It's been a while...

If you follow the blog, you know it's been a while since we posted. This isn't because we stopped playing rooms; in fact, we just got back from a trip to the UK and Belgium where we played 5 rooms. We stopped posting because we started a business working with escape rooms to make props, and it felt wrong to continue rating escape rooms on review sites or on our blog. As of today, I'm formally putting an end to the blogging aspect of our escape room adventures. I'll leave you in this final post with a few of our faves from the years, that we hold in our hearts as some of the best times we've had in this adventure.

• 13th Gate Escape - Cutthroat Cavern
• Palace Games - The Edison Escape Room
• Strangebird - Houdini Seance (I never wrote a blog for this one, but if you are ever in Houston and they have an opening, you will not be disappointed!)
  

And, because it feels like a service to others, here are a few rooms I had a miserable time in. I'm listing specific rooms because I've played some rooms in these locations that were actually quite fun so I don't want to put these companies down. Just these specific rooms I cannot recommend to anyone.

• Guess HQ - The Heist
• Escape Xperience - Lock Me If You Can
• Escape the Room - 3 Mile Island

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Escape the Room - 3 Mile Island

...............I don't know where to start. Perhaps a good place is that at some point, I sat down and quit doing much of anything cause I was ready to be done with the room. The room is well laid out and interesting with high quality props. Although the room nice, it was just time spent being quite irritated - and not only were we irritated with the room, but it caused us to argue with each other, which is rare.

Price:$$14 per person (used opening weekend coupon)

Theme:★★★This looks nice at first, then turns into misery. As usual, a nice looking room.

Quality:★★Here's the real deal - I cannot tell you what I think about this, really. If you try this yourself, you will understand what I mean.

Difficulty:★★★★★What a pain - so hard, and on purpose for it to be that way (I almost put a few curse words here...)

Fun:★Nope. Just nope.

With:4 peopleDan, Evan, Judy, Meredith

Outcome:☺Win

Time Left:⏰6:20

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Escape the Room - The Theater

This room looks neat, and the idea isn't bad, but the overall experience left me somewhat deflated. There were at least two puzzles that we got by guessing right on the first try (and were later told you just had to try until you go it), and other things that we just hidden so well we had to use clues to find them (reminiscent of things I didn't like in their Bank Heist in Dallas). And when you have to be told that when you solve a puzzle, you'll hear a sound, but look around cause you'll have to figure out what opened, that is quite frustrating.

Price:$$14 per person (used opening weekend coupon)

Theme:★★★This looks neat when you enter, and all of the things about the room focus well around the theme, although some things are a little creepy.

Quality:★★We didn't expect any issues, but we did have a few things that didn't open and had to be triggered by the game master.

Difficulty:★★★Most of the puzzles themselves weren't too hard, but what was hard was figured out what opened once you solved something.

Fun:★★Some parts of this were fun, and others were just confusing (because we didn't listen when told to use "dumb" logic).

With:4 peopleDan, Evan, Judy, Meredith

Outcome:☺Win

Time Left:⏰21:11

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Escape the Room - The Clock Tower

I hesitated on booking rooms here the first day, waiting on feedback from others, but ending up going on Sunday. I'm glad we went for this room, especially with the opening weekend discount. This is the best Escape the Room game I've done, and we were able to figure our way through, do some fun puzzles, and see some really neat technology used throughout the experience.

Price:$$14 per person (used opening weekend coupon)

Theme:★★★★The concept behind the room, the decor, and the sound effects were neat.

Quality:★★★We expected no problems in the room, and for the most part things went great. There was one prop where position was very important, and because we were off a little we spent five minutes or so messing with it. Otherwise, this was good.

Difficulty:★★★Some of the things in the room were easy to find and figure out, while others took some trial and error.

Fun:★★★★I liked this room and how different things came together - I suspect there are even things I never saw, but what I did was fun.

With:4 peopleDan, Evan, Judy, Meredith

Outcome:☺Win

Time Left:⏰5:52

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Escape My Room - Inventor's Attic

We were so excited to come back and do this room, and very glad they were able to accommodate us as we were out and walking around the area. We had so much fun in the first room we did, and this room and experience did not change that impression. The room was very detailed, there were a lot of things that came together to make a really fantastic time for us.

Price:$$$30 per person

Theme:★★★★This is a neat idea, with a somewhat perplexing conclusion (which you will understand when they explain the room to you to get you started).

Quality:★★★★Very well done - we were impressed and surprised by how things came together.

Difficulty:★★★★★Absolutely a challenge! There is so much going on, and so many things to play with, you really have to focus. Some challenges took several attempts and trading off before we got them, but all were great.

Fun:★★★★★Write about the fun here.

With:4 peopleDan, Evan, Judy, Meredith

Outcome:☺Win?

Time Left:⏰N/A (~15 minutes left before additional puzzles provided)

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Clue Carre - French Quarter House of Curiousities

The idea behind this room is fun, we love the name, and had heard good things about it, so we made sure to go to this during our trip. There was some attention paid to all aspects of the room, and a good focus on things that made us work as a team. Communication was important, and there are things in here designed to challenge you in that area, so be prepared.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★★This was put together very well, and there was a lot of attention paid to small details (make sure to really look around when you are done).

Quality:★★★There were a few things we had to wiggle around, and some things we weren't sure about, but once we calmed down things worked great.

Difficulty:★★★The perfect level for a good time - anything really hard we did to ourselves by just not slowing down and thinking it over.

Fun:★★★★This was fun and took a lot of team work from start to finish - I am betting the game masters also get a kick of listening to parts of it.

With:4 peopleDan, Evan, Meredith, Judy

Outcome:☺Win

Time Left:⏰23:21

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Escape My Room - Jazz Parlour

There is so much attention to detail at all times, it is really neat to do rooms here. The perfume shop is fantastic and you really shouldn't miss it, and then there are neat things to engage you while you wait to start. The room itself follows this, as does the photo wall at the end (check out the photo above).

We really enjoyed the room and how different elements came together. We also loved the different elements of teamwork and how we had to work together in different ways to get things done.

Price:$$$30 per person

Theme:★★★★The theme is great - and not only will you feel this in the room itself, but the whole entry leading in sets the stage very well. Go a little early so you can check out the lobby area - you won't regret it.

Quality:★★★★Things worked great, with a minor thing at the beginning that was fine when we really needed it. I also have a hard time with how one of the ways to view information, but this worked for everyone else.

Difficulty:★★★★The first part of the game is perfect, and if you finish early enough (which we did) you can get extra puzzles to tell more about the story.

Fun:★★★★★This is a fun room, in part because you get the feel of the atmosphere early on, but also because there are so many fun things to play with. I let one of these distract me cause it was so fun.

With:4 peopleDan, Evan, Judy, Meredith

Outcome:☺Win

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