The Ladder

The puzzles were fun, the room is extremely fast paced. There are nine possible endings. I think the replayability is a little over stated, because once you know how the puzzles work you will fly through some parts of it, but it can change the story of the room. It was fun and I’d definitely recommend it

The Ladder is an experience about climbing the corporate ladder. It has a solid storyline and accompanying set design. I've read the reviews, and it seems to me that the two main reasons that The Ladder gets dislikes/downvotes are: 1) people expected a traditional escape room, or 2) the cost of the room, especially when considering its replayability. Both those things are accurate. But Hatch does go out of the way to try to make sure you know the Ladder is NOT a traditional escape room. It is more of a choose your own adventure experience, with a puzzle track and mini games available. Do the puzzles, solve the story's mystery subplot, and you get closer to an escape room feeling. The mini games are there, and some are distractingly fun. They allow you to earn "money" to determine whether you had a successful run at the company or not. How many puzzles you solve, how much money you make, and whether you make ethical/unethical decisions along the way determine which of the game's 9 endings you get to see. Addressing the second part of the complaints: cost of replayability. The Ladder is designed to be played more than once. You most likely won't succeed in playing the game perfectly and achieving the highest ending on your first playthrough. The game costs about $55/player on weekdays, and $75/player on weekends. At that price, it doesn't sound great to play something and not be able to do well on that first try, and have to pay again to do it again. You could go to nearly 4 escape rooms instead with that money. For us though, we found Groupons (that just expired, but maybe it returns) that brought the price down to $35/person for a weeknight game. Much more palatable and we ended up playing twice. Our first time, we brought 4 people, which is the MINIMUM. I wanted to finish the puzzle track (escape room puzzles). But you need 3-4 people on puzzles to be able to solve them, especially the first time around. A couple of our players focused on games, and we ended up doing poorly. We ended up with the WORST ending of the 9 endings. The second time, we brought the original four and added two more people. Returning also means you get access to a better character that improves your scoring as well as automatic access to the bonus 6th room. This second experience was a lot easier because the puzzles were familiar already so we mostly knew what to do, at least to start, and then had enough time to solve the end of the puzzles. We also had more people so we could focus people on specifically making money off the mini games. In the end, we just barely made enough money, but we achieved the HIGHEST ending of the 9 endings. Started from the bottom, now we here [at the top]. Would we play The Ladder a third time? Unlikely, especially after achieving the best ending. There is some curiosity to see the other endings, but that would require 7 more playthroughs, and playing accurately to achieve each of those endings. Realistically, I would only ever return with another Groupon deal and if I have a new group that just really, really wants to go. But if I do return, there are definitely a whole set of mini games I have yet to play so I could still have a fun experience. Gameplay wise, the puzzles are solid if not spectacular. They are definitely better than some bad escape rooms out there, but if you want a really great puzzle room, this isn't it. The games are varied. I enjoyed some more than others. Some people won't care for the games at all. If you want a traditional escape room, go elsewhere or do Lab Rat there. Otherwise, the Ladder is a different and enjoyable experience, with the caveat that you might be unsatisfied with the frustration and shortcomings of not doing well on the first go around. If you really only want to play once, I'd suggest bringing 6-8 people. 6 is definitely a solid number, but make sure at least half of them are experienced escape room players (for the puzzles track) and that the other half might not mind doing mini games the whole way through.

This was a ton of fun, but each sub-room is only 15min, not really enough time to solve the main puzzles on the first time through. I get that you're supposed to come back, but I would've appreciated more time and fewer rooms to really enjoy all of the puzzle's intricacies.

As a completionist, I really worried that I would feel sour about not getting to solve all the puzzles and play all the mini games, but by the end, I didn’t feel that way at all. For our first run through, our team of five earned the escape room ending (which honestly, feels like it might be the best ending even though we missed out on the secret room). We completed two of the four puzzles, made more than enough money, and made one unethical choice. There were so many things that each of us didn’t get to really experience that it feels like we could bring the same group back to play a second time and it would be just as fun! The games were all unique and everyone had something to do! One criticism is that the amount of stuff to do in each rooms could be better balanced. In the first room, we were all working on one game at the end because we finished everything else, but in some of the other rooms, we were stretched a bit thin. I’d absolutely recommend this room, especially if you go with a group of fun friends who won’t be upset if you fail one of the puzzles, or don’t earn enough money. My team left with huge smiles, which is really what this room is about. Our game guide ran this room on their own, when normally it’s run with two and I can’t imagine how much work that meant they needed to do. Their janitorial skills were impeccable, and the hints were just the right amount of nudging for us.

This definitely cracked into one of my top rooms ever and I WILL be replaying it! Each room is a different decade as you work your way up the corporate ladder—you get one of 12 different endings depending on how many puzzles you solved, how much money you made, and whether your choices were ethical or unethical. An amazing concept for real replayability!

Personally, I didn’t care for this room. There was too much going on and too many things to do that. It didn’t feel like we were solving anything as a team. I prefer a more traditional escape where you’re actually trying to solve puzzles and get to the next room. In this case, each room is on a timer and you are just completing tasks Until the timer goes off to earn money. Which is a clever concept and you can technically win by earning $1 million or more. But it left me feeling unsatisfied as far as escape games go. If you’re choosing between the rooms, go for lab rat. That room was amazing and one of my favorites in all of LA!

We usually do all rooms as two players, so The Ladder was in our list for so long. Finally we found friends, whose first ever room was going to be this one! Oh boy. Towards the end of it, it became pure madness 🤣 Definitely recommended, and as it is not a traditional room, maybe find friends who have done at least a few rooms before this one to appreciate its uniqueness and madness. Also the corporate theme is so on point that I became triggered remembering all the corporate America BS I witnessed 🤣 We will come back and maybe become something other than a ninja 😝

The Ladder is so unique and is more like a “choose your own adventure” story than an escape room. It was a little overwhelming because there’s so much to do, but the story is really interesting and I love that it’s replayable. Some of the time in each room feels like it goes by too fast but I think if my group goes back, we’ll just try to be a lot more focused.

This was an AMAZING experience! The production value is out of this world! We had so much fun juggling the mini games and the puzzles. It’s very fun and fast-paced, and there is an incredible amount of content for just 90 minutes. As soon we finished, I already wanted to play again to take a stab at some of the other mini games and unlock some of the other endings. My group will definitely be back again soon!