Here, Kitty KittyEscape Room LAEscape roomIRLVery cute room with a lot of interesting puzzles! A mix of lock-and-key and more immersive elements, with a lot of fun themed touches to the puzzles or the revealed solutions. The theme felt fresh and entertaining. It was a little crowded with a team of five but there was still plenty for all of us to do.
The PyramidEscape Room LAEscape roomIRLWe really enjoyed this room. Visually the environment is immersive and interesting to explore, though some puzzle mechanisms are showing their age. The superb staff member with us did a great job of rolling with any issues while staying “in character”, and also gave us some good nudges when we missed something. It was challenging for our team of two experienced escapers and we nearly failed, but this made it satisfying. Black Dragon remains my favourite room here, but this was a good one.
Wizard's Treasure60Out - HollywoodEscape roomIRLI feel like a grinch giving a thumbs down to a perfectly charming room that the group before us (one adult and three small children) clearly loved and even described as challenging — but for my group of two very experienced escapers, I didn’t feel it was really worth the trip. It’s cute, the puzzles have good flow, and the staff were great, but we spent more time listening to audio clips and repeating tasks than we did thinking. Probably a great first room or family room, but it was not for us.
Stash HouseStash HouseEscape roomIRLA clever non-linear room. My group of four experienced escapers attacked it with a divide-and-conquer approach and squeaked by with not much time to spare -- we were busy! People who know more about contemporary hip-hop might have more fun with the theming but no outside knowledge was needed, and we enjoyed that the room had such a strong and unique theme. Several fun reveals and layered puzzles.
The HeistThe Escape Game - Penn QuarterEscape roomIRLMy group of three joined a pair of strangers and had a wonderful time! A smooth and well-made room with a nice variety of interactions, and not too linear. Not the most elaborate set at this location, but it still feels like a "complete" space and is well worth doing. I am always nervous of the public games here, especially on weekends when I know someone will end up joining us, but I've never actually had a bad experience with the folks we get paired with and the rooms themselves are some of the best in the DC area.
The Postmaster's RiddleEscape The Old PostEscape roomIRLThis was a real gem, well worth a long drive. It’s also definitely TWO escape rooms (or rather, one 3hr escape room)— our group of four serious escapers would have needed a lot more than our usual quotient of hints just to finish Part 1 in 90 minutes. (The GM very kindly let us stay over time to finish the very last puzzle.) Not all the puzzles are stunners but the room is chock full of hidden delights and some really unique interactions. We very gladly went back two days later, and had a blast! It somehow gets even more fun in the second half, and the climax is definitely satisfying.
Varg Veum: OverkillEscape BryggenEscape roomIRLWe really loved this room! It’s their newest, and it has a really fun mystery-solving structure, with some very cool prop interactions. Easily one of the best escape room “stories” we’ve played (non obvious, internally consistent, interesting). It has some callbacks to a previous room but we didn’t feel like we were missing anything even though we’d never heard of Varg Veum. We played Hansearic League first and then this one, and I recommend that order— it’s a nice snapshot of how escape rooms have developed over the last 10 years (and you’ll finish on a “high”)
HanseaticusEscape BryggenEscape roomIRLThis was apparently the first escape room in Norway but it still holds up pretty well! A very non-linear room of lock and key, good for a moderate group. Each puzzle gave some satisfaction and required different kinds of thinking. Very fun to be in such a historical building. Our group of two couldn’t quite get through everything in time— lots to do, and we were less than perfectly efficient at two points— but we still had a lot of fun (and the host generously let us go through the ending after unsticking us on our last puzzle). Overall, still a room worth doing.
Chamber of Lost LegendsFox in a Box SolnaEscape roomIRLReally glad we made time for this while in Stockholm! An impeccable room with a friendly and helpful host. Not too linear, lots of creative interactions, very immersive. Made me wish we could stay longer and play the other rooms here!
The ArkEscape Games CanadaEscape roomIRLGreat environment, and exciting ending. I do recommend this room, which has a lot of engaging physical interactions and a neat setting (basically a riff on Bioshock). The "multiple endings" aspect was oversold a bit (when we got the other options explained, they were basically 'lose" and "four slight variations on something we'd never be motivated to do") but on the plus side that means we weren't "missing out" with the main "win" ending, which was exciting and had us going out on a high. Difficulty wise, there were some moments where we couldn't quite figure out what we were trying to do, but our team of three experienced escapers and one total newbie were able to finish with lots of time to spare.
