13th Gate Escape - Tomb of Anubis

There are so many neat things about this room, that it is hard to leave you with that without diving too much into what those things are. However, let's just say that this company really knows what they are doing to give you a fully immersive experience. From the moment you walk through the door to the room, to the moment you leave, everything about the room is in theme, including some great puzzles that really use the space and the decor to their best advantage. And so many of the puzzles had multiple layers to them, that you had to focus and work as a group to get things done. This was a fun and adrenaline-packed hour of puzzles for us.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★★★This is the best themed Egyptian-based room I've ever done - there is so much attention to detail and making sure that everything is tied together, and many surprises.

Quality:★★★★The room was well put together, and there are many things I was amazed by and want to know how they did them.

Difficulty:★★★★★This room is hard, but more than that it is packed with content - you definitely need to communicate well and not make assumptions about how to do things (which we did more than once).

Fun:★★★This is a great room, but our team's lack of communication between people who didn't know each other well at various points did have us spending a bit of time doing nothing while waiting for others.

With:8 peopleDan, Evan, Judy, Meredith (with 4 others)

Outcome:☹Loss

Time Left:⏰N/A

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Exit Plan - Safe House

I am writing this a little retroactively, but one of the things about this one is I don't really remember liking or disliking it. I do remember that some of the puzzles were interesting, but many of the things in there we got through quickly because we'd seen it before. We even made it to the end fairly quickly, and would have been more so if you didn't have to put the same code into two different locks. And then we may not have blown up at the end if we'd made the right choice on the final puzzle (we had the answer but listened to something in the intro video instead).

Price:$$$29 per person

Theme:★★This was sparse - maybe that was realistic, but also it made (or should have made) figuring things out easier because there were few things to find, and some of those we were flat out told not to mess with.

Quality:★★★This was generally good, but the lighting was difficult for us, and there were whole parts a member of our group could not access.

Difficulty:★★★We made this harder as a group by not communicating well what was already done, and by thinking things from the welcome video were relevant in the solution of the room (they weren't, really - at least not the parts we remembered).

Fun:★★...Parts. Parts were fun. Other parts felt like a lot of searching and somewhat guessing what to do.

With:4 peopleBob, Evan, Judy, Linda

Outcome:☹Loss

Time Left:⏰Blew Up

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The Escape Hunt Experience Houston - Houston We Have a Problem

This was so much fun, and I'm looking forward to going back with a group I know and hoping for a better outcome. Our biggest downfall was around who was in charge of communicating, and that choice lost us so much time that there wasn't a chance of recovering. There was general confusion and lack of things we needed being shared with us. One of the other astronauts and I were lucky in that we both have unique skills that let us solve puzzles without using the information that should have been shared, but for other groups this would be a huge disadvantage. Just choose wisely and you should have better luck. But either way, you will have a fun time.

Price:$$$$38 per person

Theme:★★★★A lot of time went into making this the most realistic space travel room I've ever done - extremely detailed and very well put together.

Quality:★★★This was nicely done and things generally worked well. Towards the end, however, we did something wrong and got it so stuck there was no chance we'd move past it.

Difficulty:★★★★I don't think that any individual puzzle was particularly hard. Rather, the poor decision we made about communicating early in the room made our experience here painful.

Fun:★★★Super fun - I got to wear a space suit in the room and who doesn't want to do that?

With:12 peopleEvan, Judy (with 10 others)

Outcome:☹Win

Time Left:⏰N/A

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1 Hour To Escape - The Study

We've liked the rooms here quite a bit - each has some neat things inside and the employees are fantastic to work with. This room in particular was well thought out and has some pretty good puzzles inside (if you pay enough attention to find them all). This was a harder room for us for a number of factors. First, I just had a long day and then doing this later in the evening, I may not have been at the top of my game. Second, there was a lot for a group of two, and we would have fared better with a larger group. In any case, I know I came across as a little irritated after this, but much more at myself than anything else.

Price:$$$27 per person

Theme:★★★This was pretty neat, if a little eccentric.

Quality:★★There were a few broken things in the room, which for the most part did not have any impact on the overall experience.

Difficulty:★★★★This is very hard for two people alone, mainly because we just missed things that either we completely skipped or stared at a bit.

Fun:★★★There are a couple of really neat things in here - I wish I could do them justice, but to do so I'd probably have to give it away. On the other hand, I was a little frustrated because we should have listened when they said it was too much for two people before we went in.

