Moriarty's ManorMindFox EscapeEscape roomIRLVictoria 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!
VampireMaze Rooms TarzanaEscape roomIRLThis 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 LairbratoriumRed Door Escape Room San MateoEscape roomIRLThis 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 MarsKryptic Tales Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLThis 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 IslandQuest FactorEscape roomIRLI 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.
FlashbackEscape Room in a BoxEscape roomTabletopI thought this was really cleverly designed! For one of the earlier escape room in a box experiences, I think they did well in throwing puzzles and story that immerse you into the flashback theme. There’s a creative mechanic toward the end of the experience that I hadn’t seen in any other experiences (boxed game or otherwise), and it made for a satisfying end to the series of puzzles to solve. It’s a great rainy day or stay-in activity!
Pirate BayMaze Rooms TarzanaEscape roomIRLThis 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.
School For SpiesPuzzle Break - OnlineEscape roomVirtual Developed as a pivot during the early days of shelter-in-place, I thought this game knocked it out of the park! I think that when I envisioned a virtual escape room experience, my mind darted to one of two things — either a VR-esque self-contained game experience OR watching a GM with a GoPro walk through a physical room while you speak commands (remember those early pandemic days..?). But this game was so well thought out — the files and pages you interacted with online were crafted to mix using their own documentation paired with the internet (i.e. Google Maps, for instance) in tandem to piece everything together and figure out the appropriate solution. I found it to be an ingenious way of incorporating the use of Internet resources that are already there and integrating them into some of the room’s clues, which strongly stayed on theme the entire time. I was very impressed!
HackfiltrationPuzzle Break - OnlineEscape roomVirtual This was a really fun game! Developed as a pivot during the peak shelter-in-place era, this game really did get you to think creatively and collaborate with your teams on Zoom. The puzzles were a creative mix of scavenger hunt, decoding certain documents and assets, as well as a hilariously throwback element at the end that proved to be far more challenging than it seemed (in a good way)!
PuzzBox™Real Escape Game - OnlineEscape roomPortableSCRAP is known for their paper and pencil puzzles, so having an entire experience self contained to a locked box and various envelopes seems very fitting. While it looks simplistic, there were elements with the content that made it quite engaging — things that went a step beyond just “homework-sequel” activities. It has good entertainment value for you and a friend to just go through everything and crack open the box.
