Lab Rat

One of those rooms where everything — set design, story, puzzles— clicks together to form an immensely satisfying whole. Add in a great sense of humor and excellent, attentive GM-ing and I can see why this has managed to stay in the TERPECA rankings for seven straight years. (To set expectations: the game is originally from 2018, and its current ranking in the TERPECA 200s feels about right. It is a delightful game that absolutely deserves to be celebrated, but don’t expect the epic scale of the newer or higher ranked TERPECA finalists.)

This room had everything I could want in an escape room! The story was funny, the props were fitting and the puzzles made use of them well, and everyone had something to do the whole time! One thing I thought was nifty was how puzzles could be solved in different ways. After we completed the room, our GM showed us how we could have solved some of the puzzles differently. There were a few moments where I definitely felt like an idiot, which was completely on brand for the room! The puzzle design was great! We loved the space and how everything was laid out. Everything was spread out, but it still all felt cohesive! The puzzles were completely varied. It’s so hard to talk about all the things we loved without spoiling anything. I’ll note one thing and leave it as a cautionary tale for others. There’s a puzzle in the first area that can be solved in multiple ways. One of those ways leaves you soaked if you aren’t careful and that can be a bit uncomfortable to run the rest of the room in. It sure was funny though! (They warn you about this in the beginning, I’m just not a very smart test subject…

Lab Rat is one of those escape rooms you've heard about so many times that eventually you have to try it, and hopefully the hype and high reviews have not set the bar too high for you. After playing it ourselves, I can see why it's so beloved. I can imagine that when it first opened, it would've been top notch. Its set design and immersion is solid; you really do feel like, well, a "lab rat." Now, it's been some years, and a lot of high-tech, modern escape rooms have since opened, but I can see why Lab Rat with its older tech still gets positive reviews nowadays. As aforementioned, its immersion. Then the puzzles are clever and unique. There were definitely a handful we'd still never seen before, and they were fun and satisfying. There's some unique and fun mechanisms at play, too. It's a well put together room and experience overall. About the only "negative" thing about Lab Rat might be its (weekend) price at $70/person. Weekdays are $40/person, which is better. You also can't play with just two people unless you pay for the price of 4 people (Saturday) or 3 people (any other day). HOWEVER, there are Groupons for the Hatch Escape rooms for Tues-Thurs for groups of 4 people. There's one for Lab Rat for $100. We got it for $80 with a sale discount on Groupon that day. So our usual group of 4 got to play for $80 total instead of the $280 we'd normally pay to play on a weekend. Something to keep in mind. Because although Lab Rat was great and still a strong recommend, it's probably not in my favorite favorites and therefore $70 is a quite steep for an escape room (with no live actors or extended gameplay time). [Lab Rat is 60 minutes of gameplay but it says 75 minutes of experience to include video clips, during which they thankfully pause your game clock]

It was pretty good. Very cool concepts but we were unable to do like 2 or 3 of the puzzles because they weren’t working..

The scene and props were well done. The flow was great and there was enough to do for everyone.

What an excellent and unique game. Definitely one of my favorites. Our GM Jesse had the best vibe and was just fantastic. The game itself was one of the most immersive ones I’ve ever done. Some really fun moments. I wish I could go again! Took our 13-year-old nephew and he was able to solve quite a few puzzles we couldn’t. All around great room.

This one was on my wishlist for a long time as I'd heard great things for years. Luckily got a good time slot to do it on my birthday! The theme was super fun and well done, with plenty of puns and tongue in cheek jokes. There were some very unique and unexpected elements, some fun surprises, and just overall very well done and deserving of all the awards and high ratings. Our game master Tyler was excellent and he threw in a sweet message in the credits. Can't wait to come back and experience Hatch's other offerings.

Excellent room! Easily of one of the best I’ve done. Lots of very unique and clever puzzles in a well designed, fun atmosphere.

Absolutely one of the best escape rooms out there. 4 people felt like the perfect amount.