The Restless Spirit of Abigail RoseChoice EscapesEscape roomIRLThis was a fun room for a group of 4. We’re all pretty experienced players and found the puzzles well themed and novel with some neat mechanics we hadn’t seen before. The theming was strong and we appreciated the integrated narrative story. For a group of 4, there was plenty to do. There were a couple linear puzzle strings going on so no one felt like they were without a puzzle at any point. Can’t wait to see their second room!
Alice: ReimaginedConundroom - Avalon ParcsquareEscape roomIRLImmersive design with some neat themed puzzles. We did this with a group of 4 but 2-3 would have also been fine. The space is pretty small for a group larger than 4. Puzzles were on the easier side. Unfortunately, the puzzles were finicky and it was hard to tell if they’d gone off or not. The room was also not working well - as the gm told us from the start. However, usually in my experience if the operator knows a room isn’t working well they’ll watch the players closely and intervene pre-emptively if they see something hasn’t gone off that should have or that a puzzle has gone off but no one saw the outcome. Instead, the gm told us to assume the puzzle wasn’t working if we thought we’d solved it and to push a button to call them into the room. They also told us the speaker system wasn’t very good so came into the room for every hint or puzzle fix - I don’t blame the gm this but also it was weird and broke all the immersion to have someone come into the room every few minutes. Also a frustrating solution when it’s a room filled with all of these tech problems.
Dungeon of DoomSure Lock Escapes - Stout Oak Adventuring Guild (Kent)Escape roomIRLWow what an up level from the Renton location! From the first walk into the place, the immersion is excellent. We had a great time.
Quest for the Holy GrailEnchanted Escape Rooms at Washington Midsummer Renaissance FaireEscape roomPop upFun for what it was - a quick intended to be 15 min room in the middle of a fair. We finished it in under 3 minutes so definitely not a value for the money but for at $50 for any size 2-5, thought it wasn’t too bad a price for the novelty. Very straightforward puzzles, probably not going to be super fun for folks with a lot of escape room experience.
Temetra's HexEscape Hour Point RustonEscape roomIRLDecor was excellently immersive though at some points difficult to tell what was decor vs puzzle prop. The voice over system was great and the game master helpful (though a little too helpful at times?). The room was a good length in terms of puzzles for time and there was plenty to do for our group of six. I appreciated the paired puzzles that forced some amount of separation though the number of people and amount going on made it a little hard to hear. The puzzles themselves were immersive and the room leaned more towards immersivity vs straight up puzzle complexity. Warning - the room does require some amount of crawling and climbing.
RockstarCityscape GamesEscape roomIRLThe setting looks a little basic at first glance (hard to make a building aesthetic as flashy as some other fantastical settings) but as pieces get revealed, it’s laid out excellently. Puzzles were built into the theme of the room and many that we hadn’t seen before. We did this room with 4 and that was perfect. There were a few paired puzzles as well.
Pirate ShipwreckSure Lock Escapes – Cypher Island (Renton)Escape roomIRLThe room was built out to be pretty immersive and though some of the puzzles were a bit of a stretch to fit the theme, a lot of them were well constructed to be part of the story. We did this room with 4 though probably would have been fine with 2. It was a fast room (we finished in about half the time) which was a little disappointing for the cost. This was also the only time I’ve ever seen a mandatory game master gratuity as part of the fees.
Siren's CoveEscape Hour Point RustonEscape roomIRLGreat atmosphere and setting. Loved the voice over clue system and Summer was a great GM! Plenty to do for our group of 5 though the first part is pretty linear. Took a little bit of nudging to figure out how to get started but picked up quickly. Recommend bringing a group of six or at least an even number. A lot of puzzles were pair puzzles which made it a little slow for the odd person out at any given time.
Baker Street Mystery - CLOSEDEscape Hour Gig HarborEscape roomIRLLoved the clue system and how into it the GM was. A small room, good for 2-3 players. Cute immersive factors though it relied on a lot of pun word play which we weren’t used to and we got caught up on a few times.
