La Calavera

Fun southwest theme, some whimsy, nice shoutouts to southern arizona and gorgeous set. This is the best escape room in Tucson. Kudos to the owners for pushing the Tucson market forward.

Our first room experience in Tucson and we had a fun time! We took a couple friends that had never done an escape room before and they also liked it! Close, but didn't make it out - we never really got "stuck" for very long, there was just a ton of puzzle density in the room.

Such a fun and well-designed escape room! challenging without being frustrating, and everything flowed really smoothly. The staff was friendly and made the experience even better. Highly recommend for a fun group activity!

Fantastic. Amazing flow and great room. My family has never had so much fun. Would recommend it to ANYONE!!!

We attended this room with 2 experienced adults, 2 experienced teens, and 2 unexperienced teens. I, for one, loved it. The atmosphere was totally pleasant and appropriate for the theme. There were a lot of locks, but not so many at a time where it was terribly difficult to tell where answers should be entered. Most common puzzle types were represented, but in appropriate and thematic ways. This was by far the best game we have done in the Tucson market. We didn’t need the GM for much, but she was pleasant and friendly.

The room looked so nice walking in, Then the confusion began. We had a horrible time connecting puzzle clues to where to input them. The room felt like it had no flow. The GM made a remark about asking for help if the flashlights don’t work, but we weren’t sure if them being on for a few seconds then turning off was how they were supposed to work. Asking the GM at the end she said “oh they must be out of batteries”. I guess she couldn’t see the lights not working in the security cameras. We also spent what felt like several minutes waiting for clues, and the GM would pop on the radio “ saying I didn’t hear you”. Either way it was super frustrating. In the end, we got to the last puzzle had 2/3 of the answer and ran out of time. We felt very frustrated from the earlier time waiting for clues and/ or the GM not giving us a last second hint to escape.

**Disclaimer: I playtested the room, so I did not experience the final version of the room** La Calavera makes a lot of cool decisions. The set design and plot are regionally unique and distinct. There are a couple dramatic moments using tech. While being linear, it offers many opportunities for collaboration and parallel puzzling. Yes, it had a slew of traditional locks and, as such, struggled with lock mapping. Not all puzzles made thematic sense. The distance between the start and end of certain elements' relevance was occasionally frustratingly long. Some elements lacked adequate signposting, and the first puzzle was maddeningly obtuse. That said, this is almost certainly the best room in Tucson. The efforts of this small team deserve to be recognized within the Tucson community. Although hardcore enthusiasts may be more critical of the flaws, ambition and vision in the stagnant Tucson market deserves celebration.