Wizard Trials

I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt because we did book the latest slot on a day I’m sure wasn’t too busy, and anyone would be tired at that point. I have done over 20 rooms and my roommate has done over 40 rooms, both of us have work experience in this specific industry that spans over years and we both really really like escape rooms. We visited from out of town and PanIQ was the highest rated by far. From the moment I called asking which room they recommended, the game master seemed confused, but ultimately suggested the Wizard one, so we booked! When we arrived, we were pretty impressed by the lobby. It was very cute! The vibe was very much there! But the game master — again, benefit of the doubt as it was 10 pm — just seemed pretty disinterested overall and lacked enthusiasm for the job and the room itself. The questions we asked were not treated with care and sort of just one-and-done, they did not wait for us to ask follow-up questions at the beginning OR end, sort of stumbled through the walk-through on a part that was particularly confusing to us where I guess we “stumbled into the right answer” but did not provide any clarity, etc. I read on other reviews it’s possible one GM runs multiple rooms at the same time which is disappointing, as when GMs run multiple rooms at the same time it’s hard to give the undivided attention that is really needed for an experience like an escape room, and I hate to say this, that is truly worth the price. We were not offered pictures before OR after which is fine, it was just puzzling and it seemed like the GM just wanted us out and the room done with so they could go home. The room itself was also pretty lackluster. The puzzles had no real flow to them, the hint system in general was so impersonal it felt like we were just a number in a line especially with the pre-recorded dialogue, the next gen aspects were cool a lot of the time but had no real connectivity and flow to them, and the victory at the end felt extremely hollow. Our game master didn’t tell us what time we had completed our room in, just gave us a vague answer, and directed us to get our stuff out of the locker. I wanted to like this room and I really wanted to like the game master. After sitting with this overnight I just found I couldn’t in good faith. I’m really hoping this GM just wasn’t on their a-game and don’t treat every customer like they treated us. I would strongly suggest looking at other rooms in the area.

Very high tech, and some slightly broken elements and worn set signage. Very nice room decor but tricky puzzles that left you unsatisfied that you actually solved it. Was very hard to know what happened when something happened. Staff were only ok but not very engaging.

Very well made, great theme, and so much fun. One of the initial puzzles was wonky and was hard at giving you the answer - but that was it. Everything was awesome. No locks, which I like, all theme related puzzles

The room has heavily themed and had some neat effects. It is not lock based which is cool, but then it also made it hard to know really what to do. We had to use lots of hints and we couldn’t understand the responses. The room could use a touch up because it was hard to read some of the symbols. It just didn’t flow for us. There are about 8 puzzles so you do have plenty of time to get through it. I went with four 13 year olds for a birthday party. They were very stressed out by the end. I think if the hint system was better and guided them more clearly they would have had a fun time and felt accomplished.

Room is excellent. Great set and the theming is whimsical and fun. It was intuitive enough that we didn’t need clues, but on two occasions we were right at the point of being stumped, which is the ideal difficulty in our minds. Lots of fancy tech, all of it worked well. We had loads of fun!