Stalag 21 | American P.o.w.

Don’t do Stalag 21. Azalea was extremely unhelpful. I came here yesterday with friends and family for my birthday- party size of 5. I love escape rooms and seek out ones that are very difficult. This room is immersive and props feel authentic, but the experience was full of issues that left me very disappointed. 1. Some of the combination locks are improperly set- we had to fiddle with combinations and several lock solutions were one number off from the real answer. Related to this, the room is FULL of red herrings. It is fine to have red herrings, but the combination lock needs to work on the right answer the first time (or the attendant needs to be paying attention) so that you don’t give up on the right track. Other key items were broken and did not function as intended. 2. Communication with the attendant was terrible. We were told that we could use up to three hints (IMO, you really need them). We tried to ask for the first hint about 15 minutes into the game and received no response. We yelled, hit the red button, waved to the cameras, but never were acknowledged. We finally made it to subsequent rooms and the microphone for the attendant did not work. We could not hear her instructions and when we asked her to repeat, she said she needed to move back to the microphone for the first room. We sent someone back to the first room and it took several minutes for them to return with any information. 3. The rooms are not soundproof. Be prepared to hear other teams and other attendants the entire time- it’s very distracting. 4. The supplied flashlights barely worked- one kept flashing the entire time and the others were so dim that my father-in-law could not see anything. 5. We arrived on time with all waivers signed however the attendant still started our game quite late. We were rushed through hallways and up two flights of stairs by the attendant- my pregnant friend was out of breath! Perhaps unsurprisingly, we did not escape the room. We tried to communicate the issues to the attendant but she did not appear to care whatsoever.

What a room! Certainly isn’t wheelchair accessible so those with mobility issues should avoid this one but it is a ton of fun and is so challenging!

Needed a few more people to help with this one. So much to do.

This is a room that had interesting potential. The sets are unique and the transitions caught me off guard. However, a few dud puzzles dampen the experience. There is a part that is not that fun where either you have outside knowledge or you have to pixel hunt that knowledge. It’s not fun, it’s super time consuming, and it doesn’t even feel genuine. It’s a shame because there are other puzzles in here that do immerse you in the situation, take you to fascinating surprises, and allow you to do something big. Instead, it feels like most of the time, you’re scratching your head over a single puzzle. I enjoyed the other parts of the room, especially the final acts. The puzzles get exponentially better toward the end. But yea, it’s a room with a 5% escape rate, so keep in mind if you’re looking to book. Also, note that as the website says, there is quite a bit of climbing, and it is potentially dangerous if you are not careful or physically able to climb. Shout out to our GM Riley who was super amazing in facilitating this into a memorable experience and to talking with us about escape rooms afterwards!