Mission BunkerEscape Room Seattle by Fox In A BoxEscape roomIRLSetting immersion was great though there’s a weird step in the middle of the room that we all kept tripping over. That seemed like an odd choice. We did this with a group of 4 and that seemed fine. The ending was kind of anticlimactic and would have appreciated more of a “finale” but the puzzles were entertaining. There were a couple that weren’t working super well which was frustrating but well enough that it worked with a lot of effort.
Prison BreakEscape Room Seattle by Fox In A BoxEscape roomIRLWe did this room with 6 but 4 might have been the better balance. We finished the room in about 40 minutes and we expected there to be more. Great structure and well done with props. The group gets split up in the beginning and the tasks felt a little unbalanced between the sides.
Dive To AtlantisThe Escape Artist - West SeattleEscape roomIRLLoved the immersivity of this room! The Escape Artist did a great job using setting and tech. We did this room with 4 and that was perfect. There were plenty of parallel puzzles that could be worked on concurrently. We did have a few tech hiccups but they were resolved quickly by the GM.
The Bank JobSeattle Escape GamesEscape roomIRLMostly linear room which meant there was plenty of standing around time for most of the group. We did this room with 6 but the space made it really hard to do really anything. 4 is probably a better size or really just 2. This is a fairly long room (as in, number of steps to get through) but given the linearity and the size constraints of the space, more people didn’t help and we ended up mostly just side chatting. This is also a room where they rely heavily on “everything being dim” to be a primary challenge to completing things which is just annoying. I did like the level of story drive to the flow of the room but that wasn’t enough to overcome the other factors.
Storybook Legends: The Raven and the Red Death - CLOSEDEpic Team AdventuresEscape roomIRLWe did this one twice. They’ve incorporated some pretty novel tech puzzles into the room but unfortunately they broke the first time we played through and the GM gave us a credit to try again another time. Themed after Edgar Allen Poe, the immersivity was well constructed though the puzzles were just puzzles and most weren’t tied strongly into the theme (though the ones that were tied in were great). There was a lot to do overall and though the team put in some work between the first and second times we did it to make it a little more linear, there was a lot of concurrent puzzles going on which was great for a larger group (we did it with 6) but would be very overwhelming for a smaller team.
Spell StruckThe Escape Artist - West SeattleEscape roomIRLCute room, well propped! We completed some puzzles by accident which was a bit of a bummer but it was fun anyway. Did this room with 4.
Top of the Charts - Seattle Style - CLOSEDReality Break EscapesEscape roomIRLWalked into the room to see literally dozens of similar locks. No clues or hints to what code or key went to which lock so we spent more time trying codes on locks than actually solving puzzles.
Escape the Mystic Manor Blue [prev. The Eventide Departure]Puzzle BreakEscape roomIRLPoints for immersivity! Fun room though there were some flow issues where it wasn’t clear where the clues/hints were and how they were incorporated into what puzzle.
The Peking Dragon - CLOSEDEpic Team AdventuresEscape roomIRLNeat use of props with a fun story. The ending was a little unsatisfying but it was an entertaining room.
The Vanishing ActLocurioEscape roomIRLThe larger of Locurio’s two in-person rooms. Puzzles well integrated and very immersive. Great room for a group of 6. Heads up since it was a little surprising to me, the theme suddenly gets creepy midway.
The StorykeeperLocurioEscape roomIRLThis is the best escape room in the area hands down. When folks ask me for local escape room recommendations I tell them that The Storykeeper is the best but they should do a couple others first else they’ll be ruined forever (I also think folk will appreciate The Storykeeper more with a basic understanding of puzzle logic and locks). This is a fully immersive story-driven room with one of the most novel clue systems I’ve seen. The storyline has some parallel puzzles to it and has enough content for a party of 4. The puzzles themselves feel like you’re revealing parts of the story. Excellently executed. Excellently structured. My only regret is that you only get to run it for the first time once.
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