The Salem Witch Hunt - CLOSEDBack In Time Escape Rooms - Manhattan BeachEscape roomIRLThe room was surprisingly fun! The puzzles were simple and linear, so I recommend smaller groups. This room would also be great for kids. The room wasn’t as scary/spooky as I would like, but the puzzles were entertaining. The GM Harrison was fantastic as well, highly recommend.
Insane AsylumPanIQ Room - West HollywoodEscape roomIRLI really loved the room and the entire experience of this location. They have built out a lot of cool features: quiz room, karaoke, games in the lobby, as well as a bar. The room itself was themed and designed well. There were a few puzzle that felt like they were solved physically that needed some tinkering for it to be considered complete. The room was largely linear in the beginning with opportunities to divide in conquer toward the end. The puzzles all fit the theme, maybe requiring more out of the box thinking than they appear. We will be going back, hoping the bar will be ready when we return.
Mafia60Out - MelroseEscape roomIRLThis game is the typical mafia theme, the set design of the bar was very cool. However, the room is dated. A few different puzzles seemed to be very finicky & repeated multiple times in order to successfully complete. The finicky nature did give me a sour mood about the room in general. The puzzles were easy and linear, perfect for beginners with small size groups.
Amnesia - CLOSEDQuest Room - Culver CityEscape roomIRLAmazing room for a group of friends to enjoy. Hunter was a great GM, highly recommend it. Linear puzzles, with a nice twist at the end.
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle60Out - MelroseEscape roomIRLThis is one of my favorite rooms in recent memory. My group doesn’t often have four players to do rooms, which is recommended for this room. I would agree with the companies recommendation on the four player limit. If you enjoy Jumanji, or a video-game theme, I would highly recommend as they executed on the theme well. The puzzles started linearly and then transitioned into more of a non-linear as the game progressed. The puzzles themselves were of intermediate difficulty.
Station Zero [prev. Polar Station]Redondo Beach [prev. Quest Room]Escape roomIRLThis room is full of interesting puzzles that are quite unique compared to the other quest rooms we’ve done. Some of the puzzles felt non-traditional but very immersive. We really enjoyed the theme. Overall the puzzles are linear and not all that difficult. The room is quite small, so I’d recommend maybe three players maximum.
Nautilus60Out - KoreatownEscape roomIRLWe chose this puzzle due to the theme. The set design was fun and imaginative. The room started off rather slow, but ended up finishing with quite a bang. Overall we came away enjoying this room quite a bit, the puzzles were straightforward.
Ghost HuntersMaze Rooms - Robertson BlvdEscape roomIRLAt the time of writing this, I would strongly recommend against playing this room. This room is a new release and is focused on high tech puzzles. Unfortunately, five of those high tech related tasks were broken (three tasks were successfully completed multiple times without triggering the next sequence, two had significantly delayed responses after performing the required action). The bugs were causing significant delays in our teams progress since we performed the correct task with no response, ultimately leading us to radio the GM for a hint which told us to perform the task that we’ve already done successfully. Overall, the theme was amazing and immersive, but the execution was less than satisfactory and not worth the cost of admission. The GM was nice, but not attentive to the game. I would however recommend any other room at this location, and would likely recommend this room in a few months if they iron out the bugs.
Mansion MurderEscapology - ClackamasEscape roomIRLThe puzzles were almost designed for the sake of being overly complex. There were two puzzles that I feel are just flat out poorly designed. I’d recommend considering this room with a group of about four. Classic Sherlock Holmes theme. Most the puzzles involved translations into a code so it felt one dimensional, but the ways of decoding were unique.
Kidnapped! - CLOSEDPortland Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLMy team was visiting area and tends to enjoy the horror themed rooms so we chose this one. The set design was great and fit the theme well. The puzzles were linear and largely mechanical. For a group of two enthusiasts this was on the easy side for difficulty. There were enough puzzles, but the puzzles weren’t too hard to figure out. I would recommend no more than two people, perfect for teams that are just starting out with escape rooms. The GM (Nicky) was fantastic.
Houdini60Out - Silver LakeEscape roomIRLI really loved the set design for this room, it is extremely immersive. The puzzles were interesting and follow the theme perfectly. However, we came out of the room wishing we had more puzzles to solve. We were a team of two and finished in about 30 minutes which feels extremely short.
