Thursday, June 29, 2017

Escape The Room Dallas - Western Bank Heist


The room had a great theme and we were very excited going into the experience. There was a very mixed reaction in our group for this escape room - some of our group really had fun, and others really didn't. I think what was hardest is that while there was clearly plenty to keep us engaged the full hour, there wasn't much to keep all 10 people in the room engaged that whole time, which resulted in several times where I stood there watching someone else do something or someone else stared at me. So, it has potential but a might benefit from a more experienced/friendlier/professional room operator and fewer people in the room at once.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★★The theme is fantastic - a great idea and very well implemented. You can tell that this was thought out and it definitely shows.

Quality:★★This was very well built, although there were a few things that fell off (just decor) while we were in the room. All the devices that you needed to play were in good enough order, although there are definitely things that could be changed to make this a better experience (which the room operator was not receptive to even pretending to listening to at the end and irritated another person in the room who offered it to her).

Difficulty:★★Overall, the puzzles themselves weren't that difficult once you read the directions and had three or four different people try them. There were a couple that, while not hard, were just neat and a surprise.

Fun:I would start with saying that some people in our group enjoyed this more than others. However, some things were so frustrating that it took away from the experience. There are some puzzles that were not clear, some were just unclear what happened after completing them, and a lot of time spent standing around doing nothing because only one or two people (in a group of 10) could be doing something and everyone else was waiting on them so we could get the next puzzle.

With:10 peopleBrodrick, Evan, Ellie, Fred, Jennifer, Judy (with four others)

Outcome:Win

Time Left:2:00

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Red Door Escape Room - Entrapment


"So, honey, what do you want to do today?"
"I'd like to get out of the house."
"Want to do an escape room?"
"Yes."
"Great, let's do this one that starts in 30 minutes and takes 25 minutes to drive to."
"Okay, yes please."
And this conversation brought us in for a great escape room experience :)

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★The room was good, but not quite what I expected given the name of the room. However, based on the story, it was spot on.

Quality:★★★★There were some broken areas from people clearly doing something they weren't supposed to in previous attempts, but these seem to have been repaired and warning stickers placed on some of the areas to prevent future damage (hopefully).

Difficulty:★★★★This was a good mix of easy puzzles, well-placed clues, and some trickier things.

Fun:★★★★We were on quite a roll and having a great time with this one. There were definitely puzzles in here that catered to each of our skill sets.

With:2 peopleEvan, Judy

Outcome:Win

Time Left:11:07

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Breakout Arlington - Island Escape


We'd been feeling escape room deprived (don't know how, but it happened), so when they sent us a coupon code we decided to sign up for this one since we hadn't done it yet. Very glad we did - we got to meet a few folks who really brightened the experience for us (their Hawaiian shirts went perfectly with the theme).

Price:$$$22 per person (coupon was available)

Theme:★★★★This was well done, and there were some surprises in here for us along the way.

Quality:★★★★This was nicely put together, although a couple of items in the room could either be circumvented or weren't fully reset before we came in, so we jumped around a bit.

Difficulty:★★This was just so fun we didn't get caught up on a lot of things. Not to say there wasn't some thinking, but mostly things were quite intuitive.

Fun:★★★★Just wow - so many surprises to keep your eyes open for. This really got my adrenaline pumping a few times.

With:7 peopleEllie, Evan, Fred, Judy (and four others)

Outcome:Win

Time Left:18:42