Irvine School of Wizardry and the Goblin's SecretsHidden DonkeyEscape roomIRLGood — a bit linear and a few logic jumps. Cute and well produced. Room seems a bit overhyped, though. Good but not great.
Moriarty's ManorMindFox EscapeEscape roomIRLShould’ve been a good room, but this just isn’t designed for two players. We have done many rooms, but this one had multiple puzzles that were awkward for two people and the puzzles were just too numerous and time consuming, even for advanced players (with less than three people). This could be easily fixed if they just pulled a couple puzzles for low player count. This room has a lot of potential, but this really ruined the experience for us. Really just shouldn’t allow less than 3 players without some changes. Also, the room is pretty filled with cliches and escape room tropes, and the ending was probably the easiest and least satisfying set of puzzles we’ve encountered in an otherwise decent room to date.
Ink & AshesExodus Escape RoomEscape roomIRLAn absolutely fantastic room. This one is definitely is clearly designed for escape room enthusiasts. Excellent execution of a murder mystery room. 8.5/10. One of the top rooms in Orange County
Irvine School Of Wizardry And The Dragon WandHidden DonkeyEscape roomIRLA good room with multiple tropes that hold it back. This room suffers from multiple classic issues with rooms that numb the fun: being unnecessarily dark throughout, a fair bit of easy yet tedious math, and the “mixing” of ingredients. All combined, these made it feel a bit like a Middle School science class, rather than giving you that “Aha” moment of truly great escape room. Ambiance and design were great, but we’ve had more fun in less produced rooms missing these pitfalls for sure. 7/10
Frost Base ZRabbit Hole Recreation ServicesEscape roomIRLJust terrible. Nonsensical logic jumps and a terrible GM. Every clue we received was completely misleading and a waste of time. Perhaps with another GM this room could’ve been okay, but even then it is definitely nothing special.
InksidiousEscape Room 66 - Los AngelesEscape roomIRLA very good room that is a must-do for any hardcore escape-roomers! Mostly mechanical and not super flashy (which is a good change of pace for SoCal rooms actually); excellent gameplay and super friendly staff
Jewel of the SeaIntrepid Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLGood but not by any means a special room. One nice special effect but the actual puzzle quality was medium and the room is very small overall. 7/10
Whatever Happened To The Garretts?Maze Rooms - West LAEscape roomIRLThe classic good but not great game. Game master left one puzzle door open by accident which meant we spent some time confused trying to jump ahead and could have in theory skipped like half the game. The sound bit at the end is unecessarily complex and tedious: when you get to it, you’ll know it bc you’ll be annoyed at the straihtforward but incredibly meticulous button clicking.
The Mad RapperScenario Escape RoomEscape roomIRLI’ll start by saying I see why most people love this game. The production is great and you can tell a lot of heart and soul went into this game. Anyways, here’s my unpopular opinion: while the production elements were amazing, the puzzles left something to be desired. Too many things relied on dexterity or on making jumps in connections, or were just a bit too tedious to be called puzzles. They were more of challenges to be completed. If you are the kind of person who loves the experience of cool or technical rooms, or loves general novelty in rooms, this one is going to feel amazing. However, if you are the kind of player who loves solving puzzles and the “aha” feeling of escape rooms, this one will probably feel underwhelming.
Something's Out There!Maze Rooms - West LAEscape roomIRLGood room overall. Had one puzzle not operate properly which burned roughly ~10 minutes of our time for no real fault of our own. A little anticlimactic ending. 6.5/10 - would recommend overall; good but not great.
