Crazy Cats Escape Room: The Deadly Dining Room (Houston, TX)

Crazy Cat Escape Room (Houston)

The Deadly Dining Room at Crazy Cat Escape Room was an enjoyable room. The story is that your long lost great uncle has recently died and you and some other guests have been invited to his estate for the reading of his will. Upon arrival you all find out that instead of a reading of his will, you've fallen into a trap and have 60 minutes to solve the mysteries and find his will or you'll meet your death. At the start, each person is given a character card on a lanyard which has some symbols next to the character name and bio.

The Basement: Boiler Room (Los Angeles, CA)

The Basement's "Boiler Room" was a 35 minute escape room and the last of the three scenarios we played at this highly talked about location. "The Study", which is their latest room, is currently one of our all-time favorite escape rooms and since the Las Vegas location didn't have the Boiler room, we ventured off to play it at the Sylmar location near Los Angeles.

The Boiler Room was physically confined. The max of four players would make it really uncomfortable and claustrophobic for a lot of people. Playing in such close quarters with strangers would also be equally awkward but we were lucky enough to only be a party of two.

Quadra: Remote Chance, A Cinematic Escape (San Jose, CA)

A fun and unique experience with a great group!

After enjoying "The Time Travel Lab" at Quadra, we decided to try out their latest game, "Remote Chance". While this wasn't a SCRAP game (Quadra created their own) there were definitely influences in terms of style. Triggers were all done via in-game actors and the interaction was actually quite unique and creative.

Of course, the success rate was low, somewhere in the single digits and typical of a SCRAP-like game. We were in a public room and somehow they booked over the max of 12 players (there were 13). Our theory was that the group prior to our timeslot didn't have enough people so they put them with our timeslot. A bit underhanded as they didn't think to ask us beforehand about it. The story was as follows: 

"Remote Chance is the latest movie from the great director Alan Smithee. It was unfortunately rushed through production and had a poor theatrical release. Alan Smithee decided to make a director's cut of his movie but passed away before he could finish. Luckily, he did leave behind clues in his office for someone to take up his work to complete filming and creating that director's cut."

Escapology: Shanghaied & Budapest Express (Las Vegas, NV & more)

Flying to victory!

Escapology is an escape room chain with 7 different rooms in 12 cities (soon to be 21 cities) and it was one of the places that seemed really polished in terms of production value. We played two rooms at Escapology, the "Budapest Express" and "Shanghaied" with four people. The first thing that you notice when you walk into the lobby (at least in Vegas) is the beautiful decor. The seating area was large, comfortable and lavish and while it's not that important, it's a nice to have while waiting between games.

Escape Hunt: Treachery at the Racetrack (Brisbane, Australia)

A family outing to the escape room

Today's submission comes in the form of a guest blog post from one of Randy's regular partners-in-crime, Mio. Being an Aussie and being back home on vacation from my normal residence in California, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place when my Dad's 70th birthday outing went awry. And what does one do when one needs a birthday present in a pinch?  An escape room of course!  So off I went with the parents for their first ever escape room.

Escape Sacramento: The Seance (Sacramento, CA)

Escape Sacramento is located close to downtown and has easily accessible street parking (surprise!). The building looked like a house and it seemed like a friendly neighborhood escape room! We opted to play "Seance" which we were told was a "Gen-1" room meaning a first generation room without any fancy bells and whistles. We played this room with another random group of four and they were proud, self-proclaimed nerds straight out of "The Big Bang Theory".

Future Technology Escape Room: Reason, San Francisco (CA)

A bunch of weirdos

Reason, the room that promises high tech gadgets, but does it live up to the hype? We were conflicted when rating this room as people had very contrasting opinions. The technology was cool, you get to use a 3D printer, a drone and a VR kit and some riddles were clever. Mike, the founder and moderator was chill and we liked him a lot. There was also a story line communicated through videos but if you aren't there when it's revealed, it's impossible to follow.

Paradox Escape Rooms: Wonderland, San Jose (CA)

Follow the white rabbit...

The Paradox Escape Room in San Jose only has one room: Wonderland with the obvious theme of Alice in Wonderland. We went as a birthday celebration with a group of people who had a few games under their belts. While there aren't any big reveals or much tech at all, the decor and puzzles were fun and creative.