Mad Lab

I debated adding a review or just leaving a thumbs down rating, but this was truly one of the worst escape rooms I have done. There will be a pre game spoiler but no game spoilers. There will be a TLDR at the end. I have done over 200 rooms, my wife has done around 10 and we brought her sister for her 2nd experience. On arrival we had to wait maybe 5 minutes for someone to come to the desk. When we finally were ready to begin we watched the intro video and got a bit of extra explanation from the host. The team gets 2 clues (if I remember correctly) and then for any additional clues you LOSE 5 minutes. I haven't seen an escape room penalize for clues in over 5 years. So that was unusual ut it was labeled as an easier game so I figured we would be okay. Pre-game spoiler: To enter the game, you have to climb a short ladder and go down a slide. The issue is, we are women in our 30s and 40s and the ladder was a bit of a challenge to climb. Additionally 2 of us were in short dresses (with shorts) because there was no warning that this was a part of the game. The host told us to go down the slide and walked away. Her sister went without issue, then my wife went, her foot slipped and one leg was stuck inside the slide and the other slipped off the ladder rung and she hit her head and scraped her leg. We were able to get her up and put but she was bleeding on her leg and already growing a bump on her forehead. We called out to the host to ask if there was a different way into the game and she said no. We asked about the door and she rolled her eyes and said "Were not supposed to". We explained that she had just gotten hurt and wouldn't do the slide. She eventually agreed, as long as I went via slide, she would let my wife through the door. I went down the slide which, has absolutely nothing to do with the game itself... so I dont know why it is so important to have everyone go down the slide. Once we were in, the host brought my wife through the door and gave additional information and started our 45 minute timer. We started looking around and took stock of everything. I retrieved a key pretty quickly and then we got a bit stuck. We asked for our first clue. There was truly no way we could ha e solved this puzzle without the clue and the additional clarification we asked for. The surface was so worn down it was hard to read. Eventually we solved it and moved on. We did one more puzzle before getting stuck again. We asked for a 2nd clue and she told us to retrieve the key I had gotten in the first few minutes. We told her we had already done that, used the key to open the lock and had gotten the thing, and could she give us something different. She took this as our 3rd clue and removed 5 minutes and told us what else to do. This puzzle was again so worn down it was not possible to do. We truly couldnt see it. We kept asking for clarification in case we were missing something and she just kept telling us to do the same thing. Eventually the timer ran out and the host.... just didn't come in. The exit door was magnetized with no emergency release inside the game, so we couldnt just leave. We stood around for at least 10 extra minutes gesturing to the cameras, and still attempting to solve the puzzle. Eventually she comes in and is just like, sorry guys and starts resetting the game. We try and ask what the solution would have been and she re-explained the puzzle. The code would have opened thw final thing and we'd have escaped. Meaning there were maybe 5 puzzles in the entire game. I truly cannot recommend this facility at all. The awful condition of the room, the lack of care from the host, and the overall experience was one of the worst I've done. It is truly hard to find anything redeeming about the experience. TLDR: Poor customer service, worn out puzzles that cannot be accomplished without hints, losing time for hints, unsafe start to game. Zero stars. Avoid.