Activate [Interactive Arcade]Activate - TustinEscape roomOther Super fun interactive arcade with about a dozen challenge rooms, each with 3-7 different games, each with many levels of difficulty. Every room has cooperative games; most also have competitive modes. Each level lasts about 60-90 second, so you’re never waiting too long for a game. Many of the challenges can be physically active, but there are also good options for those looking for less intense body movement. (The website lists the available rooms and describes the basic types of challenges if you want more info.) The tech all worked seamlessly, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We loved it so much that we’re planning to join the global league this fall!
Jungle 2: The Next DimensionPuzzle Theory - South WindsorEscape roomIRLThis was a fun room! Great theming to Jumanji the board game. I completely understand the critiques in the 2 previous scrambled reviews—especially about the time-wasting aspect of all the lighting/sound effects that you have to wait to finish every time you complete a puzzle. There are also some dexterity puzzles that we can see some people being frustrated by. But the lighting/sound effects did add to the immersion of the room, and overall, we still immensely enjoyed the room and the number and variety of puzzles. We also like more physical challenges, so this room was up our alley. We were 2 enthusiasts plus a smart recreational escape artist (though we were required to pay for 4 players), we didn’t rush, and we completed the room with about 6 mins to spare. The owner was kind enough to open 30 mins early to allow us to do this room plus fit in another in the 2 hours we had before we had to depart out of BDL. We appreciate the customer service!
UndercookedOmescape - SunnyvaleEscape roomIRLFun puzzle-grind room that is right up our alley—and the fact that it’s food themed is just icing on the cake (pun intended)! We previously did a version of this room in Anaheim that we loved, and while we still like that version slightly better, this one was great and filled with mostly new puzzles compared to that version. We had tons of fun as a group of 4, and we all appreciated being able to do puzzles solo and together and just have a great time. Definitely highly recommend this room!
Video Game MayhemTrapped Puzzle Rooms - Saint PaulEscape roomIRLOne of the better video-game themed rooms we’ve done. We really appreciated the number of video games referenced in this room and the overall number and variety of puzzles involved. It isn’t super high-tech, but there was a good mix of tech with number/letter locks. We were 2 enthusiasts, and we finished the room in about 40 minutes. We wished it was longer, but we enjoyed every minute we spent in it!
The Founder's SecretThe Lodge of Lazarus CroweEscape roomIRLThis room is a must-do in the Twin Cities area—and preferably the first room you do at The Lodge at Lazarus Crowe story-wise bc it’s a good intro to the founding. The entire experience was great from start to finish, but how you gain access into the room is a truly unique and fun part of the experience. We loved the variety of puzzles in this room and just overall how much of the space we got to interact with. We also enjoyed the need for teamwork! We did this room as 2 enthusiasts and got done in a little under 60 mins for this 75-min experience. Pro Tip: If there’s down time between escape rooms, you can hang out in their bar/cafe and grab drinks (they have good mocktail and non-alcoholic drink options!) and play board games you can check out for free.
UtopiaLock and Key EscapeEscape roomIRLDefinitely a unique room in terms of the tech, space, and story! There were a few mechanisms we hadn’t experienced before, and this one kept 4 enthusiasts busy and entertained for most of our 60 minutes, which is great as we love more challenging rooms. We enjoyed the room overall but were just a bit frustrated (as we usually are) when there are puzzles that look like you can complete them but actually you only have partial information so you end up spinning some wheels trying to solve something that can’t be solved yet. But this was a minor issue compared to all the fun moments we had. Strongly recommend you check out this room if you’re in the Twin Cities!
The Family CabinQuicksand Escape GamesEscape roomIRLThis was a fun throwback to the 90s that we really enjoyed and would strongly recommend especially for SD. We also did The Diner at Quicksand but liked this room more because it didn’t have any illogical puzzles and it had a bit more tech. We especially appreciate how many puzzles Quicksand includes in each room—you really get your money’s worth in puzzle solving! That’s why we’re giving this room a ❤️. We were a team of 2 enthusiasts, and we got out with 1:26 left on the clock. That made us so happy bc it meant the room was a bit of a challenge and filled with enough puzzles to keep us quite busy the entire 60 mins! The only cons with this room are the same we found with The Diner: A lot of physical locks requiring 4-digit codes, but it often wasn’t clear which code went with which lock, so you had to try the same code on multiple locks, which wasted time. Also, you have access to a lot of partial puzzles, so it seems like the room is non-linear but actually it is super linear bc you can’t complete most puzzles at first as additional info/pieces are locked until you solve another puzzle. For that reason, we don’t recommend more than 2-3 for enthusiasts or people will just be spinning their wheels trying to solve things they really can’t, and it doesn’t make sense for more than 2-3 people to work on the one active puzzle. Again, the staff here is great and very accommodating. Parking is hard and/or expensive in this area, so plan accordingly!
Battleship - The Pirate EditionNo. 1 Escapes - Sky ParkEscape roomIRL100% agree with another reviewer that this latest version of one of our favorite puzzle-grind rooms is definitely worth doing even if you’ve done previous versions at Not Another Escape Room (still the best version) and Deceptive Games because No 1 Escapes has changed out/added more puzzles. But we also don’t like how much time is allocated to the two rounds of battleship in between the puzzle solving. It feels like we have much less time in this version to solve puzzles in the main room, which is the whole appeal of a puzzle-grind room. We appreciated that our GM gave us 5 extra minutes of puzzle time bc we rushed through the battleship portion to get it over with, but overall we still got less than 60 minutes of our paid play time which is frustrating for a puzzle-grind room. Nevertheless, I’m giving it a ❤️ because I appreciate that No 1 Escapes has preserved this gem of a room, and puzzle-grind rooms are relatively hard to find. And I do appreciate the new puzzles to refresh the room. This game is also replayable bc you won’t get through all the puzzles in one run, and inevitably your teammates will solve puzzles you never get to see. And we appreciate that they’re offering a good discount to re-do the room. But it sucks that only about 30 mins are allocated to the main puzzle solving, which makes it less appealing to return.
The Asylum: PlaytimeLost GamesEscape roomIRLMuch much better than Chapter One (Doctor’s Secret) on all counts: lots more puzzles, puzzles were substantially more challenging, and there were a couple of interesting mechanics we hadn’t quite seen before. We are so glad they were upfront with us that there is a character in the game that would usually guide us through the game—because we were able to instruct them not to do that. We never want nudges but prefer to figure things out on our own. And we’re so glad they obliged. We appreciated being able to ask questions when we felt like we needed to verify what to do next without breaking something in the room or engaging in unnecessary tedium, but we never want to just be told what to do next. That self-discovery is a huge part of the fun of escape rooms—and there was a LOT to discover in this room! Don’t let the “spooky” rating deter you. Other than at the beginning as part of setup, there are no live actors in the room, and nothing will jump out or touch you. We did this back-to-back with Chapter One and really enjoyed the flow from one room to the next. Highly recommend this room—it is definitely a top choice for Vegas and beyond!
Moriarty's ManorMindFox EscapeEscape roomIRLGreat room! We enjoyed the number and variety of puzzles, especially ones that involved dexterity and team work. There was one mechanic we hadn’t quite seen like this one before, so that’s always fun. The progression flowed well through multiple spaces. We were entertained for about 50 minutes as a group of 4 (2 enthusiasts and 2 smart recreational escape artists) who did not rush and tried to stick together so none of us missed any puzzles.
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