Servants of SleightThe Exit Games FLEscape roomIRLI went into SoS with tremendous expectations after reading so many reviews and recommendations from friends. We had a great time and it almost lived up to the extraordinary expectations. With all of this said, this may be the best game I have experienced. We arrived 30 mins early, so they had us wait in the “chill lounge” which was pretty trippy with the clouds, lights, cats, and relaxing video playing. This was my 1st time in a 90 min room and really liked it as I did not feel rushed. I felt like 90 mins was a perfect amount of time for this room. However, we had a long day in the sun, and did this room at night (8:30pm) so the rest of my party were drained by the end of the 90 mins. All 5 rooms of sets/designs were amazing and you completely felt immersed into the story…we especially liked the Nightclub Lounge. Many of the rooms were quite large with lots to do, but the puzzles were fun and totally doable…nothing overly challenging. All of our senses were definitely used during this game for many of the puzzles. We got to experience true magic, but that’s all I can say. The rooms had great flow. Before we started, the GM (Jamie) said the room was non-linear, but for our group of 3, after the first room we thought it flowed linearly. The Hint system was different and worked well. We only had to use a few hints and Jamie did a great job of nudging us in the right direction. Jamie was extremely enthusiastic and did a great job of allowing us to ask questions after we escaped. The last room’s puzzles and final reveal was a cool moment. Now that we are in the Brotherhood of the SoS, I recommend that if you are ever in the Tampa area, you must experience Servants of Sleight…you will not be disappointed!
Cornstalkers: Lost in the MaizeThe Escape Ventures - OrlandoEscape roomIRL1st time visiting The Escape Ventures Orlando and it was an amazing experience. We are going on a cruise in the morning so we only had time to play 1 game while in town so we played Cornstalkers (10:45pm start time). Cornstalkers seems to be highly hyped with all the amazing reviews so we were really excited to play. All I can say is that it lived up to the hype and WOW! My 50th room was amazing! Our GM, James, was super fun and personable from the second we entered the lobby having playful banter with our group about the Bears (since we had a Bears hat on) and just messing around with us. James ran our game and continued with the playful banter, screwing with us, but in different ways. We loved it! Throughout the game, the sets are just unbelievable and you do feel like you are at a fall festival in a corn maze. There were a surprising amount of puzzles, as this is a true escape room, but also a fun and thrilling experience. So many “wow” moments throughout, some exciting, some funny, some scary…keeps your adrenaline pumping. Even though we were the last booking of the night and our game ended well after midnight, James went above and beyond to give us a behind the scenes tour and explain all that happens behind the scenes with the room…all the set changes, his costume changes, and different things that he does. He works his butt off during those 90 minutes and takes the room from great to spectacular. James vibed with us from the beginning and interacted with us throughout in a perfectly fun way, so kudos to James on going above and beyond. Highly recommend The Escape Ventures Orlando and Cornstalkers in particular. Definitely worth traveling to. We hope to be back soon to play more of their games!
Lockbuster Video60 to Escape - SchaumburgEscape roomIRL𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 �𓅝𓃄 �𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿 𓆜𓋘𓄁 𓊛𓇙𓋸𓌤𓌥 𓌦 𓅐𓆢 𓆣 𓀉𓆤 𓆥 𓅑𓆘 𓆙 𓅒𓄙 𓄚 𓄛 𓅓𓃺 𓃻 𓅔 𓅕 𓃕 𓃖 𓃗 𓎷 𓄁𓎸𓅖 𓅽 𓅾 𓅿𓅗 𓅘 𓇆 𓇇𓅙 𓅚 𓁵 𓁶𓂵 𓂶𓃝𓋲 𓋳𓀬 𓅛𓁃 𓂺𓅜 𓂨𓅝𓃄 𓄁𓅞𓂙 𓅟𓂿This review contains spoilers.Unscramble𓀗
Dr. Gem’s Time TrapMaine Escape GamesEscape roomIRL1st time visiting Maine Escape Games and Dr. Gem’s Time Trap was a great experience. The theme is a typical time traveling story, but sets, technology, and immersion was extraordinary. Only 3 traditional locks and a lot of technology in all rooms. You really needed to be observant in all of the rooms as clues are there for you to complete everything. Some memorable puzzles include a math-related puzzle, a mixture puzzle, and a teamwork related puzzle. A time related puzzle even added some additional stress on you to complete timely. Almost every puzzle you solved had something open automatically and there were some very cool reveals with some, but all reveals were satisfying. Room can be viewed as non-linear, but our group of 3 worked together almost the entire game, and it seemed linear for us on what we wanted to complete next. There is a lot to do so you need to stay focused and have some urgency in the last room especially, as a certain puzzle will take a few minutes to complete. Overall, MEG’s customer service was great. Our GM (Erica) was fun to talk with before and after, and gave us a few nudges at perfect times to ensure we knew what to work on next (exactly what we asked her to do before we started). Overall, a super fun room and a fantastic experience at MEG. MEG is a very good ER company and I look forward to playing another room when we are in the area again.
