Irvine School Of Wizardry And The Dragon WandHidden DonkeyEscape roomIRLI was not a fan. There was only ever ~one puzzle to do at a time, and they were too often the tedious searching kind. This room might be better for kids and people who are more interested in a Harry Potter experience than an escape rooms And even in the category of a wizarding experience, I can’t help but compare this room unfavorably with Magic Cottage, which has charming fantastical characters, and special effects that just feel more magical. Of the rooms I’ve done, it’s not an exaggeration for me to say this room ranks the lowest. It lacks personality and charm of a thematic room, and it lacks good puzzles to make up for it
The Tipsy TailorEscapement RoomsEscape roomIRLEasily in the top three of rooms I’ve done (Have done 20-30 so far?) Could be the best, debatably. Had a ton of fun with two people but would also highly recommend for a group of friends (or seasoned escape roomers) since the room is tightly packed with a diversity of puzzles and interesting toys/set pieces to ensure a good time for everyone. A great variety of satisfying discovery moments. Just the right amount of goofiness in the story. Quality of the design and set was super impressive for a low/mid-budget room. The first room I’ve done that has a “bonus point” structure where the last room is dedicated to trying to solve as many bonus puzzles as possible with your remaining time. Kind of a brilliant idea the more I think of it; super fun to try to get the highest score you can in a PURE PUZZLE RUSH Y’all go check it out
The House Next DoorWild Goose Escapes - IrvineEscape roomIRLThe puzzle design in the room itself was fine and interesting, but the GM tanked the experience for us. We had the correct solution for multiple puzzles where the lock was finicky or required manual de-activation. The GM was clearly not paying attention and took several minutes to respond as we were left sitting in the room confused about what we were doing wrong. Paid too much for that kind of experience
Art In Our TimeEscapement RoomsEscape roomIRLThe set construction was impressive and really felt like an art museum. The puzzles were okay, but there were too many unnecessary red-herring details in the room for my liking (ex. Set pieces with numbers on them that were not involved in a puzzle) A lighter number of puzzles than the other room Tipsy Tailor, so it often felt like we were investigating puzzles that didn’t exist which feels more frustrating than satisfying.
