• Explore
  • Connect
  • Profile
johnlarson

Reviews

@johnlarson
Morty score147
  • Escape rooms147
  • 273Wishlisted
  • 20Reviewed

johnlarson

Matthew Keller (He / Him) | SF Bay Area / Los Angeles / Seattle / Boston

@sarahsullivan
g
k

followed by

and 17 others

  • Bio
  • Experiences (147)
  • Wishlist (273)
  • Reviews (20)>
  • All (20)
  • Escape rooms (20)
  • IRL (15)
  • Virtual (3)
  • Portable (1)
  • Tabletop (1)
Moriarty's Manor

Moriarty's Manor

MindFox Escape

  • Escape room
  • IRL
Victoria was such an amiable and considerate game master! We felt very welcomed and that we were in good hands. The game was so creative, immersive, and had a wide range of puzzles that would appeal to all types of thinkers. Absolutely loved every part of this game!
Vampire

Vampire

Maze Rooms Tarzana

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This room is great for slightly larger groups (perhaps inching toward 6-8 as opposed to the more common 4). There’s a lot to do and there are elements that really do require 4 players at a minimum. This means that there are a lot of opportunities across a sprawling room to run back-and-forth or to shout out things to each other to try and be more efficient. Definitely a teamwork oriented game (in a very good way!). Some creative interactive things are built in for some fun surprises…really great and on point for the vampire theme. :)
Captain Maniacal's Lairbratorium

Captain Maniacal's Lairbratorium

Red Door Escape Room San Mateo

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This was such a cute game and concept! I’ve played plenty of rooms as a unit of 2 but rarely ever one that was intentionally designed for 2 people and to be less than an hour long. Even though it was just one physical room, there was plenty to do for 2 players and everything was logical and fell into place seamlessly. This is a fantastic beginner room or a room for kids to try out on their own!
Operation Ares: Escape from Mars

Operation Ares: Escape from Mars

Kryptic Tales Escape Rooms

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This was a cute space-themed room! I thought that the puzzles fit perfectly into the theme and story, and they definitely required a lot of collaboration, decoding, and patterns recognition. I found this to be a “big brain” thinking game mixed with some great physical prop usage and mechanics. There were many opportunities to divide and conquer, but the more you diverged, the more you’d come together again (…that will make sense if you play the room!). My team and I really enjoyed this experience and we felt super satisfied after finishing everything.
Jurassic Island

Jurassic Island

Quest Factor

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I played this as a unit of 2 and I think that’s the right amount of people (if both are experienced players, I guess). I thought it was an immersive dinosaur-themed experience, from start to finish. I was taken aback at just how dinosaur-y it was — enthusiasts will love it! There was a lot of interactivity that I thought kept us busy and on our toes (in a good way), and we found that to be great. Overall I thought it was a solid experience! We came out feeling satisfied with the game.
Pirate Bay

Pirate Bay

Maze Rooms Tarzana

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This room was okay. The puzzles were alright and we found them to be some good, basic escape room puzzles. Nothing stood out, but nothing in particular to complain about — except one device that slightly went awry (losing us a fair amount of time). It was a small space for what it was, and despite having some neat pirate-themed decorations all throughout (with a clever twist), my group and I thought it was good, but not great. We thought it was fun, while it lasted, but that wasn’t very long.
Wild West

Wild West

PanIQ Escape Room

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I found the theming of this room to be its strongest asset — it definitely transported you into the Wild West era. The way the puzzles were built into the space made a lot of sense for the theme and added a high level of immersion to the game. As for the puzzles themselves, there were a handful (which, in a room, I believe to be a lot…) that didn’t quite make sense logically. It felt like some big leaps and assumptions had to be made (in ways that wouldn’t quite be a player’s first choice). I’m still impressed by the set for what it is and what it tries to accomplish, but I do feel like some of the puzzles were more puzzling than satisfying.
Lord Of The Swords

Lord Of The Swords

Maze Rooms Tarzana

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This room was cute! If you’re into the fantastic swords-and-sorcery theme, this is a great game to play, for enthusiasts and newcomers alike. The set design was great and and well put together. There were some creative uses of props and the puzzles had a fair amount of challenge to them. The story fit the room’s decorations well, and the end of the game felt satisfying based on everything building up to it. We had fun!
The Clock Tower

The Clock Tower

Escape the Room Los Angeles

  • Escape room
  • IRL
I will preface to say that my team started late for this room, so time was already working against us. However, even within those time constraints, I believe we could have had a smoother experience all throughout. While the space itself was huge and production value seemed high (enough), the puzzles were all over the place (figuratively and literally), and we found ourselves hitting a standstill very often. We’re not a purist group who denies hints, so we did ask for hints and our GM was either unresponsive for extended periods of time or just overall not very helpful with their guidance. I think that’s mostly what soured the experience overall. We had an unfortunate combination of a late start + room that didn’t quite make sense logically + a GM that was inattentive when we needed some clarity on certain puzzles. We found ourselves standing around for awhile, solving nothing, since we had run out of options on how to proceed next. While the external circumstances (such as timing and GM) were not ideal, I think that the room, independent of all that, was still lacking and could use a refresh in how things are pieced together.
Final Destination 2.0

Final Destination 2.0

Roundabout

  • Escape room
  • IRL
This was a good experience! I’d recommend 2-3 players, based on both the size and scope of the room and puzzles. The puzzles seemed disparate at first but the room was designed in a way where everything you need is there, so it didn’t require a lot of overthinking — perhaps just connecting the right dots that are there (and not to get distracted by other dots, of which there may be many!). The logic of everything made sense and nothing felt far-fetched or unfair. I enjoyed the experience a lot, and it was bolstered by incredible customer service.