Hidden Temple60 to Escape - GurneeEscape roomIRLHidden Temple was our 3rd room we have experienced at 60 to Escape Gurnee (previously did Museum Heist and Blast from the Past) and this was our favorite! Sets/decor were amazing and great use of tech/lighting made it feel like we were in an actual temple. There were so many different rooms to explore that you started to feel like you were trapped in this temple! Each time another room opened up, you got another rush of excitement to see what was next. They even used the laser lights you see at haunted houses to simulate a swamp in a room, which was super cool to experience. Rooms had a great variety of puzzles…skill, math, translation, following patterns…nothing too difficult and all of them fun. Game flowed really well and naturally split our team of 4 into 2 groups of 2 in several of the rooms which worked well. Almost no locks and they were used in perfect ways. GM (Jillian) was fun to talk to before and after about her favorite rooms, and she did a great job giving us 2 slight nudges when we spun our wheels (at the beginning and at the end). Customer Service at all of the 60 to Escape locations are amazing as they are actively engaged in your experience and genuinely want you to have fun and escape. Hidden Temple was a blast and highly recommend it!
Cheesie's Pizza Party60 to Escape - SchaumburgEscape roomIRLThis was my 5th 60 to Escape Woodfield room (only one left to do is JP), and Cheesie’s lived up to the hype. The room was not as hard as anticipated, but our group of 6 came prepared, and were very organized with our game play. The rooms (4) were super cool and it felt like you were in an old abandoned Chuck E Cheese, and the games they had in the room were actual, still functioning arcade games. The stage with the animatronic Chuck E was very cool and added to the theme and story. I did not feel this room was scary at all, but thought it was a really cool atmosphere. Game had a great flow and the puzzles all made a lot of sense, where we took great notes of items we identified, and then made connections with those things identified earlier. The use of gum was especially cool for a certain puzzle as you would totally see this when you were a kid. Room was a lot of fun and satisfying for everyone in our group as we all contributed to many of the puzzles. Our GM (Jacob) was phenomenal and very enthusiastic before and afterwards when talking about the room and his favorite rooms, and his clues (I think we used 2-3) were great to give us a confirmation or slight nudge in the right direction (as opposed to giving us a direct answer). Customer Service at this Woodfield location has exceeded my expectation each time we have visited, as the GM’s seem to be having just as much fun as we are as they are watching attentively and rooting us on. 60 to Escape Woodfield is an amazing location for people of all levels of ER experience, and all of their rooms are Hollywood quality and a lot of fun. You just feel happy when doing rooms at Woodfield. Can’t wait to do JP and a new room which may be coming later in 2025.
Magic Heist60 to Escape - SchaumburgEscape roomIRLMagic Heist was a lot of fun with good use of technology. Game was not linear, so people could be working on various puzzles at the same time. Had a really fun time.
