The Roosevelt Escape RoomPalace GamesEscape roomIRLI proposed to my wife Megan in this room and we still managed to escape.
80's Radical Radio RampageEscape Games at the RiverEscape roomIRLThe theming was fun and well integrated. The amount of content was a bit disappointing. We escaped in 24min with three kids as half of our team. Would work well for families, but a bit too easy for a full team of adults.
The Boiler RoomTHE BASEMENT: A Live Escape Room Experience - SylmarEscape roomIRLIt has been so many years since I played this one, but I remember it being very innovative for the time. Being stuck in such a small space and having to figure out how to physically maneuver around to access the puzzles was cool and something I haven’t experienced since. I’m not sure why it’s closed now, but perhaps it was an accessibility issue.
Once Upon A TimeRed Door Escape Room - ConcordEscape roomIRLThis was a fun room to do with my 8 y.o. kid and nephews. Not too challenging, but just right for a mixed ages group.
Merlin's Magic SchoolEscape Room Palm SpringsEscape roomIRLThis was a perfect game to bring our kids (7, 7, and 4) to. The theme was light and fun, the puzzles were clever but not difficult. There was plenty of time to read the directions out loud repeatedly, let the kids find things and figure out some of the puzzles, and still complete the room. There were some mechanics I hadn’t encountered before and the technology seemed to work with minimal errors. I particularly appreciated that there wasn’t a single padlock in the whole room. It’s not going to be a challenge for experienced escape room enthusiasts, but it was exactly what we were looking for in a family room.
Defenders Of The TriforceSCRAPEscape roomIRLThis took place in a hotel ballroom with many teams at 8-top tables. Zelda is awesome and lent itself well to the puzzles, but there are limitations to how innovative you can be with pencil and paper. We did have to get up and move about the room to meet characters from different regions of Hyrule which was cute but not immersive. I wouldn’t recommend if you aren’t a fan of Zelda, but if you are it’s a good enough time.
Escape from the Time Travel Lab SCRAPEscape roomIRLThis was my first SCRAP game in a permanent location (as opposed to multi-team, ballroom-style event.) I thought the time travel conceit was clever and used to good effect. The trademark (?) SCRAP word grid was there and I didn’t yet know that it was a crutch they relied on all the time. Even still it didn’t weave into the story it just was there. Similarly, we had the classic hunt around the room for a hundred pieces of things to assemble the puzzles and we missed a couple so that made it take longer. The GM, Willa, was amazing though and she made the experience twice as great as it would have been otherwise.