With:2 peopleEvan, Judy

Outcome:☹Loss

Time Left:⏰N/A

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Escape Room Dallas - Gods of Egypt

First off, we didn't escape this room, but we did get to finish the puzzles when we were done, which was nice. We participated with three people who hadn't done a room before, so this was their first and I'm not sure that was a good thing or not. I had an okay time, but my husband didn't and doesn't ever want to go back, so I suspect that how much you enjoy this room may vary vastly depending on your preferences. The biggest detractor for me was around the quality of the room - some of the puzzles were just tricky not because we didn't know what to do, but because they were difficult to position properly. Also, stray markings made us think things were there when they clearly were not. The story was okay, parts of the theme were neat and different from things I've seen before, and I'm glad we gave it a shot.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★Parts of the room were great, others were very generic and seemed like you were in an office. There were some great elements and some not.

Quality:★★Some things were hard to use, either because it was difficult to do as intended, or because of stray marks that distracted and made you think something was there that wasn't.

Difficulty:★★★Our biggest part was not paying attention to directions, which made things harder than they needed to be. Also, one of the puzzles was confusing on what you needed to do and took way more time that it probably should have.

Fun:★★There were some fun elements, but a lot of this was just frustrating.

With:5 peopleEvan, Judy (with 3 others)

Outcome:☹Loss

Time Left:⏰None; they let you finish after time is up.

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Breakout KC - Room 13

I was traveling for work and got in quite early, so I booked myself into an escape room where several others had signed up already. The group was a family and all were very nice and fun to get to know. They were also newbies, so excited about what would happen. When we got in, we did spend a lot of time confused, used all of our clues, and got trapped in the room.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★The room wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still very neat.

Quality:★★★In good shape - a couple of torn items, but otherwise okay.

Difficulty:★★★★★There were some puzzles that really made very little sense until they were explained to us, and even then were quite abstract.

Fun:★★Parts were fun, but I spent a lot of time frustrated.

With:8 peopleJudy (with seven others)

Outcome:☹Loss

Time Left:⏰00:00

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Escape Expert - Dead End (Second Try)

I do not think frustrating is a good enough word for this room. We really wanted to beat it, but even the second attempt with more people was futile. I feel quite bad about this, as it was the first time for one in the group and perhaps this wasn't the best place for that (some of their other rooms would be great). Some day maybe we will make it happen. And it isn't just us - check out this review from Escape Authority.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★★Again, this was very immersive and probably one of the scariest rooms we've ever been in.

Quality:★★★★Things worked great and seemed to all be in working order.

Difficulty:★★★★★This room was so hard - even with eight people this time, we didn't get much farther (maybe one more puzzle) than last time.

Fun:★★★We had more fun with more people, but it was still quite frustrating.

With:8 peopleCJ, Ellie, Evan, Fred, Judy, Lesley, Nicole, Tony

Outcome:☹Loss

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Escape Now - The Sherlock Room

This was a good time as a family the day after Christmas. We had a good time going in, and overall everyone was able to contribute something to solving puzzles. We missed a few fairly obvious things, which is unfortunate because they were fun puzzles. There was also a puzzle that we just have no idea how they did it but it was super neat and I've yet to see it used in any other rooms - we would like you also to be surprised by it because it was a neat little challenge.

Price:$$$24 per person

Theme:★★There were some neat things in here, some of which were a little distracting, but overall pretty good.

Quality:★★★In good shape - all but one puzzle worked perfectly and they had warned us about problems with one before going in so we were able to get a work around when we got to that.

Difficulty:★★★Honestly, we just made things so much more difficult than they needed to be. There were at least three puzzles that had we paid better attention we could have made it through without using the hint so early.

Fun:★★★We had fun - it was a first puzzle for the in-laws and even though we didn't get out they had fun.

With:4 peopleEvan, Judy, Justin, Pat

Outcome:☹Loss

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Escape Expert - Dead End

This was an interesting experience (one we came back to share with our friends because we were hopeful). Some of the puzzles were pretty quick, and others took much more effort. We didn't get all the way to the end on our first attempt (or our second, for that matter) but we had a okay time in any case (at least the first time through). If they tell you that you really should more than two people, and then look at you like you are nuts when you decide to try anyways, perhaps that is a good sign you should listen.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★★This was very immersive and probably one of the scariest rooms I've ever been in.

Quality:★★★★Things worked great and seemed to all be in working order.

Difficulty:★★★★★This was very hard and really we should have heeded their warning to have more than two people.

Fun:★★★This got my adrenaline pumping for sure.