The AttractionPalace GamesEscape roomIRLThe Attraction is not really an Escape Room and more of an experience. There was major hype going into this experience from the reviews I read and I tried to go into it level-headed. Well, I was really let down by this experience. First room was fine and the puzzle was an easy concept to grasp, even though we struggled for a bit. Regardless, moving into the spaceship we were having a good time. The spaceship was something different, although we have seen this concept before. The 2nd main room (1st planet you visit) was difficult for us to understand with the 1st set of puzzles. It seemed like it may have been malfunctioning as it was extremely repetitive, it took us a long time, and we became extremely frustrated because it seemed like we kept doing the same thing over-and-over. I know The Palace Games tries to be extremely immersive with no GM interaction, but it made it frustrating that we could not get a nudge, as we could not move forward and it felt like it took forever to get to the next set of puzzles in this 1st planet room. This repetitive, possibly malfunctioning room is what killed the experience for us. The Library was a cool room and almost saved this experience for us as it did bring some fun and energy, but it was still nothing spectacular. There was a cool reveal in this room and the height of the ceiling was impressive. As we entered the last room, our group was over this experience and we flew through the last room in a few minutes. The GM knew that half of our party “checked-out” since the 1st planet room and either the room was very easy or the GM made it easier for us so we would just be done. We finished with 15 mins on the clock so not sure. This last room did have some cool decor though in the forest-like setting. Overall, we were disappointed with game play and sets. Besides the library room, sets and games/puzzles were nothing special, with no really cool reveals, which contradicted some reviews. Spaceship was kind of cool but repetitive. The quality of the room sets and the tech aspect was impressive, but it seemed to be overused at times, and possibly malfunctioned in the 1st planet room. Sorry to say that The Attraction was not worth the price of admission, even if you brought 8 people (please note that bringing more than 4-5 would be too many though). Paying over $400 for any type of experience should give you a really fun and special experience…this gave us neither. I really wanted to like The Attraction and looked forward to doing this room for months in advance, but it did not give us much fun and did not impress us as much as many of the 60 to Escape (in IL and WI) and Exit Games (FL) rooms did. I have done almost 40 rooms, so I think my opinion does have some credibility, so please know that this room may not be for you. I really wish we would have done The Edison rather than The Attraction as The Edison is more of a traditional ER, which we probably would have enjoyed more.
Revenge Of The CabinCU Adventures in Time and SpaceEscape roomIRLRevenge of the Cabin was our 2nd game played on our 1st visit at CU Adventures and it was also a great experience. Feel free to see my Wizards Curse review for more comments on CUA as a company overall. Cabin was a tough room for only 2 players as there was a lot to do and remember. The darkness in several of the areas added to the room immersion, but also added to the difficulty (and made puzzles take longer). 2 players are doable, but I recommend having 3-5 players. The room had a lot of areas to explore both outside and inside the cabin, with movable walls, secret passages, and multiple elevations. A good variety of puzzles, with more locks/keys in this room, but still a good use of technology. I liked that the puzzles required some physical interactions, step-by-step approaches, and teamwork at times. All fun and fair, and CUA even personalizes the game with one of the puzzles. CUA uses a different hint system and in this game is a creepy Baby Doll that interacts with you. It is a cool idea, but if the doll was in 1 room and we were in another, we could not hear what the doll was saying. Even if the doll was in our room but on the other side, it was difficult to hear the doll. On several occasions, we had to ask the doll to repeat herself and this became very frustrating (and used precious time). You definitely need to have 1 person be responsible for keeping the doll close at all times. GM (Sara) gave us several helpful nudges and even a few extra minutes to make sure we were able to experience the entire room and have a successful experience (which we greatly appreciated). Sara could have been a little more proactive with giving us some nudges (as we spun our wheels early on), but RotC was still an enjoyable room and had a lot of fun.
Prison BreakThe Escape Game - ChicagoEscape roomIRL3rd time doing a room at The Escape Game Chicago and Prison Break lived up to the expectations. Room had Hollywood type of sets in each room and some really creative puzzles. Really felt like you were in a dirty prison in all of the rooms. Some puzzles had to use some physical skill, which added to the excitement. There were a good amount of locks, but the puzzles that were solved to get the keys/codes were all fun. We brought a full squad of 8 people as we did not want to share the room with anyone, and everyone else in my party had never done a TEG room, so I wanted to make sure we had enough brains to get out of this difficult room. You start split in 2 different cells, so you want to preplan who starts with each other. The groups we picked communicated really well with each other, and we made pretty quick work of the first room. We seemed to really be on our game tonight as we communicated and worked as a team really well all night, only using 4 hints (more of which were confirmations, as we really wanted to get out), and got out with almost 8 minutes remaining. We really never felt panicked/rushed. The GM, Sofia, was great, and even said we were way ahead of where most people are after the first few stages of the room. The game was pretty linear, so most puzzles made sense as for what to do next, with a few relics that were needed for later on. I love the show Prison Break so this brought back a lot of fun feelings from that tv show…and it was cool that Michael (me), Lincoln (my son), and crew escaped together, again.
