Whatever Happened To The Garretts?Maze Rooms West LAEscape roomIRLWe are enthusiasts who’ve done 135+ rooms, and we live in SoCal. We reviewed the 2022 TERPECA list and saw this room was ranked 285 and among the relatively few U.S. rooms on that list, so we thought we ought to try it since we’d done every other SoCal room on that list. Overall, it was a good room with puzzles that flowed well and tech that all worked. It wasn’t “super amazing wow” but definitely a solid room. The decor fit the theme well. There was only one puzzle that we thought could’ve been better done with easy-to-get props that would’ve helped with making the logical connection, but that’s not a big deal. Overall, it’s above average, and I probably would’ve liked it more if it were just my 40th room. I’d still recommend it, especially for enthusiasts who want to take newer escapists to a solid experience!
Bonus Fun Time Game Show ChallengeEscape FactorEscape roomIRLWe’ve done over 135 rooms and are a bit jaded these days, but we really enjoyed this room! Even though it had a lot of 1st gen puzzles, it was still super fun and flowed very well. Totally worth your time if you enjoy this theme! We went as a team of 4 (2 enthusiasts and 2 newbies), and we did not rush to get through it (e.g., we avoided dividing and conquering too much because this way everyone gets to see/work on all the puzzles/games and no one misses out on parts of the room). The atmosphere was perfect, and we enjoyed the variety of puzzles. We loved that there was very minimal search-and-find, and there were no red herrings or time-wasting tedious tasks. The game master/game show host is inside the room with you, but they totally respected our wishes for no hints and just smiled at us to keep the positive energy going while letting us do our thing. Overall, we loved this room and would highly recommend it for newbies and enthusiasts alike!
An Office EscapeCinema Escape RoomsEscape roomIRLIf you are a fan of The Office, this is a must-do escape room! When we first walked in, I spent a good 10 minutes ignoring all the puzzles and just enjoying the decor and finding all the Easter eggs or show references buried throughout the room. There is so much detail to discover and savor! If you’ve never seen The Office and are just looking for a good escape room to do, I’d say this one is a solid beginner room with a decent variety of puzzles. All the tech worked as it should, and you will have fun—it just won’t be as meaningful without some knowledge of The Office show. We’ve done 135+ escape rooms, and this one stands out as a positively memorable experience!
South Park: Cartman's Escape RoomEscape The Room ChicagoEscape roomIRLThis experience was is a mixed bag for me—which is why I didn’t pick either thumbs up or thumbs down. Pros: Overall, the room had good theming and some fun tech. But honestly, I was expecting a few more Easter eggs/references to the show. Not sure how I feel about this, but you are expected to bring and use your own cell phone in this room. This wasn’t made clear before we arrived, and even when it was mentioned during the pre-game instructions, it wasn’t sufficiently called out given that it runs counter to how most other escape rooms work. Also, the length of this game is a little deceptive. The number of puzzles involved in each room varied greatly, and we definitely did not realize how much more there was left to complete when we entered the last room (which they announced as the final room when you walked in). This contributed to us not managing our time well and to us ultimately running out of time and not escaping (we were 2 enthusiasts and 2 newbies). Cons: Some of the tech was finicky, and in one area, the sound was extremely soft and hard to hear. There were also a couple of times where the decor became red herrings because they seemed like they were clues but they actually didn’t mean anything. But the thing that really killed this experience for us was the staff and the way they handled the ending of our escape experience. When time ran out, a staff member literally came in and pretty much just told us to get out. We kept trying to ask what exactly we missed and how many more puzzles we had to complete to finish. Either the person simply didn’t know the answers to our questions, or they knew but refused to tell us. Either way, they were super dismissive and ruined our fun. They just kept trying to rush us out and refused to discuss the room, much less do a basic walk-through like every other escape room company does. I read some other 1-star Yelp reviews where other customers also experienced the same thing, with staff saying it’s “company policy” not to tell you what was left (maybe in hopes you’ll come back?). This completely killed the experience for us and left us feeling incredibly unsatisfied. Allegedly we missed a search-and-find component, but they would not tell us where the item was actually hidden or what would’ve happened had we found it. This was a terrible way to end an escape room experience, and I would never recommend this location for this reason alone. Ultimately, the room itself was okay, though not great. If you’re into the South Park theme, then do it at another location. But I recommend speeding through this room a bit more and asking for hints if you get even a little stuck so you don’t waste time.