With:2 peopleEvan, Judy

Outcome:☹Loss

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Guess HQ - The Heist

This room was probably our worst escape room experience thus far, and really it isn't so much the fault of the room but the employees that interacted with us. We got pretty far to the end and then just couldn't open something even though we had the right code. After fifteen minutes of trying. And this isn't a type of lock we've never opened before, so when the employee told us that we were just doing it wrong and wouldn't show us how that was the case, it was really annoying. And then he just kept poking at us. In any case, given that I have opened this type of lock both before, and since, and there were instructions on the wall, and he slipped us more instructions under a door, we aren't convinced that we were the issue here. And if we were (again, doubtful) then the employee definitely should have handled this better. I think that even though we didn't get out, we could have been okay with that (we've lost other rooms) if the employee hadn't been a jerk about it or showed us what we missed.

Price:$$$30 CAD per person

Theme:★★★★This is actually pretty neat - some parts made us have bits of adrenaline and were just neat.  This was perhaps the most technologically interesting room we've done.

Quality:★The first parts were fine, other than it being clear people tried to open things that shouldn't be. However, spending fifteen minutes trying to do the same thing only to be told we don't know how to use a lock (see the number of rooms we've done to clear that up) was a bit annoying.

Difficulty:★★The puzzles in this room were not hard, but keeping from doing something wrong with them was an exercise in futility. The hardest thing was using some of the codes, not the puzzles.

Fun:★This was so frustrating that even though some parts were fine, debacles at the end made this overall a pretty big let down.

With:2 peopleEvan, Judy

Outcome:☹Loss

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Find and Seek - The Majestic Theatre

Another room in BC, another 45 minute escape room. We enjoyed many of the puzzles in here - in fact, there are at least three puzzles in this room we haven't seen in others that we've done (at least, not yet). There was a lot put into this room, and it was a great experience even though we didn't make it out. We really just got stuck on a puzzle that we've never been all that great with (it may have worked out with our normal escape room buddies there who rock at these). Also, a few of the puzzles could have been easier with more people, but we got through those fine with just two (they likely just took a few minutes longer). I also really like that the host explained to us how to finish the room - this is one of the best things I think rooms can do (especially when we were clearly tourists and couldn't come back and try again).

Price:$$$26 CAD per person

Theme:★★★This was good, but parts of this were better than others (I didn't for one minute forget we were in a mall).

Quality:★★★★Well done and they've done a great job keeping things in working order (unlike other rooms with similar ideas inside).

Difficulty:★★★★Some of the puzzles were quite tricky for us for a couple of reasons - we just aren't so great at a couple of those types and some of these would have been better with more than two people.

Fun:★★★This was enjoyable even though we didn't get out.

With:2 peopleEvan, Judy

Outcome:☹Loss

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Denver Escape Room - Rampancy

We booked this room after completing the super awesome Crimson Storm at the same location earlier in the day. We were told this was their hardest, and boy did it live up to that expectation. We learned a lot about escape rooms here that will be put into practice elsewhere (unfortunately, we cannot share it because it would give away some of the puzzles). But this was an enjoyable time and really we think if we had gotten a better start and used clues more wisely we would have finished this one. A neat thing they did here (which some we've lost didn't) was come in after and give us the hint where we were stuck and let us finish it quickly with their help. It gave a good idea of where we got stuck, and how much more we had to do.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★The theme in this was good and added to the confusion felt.

Quality:★★★★Very well done room and everything inside worked as it should (even if we didn't like it not working how we wanted, it was as it should).

Difficulty:★★★★★OMG this was hard. There were several difficult puzzles that took some time, and just some great puzzles.

Fun:★★★★★This time we were paired with some experienced escape artists and it was nice that everyone could dive in and get to work. We had fun from start to finish, even though we also got frustrated.

With:8 peopleEvan, Judy (and six others)

Outcome:☹Loss

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Boxaroo! Escape Rooms and Real Life Adventures - The Vault

This experience was fantastic. The room was super neat and just such a great location - both where it is in the city and that it is an old vault - both very good. The decor, lighting, system for getting clues, and some of the clues themselves were very neat. This was the first time my mom and dad had joined us in an escape room, so there was a bit of explaining to them the purpose, but we got along well enough when we understood how to do a puzzle. Things really deteriorated when we got to the last puzzle, though, because we simply skipped an earlier one that really was needed here and none of us thought to go back to it. Also, we might have over-complicated it even with that puzzle done. Either way, it was fun and I'm glad we got to experience together.

Price:$$$28 per person

Theme:★★★★★This theme really held up to expectations - it was in a real old bank vault, which was just really neat.

Quality:★★★Everything worked very well, once we figured out what we were supposed to do with things.

Difficulty:★★★★There were definitely some harder things in here, but we also made it harder by skipping a puzzle and then missing clues that were given to us.

Fun:★★We still had a good time even though we lost.

With:4 peopleBob, Evan, Judy, Linda

Outcome:☹Loss

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