The Pumpkin King's Christmas CabinThe Locked InnEscape roomIRLOkay every time I go here I have a wonderful experience and look forward to their rooms and this one was no different! It was one of the most impressive "built from scratch" rooms I've ever seen! If you're a fan of Nightmare Before Christmas I think they did a really good job capturing the vibe of the movie without copying it. The puzzles were hard but I guess it is listed as hard so that's to be expected but the atmosphere was just amazing!! Literally all the small touches from it's smelling like Christmas when you walk in to the insane transition between Christmas and HalloweenTown the room captured all my senses!! I also really loved the way the story kept progressing and the fun twist at the end! 😉 a very unique room that lives up to Locked Inn standards! I highly recommend this establishment now that I've done all their rooms I've not had one complaint.
Room 1985The Locked InnEscape roomIRLI don't even know where to begin. There are so many good things about this room I think it might be my favorite game I've ever played! I've done maybe 40 or 50 so far so not super expert but this one blew all the others out of the water! I called before I booked and ended up talking directly to the owner who was so friendly and accommodating. A+ customer service! She was the one that ended up greeting us the day of as well. She told me she built it during covid and sometimes I worry about older rooms being beat up or feeling grungy or old. The room was very well maintained especially considering all the stuff was from the '80s. You can tell she puts so much of her heart into her business. Anyway the room itself has some surprises that I've never seen and totally got us right from the start! Three members of our party were not alive in the '80s so we were worried they wouldn't get some of the puzzles but they were intuitive enough that you can make the same conclusions without actually knowing 80s trivia. Now..... for those of us that were alive in the 80s....the nostalgia was INCREDIBILE!! Honestly I couldn't stay focused because I was enjoying it so much. Also, it's a large room so for sure bring at least 5 people, you'll need it. This room is A MUST if you are in the area!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!
Rita's RelicsEscape! at Margarita AdventuresEscape roomIRLThis was a really good game! The only reason I didn't give it a heart is because there seem to be a huge disconnect between the beginning and the end of the game. It went from the clues being written on masking tape to really cool tech. With that said, the end of the game was really cool! You can tell they put a lot of Pride into the end of it. My only other small criticism was I think because they put so much into the end of the build you essentially spend like 20 minutes doing the same puzzle over and over again with a few modifications so they could get the most out of what they spent their money on. Either way, I recommend this game and it definitely has some cool unique things you should check out.
Alice SuiteThe Locked InnEscape roomIRLThis room is one of the out beautifully crafted escape rooms I've seen. It's not your typical Alice in Wonderland but that's what made me love it. The puzzles were really unique and all tied in well with the theme. LOVE LOVE LOVE this room. One of my top 3 escape rooms ever. (I've done maybe 100)
AmnesiaQuest Room - Culver CityEscape roomIRLI want to start by saying our GM was really great and I really liked her! I feel like she put up with us. I think it's all just perspective of what some people like others don't and this one unfortunately was not my favorite. It had a lot of fun unique elements but the puzzles didn't seem super intuitive and thwre weren't a lot of them. The actor was really fun which made it immersive and I really loved the twist ending I think overall the room just wasn't for me. I also wasn't with my standard escape room group so perhaps I didn't get to enjoy the story as much as I normally would.
Haunted TrainNeo Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLI loved this room! Of the 30-40ish rooms I've done it's my top 5. I loved the environment and how they used sound and lighting to make it more immersive. Highly recommend!
Renegade Episode 1: The RetrofitEscape! at Margarita AdventuresEscape roomIRLOkay, let me start with this room had so much production value and looked SO impressive! The staff was so sweet and chatted with our family after. I guess my problem was I just didn't love the room. It was hard to follow along with what we were supposed to do so it didn't feel very intuitive. Mostly though, right when the story was starting is when the game ended and we were all surprised because there were so many puzzles left unfinished. When we asked about them they said that those puzzles are for episodes 2 and 3 so it felt weird we've already seen many of the puzzles but didn't get to do them. So....I do recommend you try it for yourself because the room is polished looking and the service is great but it felt incomplete and wasn't my favorite room overall. I don't think I'll return for the next episode.
The ReelPuzzle Effect - San Luis ObispoEscape roomIRLIt was an okay room. It was weird they marketed it as an '80s room online but it was really just a movie theater room. Maybe bc they were trying to compete with the other '80s room in the area? If it wasn't that it was marketed as one thing to me and I got there and it was completely different I probably would have given it a thumbs up. It was fun enough but I think I like their Harry Potter room better. Mostly they're just kind of the corporate escape rooms you get with a chain but they were still entertaining.
RabaBankEscaperoom 831 - LighthouseEscape roomIRLIt was an okay game. I'd recommend one of their other rooms first. This was our third room of the day and my least favorite. It did, however, have some really cool tech items that made it feel authentic to the story.
Curse On The Emerald SeasPuzzle Effect - San Luis ObispoEscape roomIRLThis room had some cool set design so I liked that, the puzzles themselves were REALLY hard to make a connection from one to the other and I still don't understand how we would make certain leaps as to why we should do what we did. It's a small room that seems very cookie cutter like most of the chain rooms. Either way, it's still fun but its not my favorite room I've done for sure. I wish there was a "meh" rating over the thumbs down.
