Scooby-Doo™ and the Spooky Castle AdventureEscapology - Marina Del ReyEscape roomIRLThe game itself was okay. We took 2 kids there, and they were able to do most of the room on their own, which was nice. The ending of the game isn’t that bombastic, you enter a code on the door, which triggers the ending video. But still, with the kids, we wanted them to enjoy the “Congratulations” video at the end that explained the end of the story. Annoyingly, the game master burst in just as the ending video started playing. We had to ask her to hold and let us finish watching it. She stood there the whole time with an annoyed look on her face. I also suspect they bypassed us on a puzzle which confused us and was also annoying because we finished with more than 10 minutes left. Ultimately, the game itself was cute and great for kids. But the customer service left a very bad taste in our mouths.
Ghost HuntersMaze Rooms - Robertson BlvdEscape roomIRLFrom a GM who clearly thought escape rooms were stupid and could care less about telling us the story to failed tech and terrible puzzles, this was one of the worst experiences I’ve had playing escape rooms. At one point, doors opened to another area, and we were very confused what triggered it. After asking the GM, she said “oh, solving it 3/4 is good enough.” Like, what?! So puzzles just solve to some arbitrary point? How is that even remotely satisfying? They had all these cool props and a great set, but you barely did anything with it. The clues and puzzles all felt super clunky with little to no signposting. Despite having high tech components, the clues were super unclear and frankly a throwback to old, bad, escape rooms. Even at the end, we asked for a photo and she goes “oh did you want me to take it, or do you just want to do a selfie?” Avoid this room unless you like bad puzzles, broken tech, and terrible customer service.
They're ComingMaze Rooms - Culver CityEscape roomIRLFun game with great puzzle flow. Fun twist on a zombie/apocalypse theme. All the different areas had a very different feel, which I liked. I really enjoyed the variety of puzzles in this game.
The Mischevious NisseThe Ultimate Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThis is about what you would expect for a beginner/kid friendly game in a very touristy area. I brought my 8 yr old niece, and she had a lot of fun with some help. Staff was nice but unenthusiastic, and the introduction to the room was monotone and rushed. I think explaining what a “nisse” is (like an elf or gnome) would have added much more. The puzzles were fun, but the props were quite worn. There is a decent flow to the game, and it wasn’t difficult to figure out what to do next. I think for beginners or if you have kids, this will scratch the itch. Plus it’s in a great location right in town.