Medieval MadnessPanIQ Room Logan SquareEscape roomIRLI have mixed thoughts on this room. Let me start with some positives: The atmosphere was immersive, and the tech mostly worked. There were some unique puzzles in this room that we hadn’t seen before. Here’s where it gets tricky: This room is apparently a “hard” room—it has an on-time escape rate of less than 10%. We were 2 enthusiasts + a newbie, and we escaped with 2:36 left on the clock. But what exactly made it hard? And what are fair or even good/fun ways vs. bad/tedious ways to make an escape room hard? This room prompted a long discussion afterwards of these questions and our personal preferences. At the end of the day, we enjoy hard puzzles that are complex to solve because they require multiple steps of critical thinking or effective teamwork—but we dislike puzzles involving a simple solution that we figure out quickly but there’s a lot of tedious trial-and-error or unnecessary repetitions in a sequence to actually complete the puzzle. Several of the “hard” puzzles in this room fall into the latter category, which is one part of why we didn’t love this room. We also don’t enjoy rooms that are dark, which then makes it really hard to see or read things, which also then contributes to puzzles taking longer to complete than necessary. Again, not a good way to make a room “hard.” But at least they gave each of us our own light source/torch. Another thing that made this room a bit “harder” had to do with the difficulties we had finding the confirmation trigger that occurs after we’ve entered the correct solution to a puzzle. The next reveal wasn’t always obvious, and that also led to some wasted time. WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD. We were also annoyed that we lost a lot of time at the beginning of the room because we did not use as much brute force as was apparently necessary to make a physical puzzle mechanism work. We figured out immediately what we needed to do, and we even tried to do it, but we couldn’t get the mechanism to work. 15 minutes later when we asked for a hint, the first words out of the game master’s mouth were—and I kid you not—“Now, as enthusiasts, you may not have realized that you needed to use more force…” And we’re not talking about just a little bit of force that was needed. We were seriously worried we’d break their game piece! One thing I did like about this room is that many puzzles were sensory-based, which makes sense in a torture chamber-themed room. But one particular sense was tested multiple times across multiple puzzles, which contributed to our feeling that several puzzles felt samey. Plus, there were distractions that strongly interfered with your ability to use this particular sense to solve the puzzles, which added to our feelings of frustration. In the end, we got out, but we didn’t leave feeling particularly happy about it. I guess I prefer “fun” escape rooms, and I definitely wouldn’t say this was a “fun” room. But then again, it was torture chamber-themed, so maybe I should’ve picked a different room to do!
Wizard TrialsPanIQ Room Logan SquareEscape roomIRLWe liked this room better than PaniQ’s Medieval Madness (see my review on that room for more details). The tech was better in this room, and we felt like there was a better variety of puzzles. We enjoyed the whimsical atmosphere and thematic reveals. There were a few minor issues that kept me from loving this room (see below for more details if you are okay with mild spoilers). But overall, this room was fun and enjoyable, and I would recommend it for enthusiasts and newbies alike. WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD. Here are the couple of negatives that kept us from fully loving the room: 1. There were still a couple of trial-and-error time wasters like Medieval Madness had—but at least the ones in Wizard Trials were fun or funny, so that made the experience more enjoyable overall. 2. There was also one puzzle that had pieces that were half-made for a different puzzle that wasn’t actually a part of our game anymore (apparently a change was made post-COVID). Instead of removing those components, PaniQ left them in, thereby creating a red herring that was a little annoying. But it wasn’t a huge deal, and we still had fun overall.
The Christmas KidnappingClever Fox Escape Rooms SUN CITYEscape roomIRLI did like the puzzles and theming, but this room is WAY too easy. We had a team of 3 enthusiasts and finished in 16:07–and we weren’t even rushing! There just weren’t enough puzzles in this room to make it worth the price. But what was there did flow smoothly. So this may be a good room for beginners/kids.
VillainsFuzzy Logic Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis was a fun room with a few more 2nd gen tech puzzles than the other Fuzzy Logic room we tried (Vet Office). Overall, we enjoyed the variety of puzzles in this room, and we had a fun experience. The story didn’t make much sense to us, but we don’t care much about that anyway. We did this room as 2 enthusiasts who worked on every puzzle together instead of dividing and conquering (because we prefer not to rush through the room but try to get our money’s worth by experiencing the room for longer). Even without rushing, we still got out in about 40 minutes. That said, we didn’t feel like the room was too simple or lacked sufficient puzzles. The game masters were super nice, and we loved that they had a free mini-escape experience with multiple locks in their lobby. I recommend checking out Fuzzy Logic!
Vet OfficeFuzzy Logic Escape RoomEscape roomIRLThis was a fun room with an unusual theme. We loved that so many puzzles fit the theme & story so well. We definitely felt like we were in a vet office! This was a 1st gen room, but there was a good variety of puzzles, and we had a fun and positive experience overall. We did this room as 2 enthusiasts who worked on every puzzle together instead of dividing and conquering (because we prefer not to rush through the room but try to get our money’s worth by experiencing the room for longer). Even without rushing, we still got out in a little under 40 minutes. That said, we didn’t feel like the room was too simple or lacked sufficient puzzles. The game masters were super nice, and we loved that they had a free mini-escape experience with multiple locks in their lobby. I recommend checking out Fuzzy Logic!
The Great EscapeWay of Escape [prev. Xterious]Escape roomIRLAbsolute worst escape room I’ve ever done. They halfway changed this room from an older room and didn’t get rid of old clues to puzzles that no longer exist. There were barely any puzzles. Several solutions didn’t make sense. Save your money!