Inksidious - CLOSEDEscape Room 66 - Los AngelesEscape roomIRLThe description of the room was just vague enough where I couldn’t imagine what the room was going to look like, I just knew that it was going to be artistic in some manner. This left pleasantly surprised with the set design. The first room has quite a few puzzles so you might be a bit overwhelmed with where to start, but my team found a nice flow once we started to figure it out. The puzzles appear to be non-linear, as you can see all the work that needs to be done upfront. However they are quite linear, so I would suggest no more than three people for this room. The owner/GM was extremely nice and welcoming, we will gladly come back if she decides to open up another room. Side note to escapees, enter through the big brown gate, there’s a callbox where you can call the Escape Room.
Wizard's Treasure60Out - HollywoodEscape roomIRLWe liked how the story felt more cooperative, and the experience was meant to be enjoyed together instead of divide and conquer. The set design itself was fantastic, has a Disney feel. The story felt like it was tailored for kids, but definitely enjoyable for adults. The puzzles are supposed to be enjoyed linearly, but there is room for divide and conquer if desired. Fantastic room.
Treasure IslandBrain Games Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis was one of the best rooms I’ve done thus far (played 29). The room(s) were extreme immersive with a large diversity of puzzles. This room has quite a large amount of (non-linear) puzzles so it was a bit much for a team of two. Maybe three or four players would be the sweet spot. Has one of the highest production quality of the games I’ve played, and the customer service is amazing. Shoutout to Trevor.
Wrongfully ConvictedThe Escape RevolutionEscape roomIRLI was extremely immersed in the prison escape scenario, the set design was perfect given the story. As a group of two, we did not end up escaping, I suggest maybe a group of three minimum. The GM did a wonderful job. Definitely going back to do another.
Secrets of the PharaohsThe Ultimate Escape Rooms - Marina Del ReyEscape roomIRLThe production quality for this escape room was fantastic. I was super surprised upon entering the room. The puzzles were linear, the puzzles were unique. One of the puzzles in particular seemed quite poorly designed and unintuitive. However I enjoyed a majority of the puzzles. There should potentially be an additional puzzle that provides an additional clue to make it more intuitive. The game master was very friendly, and helpful. It is on the harder side for two player teams. I would suggested at least three people to make it comfortable. Definitely not for the vision or mobility impaired.
The Demented DoctorThe Ultimate Escape Rooms - Marina Del ReyEscape roomIRLI was pleasantly surprised by this experience. There felt like there were more clues than average, but the clues were all manageable. The clues were largely mechanical in nature, but they were quite unique. The input for the clues was largely alpha numeric combinations so I would have liked some diversity. This is the locations oldest room, and the production quality was fair. The team was super nice and I’ll be looking to come back to them to do the other rooms. We completed it as a group of two. Three might be our ideal group size.
The Dragon's LairMaze Rooms - Culver CityEscape roomIRLAs someone who doesn’t have a history of enjoying fantasy themed rooms, I really enjoyed this room. It didn’t feel too fantastical until you venture into the later rooms. The puzzles themselves were fun, and linear. Due to the linearity, I’d suggest no more than three people in the group. The GM was amazing, we requested no nudges unless asked and the request was respected. This room is an older room so some the puzzles were quite specific in the interactions required due to the technology at the time. Overall a great room.
Ghost Ship60Out - MelroseEscape roomIRLWith a Ghost Ship theme, we expected a spooky experience. The experience was not spooky, but simply pirate themed. The puzzle design was standard, but there were a few puzzles that were designed pretty horribly, making it unintuitive to progress. I was not fully immersed in this experience due to seeing the cameras, microphones, props with messages saying how not to use them, and miscellaneous rooms that we weren’t supposed to enter. We had a group of two people, I think a group of three might be the ideal number. The GM was extremely nice, but the room itself didn’t leave me with a satisfying feeling.
Pharaoh's Tomb - CLOSEDMaze Rooms - HollywoodEscape roomIRLThis room is medium difficulty with generally linear puzzles. I wouldn’t recommend this room if you are mobility or sight impaired. We did the room as a team of two, and think that its the ideal number of players for the room. Any more more people and the room might feel too easy. Overall the set design was as you would expect out of a Pharaoh’s Tomb themed room, but the production quality did feel like it was toward the lower end.