-line while you are in the room. I am surprised this room requires 4 people, as none of the puzzles required more than 1 person. It would have been just as fun with 2 people, I think, so I wish that was an option, since we have a difficult time getting together groups of 4 to do escape rooms. My only minor gripe would be that our GM gave us some unnecessary nudges. Considering we escaped with just over 10 minutes, we clearly weren’t running low on time, so the unsolicited help just took away from us figuring things out on our own. Overall a very fun room! Would recommend!
Murder with a Side of MeatballsThe Escape Game - Berry HillEscape roomIRLVery much enjoyed this escape room. I liked the mechanism they had for helping you investigate the murder case and interacting with the evidence. There was a good mixture of lots of different puzzles and some fun, lightheartedness as well. Would recommend!
SabotageThe Escape Game - Opry MillsEscape roomIRLI very much enjoyed the concept and implementation of this room! The theme of 2 groups competing against one another to solve the same puzzles more quickly than the other group was fun. I liked the ways you could attack the other group or defend against them. This would be very fun to do with a competitive group of friends. (Although one group will always lose to the other, so some may not care for that element.) All that being said, we were visiting from out of town as a group of 2 and had the entire room to ourselves, which meant we played against the AI. I still enjoyed the game immensely that way and believe that we got the full experience, getting to complete all the puzzles. So I would still recommend this room just as heartily with only 2 people. As for the puzzles and theming, I enjoyed them all. Not the most challenging difficulty, but still enjoyable.
London Fog: The Mists of TimeThe EntrapmentEscape roomIRLI thought this was a great room! I’ve done all 3 stories in the Fogmore saga and have enjoyed them all. This was my favorite of the 3 so far. I loved how many puzzles were crammed into this room and enjoyed that it took up our full time in the room. (We played as a group of 4 with 2 experienced players and 2 people new to escape rooms.) The theme was a creative setting for the continuation of the Fogmore story too. No need to play the rooms in order, it won’t impact your gameplay in the rooms. The intro videos to each room are the only part that ties the 3 stories together. However, if you intend to play all 3 rooms, I’d recommend doing them in order if you can, just to hear the storyline chronologically. But don’t sweat it if you can’t. Due to the room’s challenge level, I’d recommend new players getting some other escape rooms under their belt first, so they can fully enjoy the puzzles in this room, as they are more challenging than average. Overall I was impressed by the unique set pieces incorporated into this room and thought all the puzzles were quite creative. I’d recommend it!
Captain Spoopy Bones and the Magnificent Quest For Some Other Pirate's Treasure!Doldrick's Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis was a *fun* room! Great set and prop design, with some really fun reveals along the way. I enjoyed the story videos and appreciated the tech put into this room. The puzzles were fun and well themed. We played with 5 players and I felt that we all had something to do at all times and it didn’t feel overly crowded. I’d say you could play this room with 2 - 6 players and have a great time. It did a great job of requiring teamwork along the way. My only wish would be for a bit more challenge. We played with 3 people who had never done an escape room before and still got out with 23.5 minutes to spare, which feels like a lot. Throwing in some bonus puzzles for groups that are progressing this quickly would be a nice addition so we get more value for our money spent too. For those visiting Orlando from out of state like me, 2 of us are big escape room enthusiasts and were trying to target the best rooms in the area. We prioritized TERPECA rooms and found this and “Super Bomb Squad: Commandos Awesome!” at this location to be well worth our time. I would have liked to do a couple of the other rooms here rather than some of the others that I played at a different company because of how enjoyable these 2 were.
Super Bomb Squad: Commandos AwesomeDoldrick's Escape RoomEscape roomIRLNow this room was *fun*! I really enjoyed the spy theming and the tech in this room and felt that the challenge level was great! Our group completed the “Captain Spoopy Bones and the Magnificent Quest For Some Other Pirate's Treasure!” Room here first and were looking for something more challenging than that one. Despite Morty claiming that one was hard and this one is a Medium, I’d reverse that. They told us this was a 9/10 difficulty, so we picked this one and loved it even more. All around a great room and no complaints! Would recommend! For those visiting Orlando from out of state like me, 2 of us are big escape room enthusiasts and were trying to target the best rooms in the area. We prioritized TERPECA rooms and found this and “Captain Spoopy Bones and the Magnificent Quest For Some Other Pirate's Treasure!” at this location to be well worth our time. I would have liked to do a couple of the other rooms here rather than some of the others that I played at a different company because of how enjoyable these 2 were.
Operation Arctic Storm: The Final MeltdownThe Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford LakesEscape roomIRLThis room was a blast! It was my favorite of all their rooms at this location. I loved the theme, which was a very unique one amongst escape rooms. The puzzles were fun and challenging and plentiful. And the set design and size of the room was above and beyond. I really enjoyed it all from start to finish. Definitely a must do if you’re in the area! I’m a little surprised this isn’t an hour room. We finished in under an hour and we weren’t trying to rush and also spun our wheels for a considerable amount of time on one puzzle that we didn’t want help on. I’d call it Medium difficulty, not the Hard Morty lists it as, especially if you have 90 minutes to solve it.
Bros for Life: Fraternity HeistThe Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford LakesEscape roomIRLOverall I enjoyed this room, although we had a couple issues. On the positive side, I’d say that the theming was unique and the idea for the story was fun! I also enjoyed the puzzles and found them to be challenging and novel. One negative we experienced was that one puzzle is supposed to be triggered by your GM once you’ve solved it, but our GM accidentally thought we had solved it when he wasn’t looking and triggered it early, accidentally robbing us of one puzzle. We had to have him explain the puzzle to us at the end because we didn’t understand what had happened. I don’t love when a solution requires a GM to manually trigger it for this very reason. The other thing that was unfortunate for us was that we asked our GM beforehand to not give us any nudges, but to ask us if we wanted one if we were getting behind on time in the room. Instead, he nudged us multiple times without asking. I had assumed this must be because we were running low on time in the room and falling behind schedule, however when we finished with more than 10 minutes left on the clock, I was a bit annoyed about the unnecessary nudging. One of the other GMs even came up to us afterwards and apologized for our GM giving us too many nudges because he knew our group had said we didn’t want that. All that being said, this is still a great room and I would recommend it. I am honestly a bit surprised it has been a TERPECA nominee/finalist for the past 6 years, as it didn’t blow me away like I would expect a TERPECA room to do. But still, I’d recommend it if you are in the area and have the time.
The Satirical Miracle: A Jolly Tale Of Granny's BlackmailThe Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford LakesEscape roomIRLCute room and good puzzles. Would be great to do around Christmastime with kids or family. This was an Easy room, so would be good for beginners, but quite a bit too short for enthusiasts. I wouldn’t recommend this room unless you are a beginner, a completionist, or are just trying to get your room count higher.
Neighborhood WatcherThe Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford LakesEscape roomIRLThis was a really great story and a well executed room. Loved the concept and had fun playing it through. Our GM did a great job playing the character for this room too. Would recommend! 👍🏼
Outage: No VacancyThe Escape Ventures - Orlando Waterford LakesEscape roomIRLThis room presented a unique and fun challenge in having to solve puzzles mostly in the dark. I enjoyed the novelty of that experience and thought they had some clever puzzles. Would recommend!