Escapology Test #1

The first thing that stands out is the promise of a private room from the start. Lets be honest being grouped up with randoms is never as fun as being with just your group, and not having to worry about that is a huge plus in my book.

When you walk in waiting room is very nice and having a comfortable area to wait for your party to arrive or your room to be reset is great. Once you finish your game you can chill with your group and never feel rushed out the door (Just be careful talking about the puzzles when other groups are around, you don’t want to spoil anything for anyone)

As for the Rooms/Puzzles themselves:
Each room contains high quality props with matching themes that really help with the immersion. You will get a quick video with safety/rules and then one with the lore of why you are doing what you’re doing, which also helps get you in the mindset of catching the evil hacker, stopping the virus outbreak, or figuring out who did frame Rodger Rabbit.

The puzzles/locks are a nice mix of both analog and digital components, and there is usually enough stuff around for everyone in a group of 4-5 to be working on something during most parts of the game.
The puzzles themselves are also quite varied which will force you to think and view things in different ways and will leave you satisfied when you finally solve it even if you did need a hint. Usually everyone in the group will have a different “favorite puzzle” by the end.
While there are a couple of finicky locks that need some playing to get open, the GMs will usually alert you to such locks when you encounter them.

My only real criticism from a game design perspective is that a select few puzzles have props that could be tweaked to be slightly more obvious that they are something to be examined further and not just for show.

Overall with friendly staff, a plethora of rooms to choose from, and a great environment it’s my go to escape room when anyone asks for recommendations.