The Vanishing Act

Even though I've played a bunch of escape rooms, I was with three new players (total of 1 game experience between them) and Locurio's recommendation of 6-8 had me worried. It turned out to be fine; 4 people felt like a good fit spacewise. A team of 3 would probably work if they're more experienced, and maybe 2 if you're enthusiasts. It is pretty parallelizable, so I guess players 5 or 6 could initially have something to do, but it seems like a large team would bottleneck after that. I like some subtle things that the designers did. A lot of rooms I've played either have the players doing something for selfish reasons (break out of jail, steal the gem, investigate the ruins) or do something theoretically altruistic (cure the disease, defuse the bomb). By simply having the GM (your in-universe friend) deliver the plot and banter a little at the intro, Locurio creates more of an emotional weight, which made the game more satisfying. Also, there's a clever switch from mostly mechanical elements in the first space to higher tech later on, which reinforces the [redacted] turn the plot takes, and the final puzzle felt appropriately tense and climactic to us (though maybe it was just the way we approached it, I could see other teams thinking it was tedious). Setwise, The Vanishing Act was nice but not spectacular. Locurio is located in a converted residential building, and it seemed like they weren't allowed to make major modifications to the walls, leading to the awkward feeling of being in a room that, while nicely decorated, was ultimately just one you might find at home. Puzzlewise, everything seemed clean, though there was one or two spots that seemed underclued. Some puzzles seem like they worked better in theory than in practice, though - it's possible (though probably unlikely) for players to do something dumb and require a GM to intervene. This is our fault for not specifying, but the GM was a little more eager to give hints than we needed. I applaud their instinct to step in when they thought we might be getting frustrated, but I think our threshold for frustration was higher than theirs. This resulted in us hurrying through the room even though we had plenty of time left, and I should have told them that we only wanted clues if we were in danger of not finishing or if we explicitly asked. I could see this being helpful for newer players, though.

This is definitely Seattle’s best escape room! While it is pricey and parking/finding the location can be a bit difficult, it’s all worth it. The tricks and twists in this room are awesome. Set design, immersion, puzzles, and storyline A+. I would not recommend it with only 2 people, though! Some puzzles require teamwork with more players. Bring a group and have a blast.

This was my 200th room! 🥳 Very puzzle heavy, and great nonlinear gameplay. Creative and good mix of puzzles. Everything flowed well and a neat reveal towards the second half. Though definitely showing it’s age, the core gameplay was fantastic! Huge thanks to Summer and our stage manager Mike, our Casey and Jak actors (sorry, I don’t think we got your names!) and the whole Locurio crew for making such a memorable experience! Can’t wait to come back for the new room and location! 😊

SUPER fun game with some really creative & fun puzzle elements. My favorite part of this game was the STORY, and the way in which the puzzle elements helped to create a larger narrative that you discover along the way. We did this with 7 people, and I would recommend this room to groups of 4+. I think you would have difficulty doing this with a group smaller than 4.

This was a really cool and well rounded room with interesting puzzles. Our GMs really made the experience shine!

This is the hardest room I have ever done. I don’t think of myself as an “exceptional escaper” - maybe slightly above average. My team needed a clue for every single puzzle except one. It wasn’t just hard - the clues didn’t really make sense. Maybe I am being over judgmental… but frankly, I do not think this room belongs on TERPECA imo. Very nice staff. Their other room, Storykeeper, at one point was one of my favorite rooms in the world. I wouldn’t put too much weight into this review if you’re thinking of doing this room to be honest. It was just unfortunate that we sat scratching our heads for 45 minutes…

Great room that my team sucked at. Even after we knew what belonged to what, which could be very challenging to determine, it was hard. Live actor was amazing once again for their location. Very satisfying room. Not as good as story keeper at this location but still extremely fun.

Solid room. A bit difficult with only 2 people but well worth the price of admission

Great room. First time I have seen a live actor so that was cool! Good amount of interesting puzzles, 4-6 people is probably a good team size. It gets a tiny bit spooky in the end through decorations, but no jump scares or anything.

One of the very first escape rooms that I visited and some really great puzzles. Actress was great and some impressively out-of-the-box puzzle mechanics. Highly recommend! Didn't make it out, but the game master came in and walked us through the last puzzle we missed to give us the big reveal we nearly had.