LA Dragon Studios: Knights Of The Round Table (Van Nuys, CA)

Written by Matt Neal: As a seasoned veteran of escape rooms, when I see a new room pop up that touts being “family friendly” and “great for all ages” I get a little nervous. I know that experienced enthusiasts do not make up the bulk of the market and targeting newcomers and families makes a lot of financial sense, but in my experience, the rooms that result just don’t scratch my itch for a challenging, exciting experience. Likewise, the rooms that offer a challenging, exciting experience to those that have ran out of fingers and toes to count rooms on can leave those exploring an escape room for the first time with a frustrating experience, never getting to taste success. Rarely does a room offer an experience that is accessible to those that have never heard of an escape room, a playfulness to be within reach of children, and enough fun and excitement to have the experienced walk out with just as big of a smile. LA Dragon Studios offers just that. They have one of the first games from Israel to make its way to the United States and if this is a sign of what’s to come, I can’t wait to see more. From their website:

"In this adventure, you are sent into Camelot on an epic quest. Explore the castle, find the hidden clues and become a Knight! 

We want you to have the fun, there's no limitation on hints, no pressure, it’s about your experience and your story."

This experience is about letting you into their world to play around and that allows for a positive experience for a much broader audience. For someone that’s done a lot of rooms, saving Camelot wasn’t particularly difficult, but it didn’t need to be. There’s so much to see and do, enough to play with and take in, that there is something here for the experienced. I only wish that this was how my first escape room would have been.

Clockwise Escape: Party In Vegas & The Asylum

Party In Vegas!

Clockwise Escape opened in 2017 in Downtown San Francisco and we were able to play both their games. We played "The Asylum" back in September 2017 and "Party In Vegas" in January 2018. Both these escape games were creative and solid, with the edge going to "Party In Vegas" for having a more unique theme and some whimsical elements that made everyone laugh. From their site:

Party In Vegas
"You wake up hungover in a trashed penthouse suite. Looks like you guys had the bachelor party of a lifetime last night, but you can’t remember a thing. How’d a motorcycle get in here? Who broke the front door? OMG where’s the RING?!?! It’s your buddy’s wedding day and the ceremony starts in an hour. Hurry up and get it together guys! You need to retrace your drunken steps from last night, find that ring and get out of here, fast! 

The Asylum
It's 1974 and you've been abducted as test subjects in a horrifying, government experiment! They’ve locked you away to conduct highly classified and unregulated tests on the limits of the human brain. The orderlies are down the hall preparing the first round of tests. Electro shock? Lobotomy? Chemical experiments? You have 60 minutes to escape before they come back and fry your brain for good. Hurry, it's time to get out! 

Exit2Escape: Quest For The Crown (Dublin, CA)

Excellent craftsmanship and unique props

"Exit2Escape" is East Bay's latest room, joining Omescape in Richmond and Limitless Escape in Livermore. Exit2Escape is family run by a woodcrafter, an interior designer and a math major who all chipped in their various skills to create "Quest For The Crown". We played this game in November 2017, just a few weeks after opening. From their site:

"You are the elder sibling born into a Royal family. It was your birthright to inherit the crown upon the King’s death, but an evil secret plan executed by your younger brother and some corrupt castle guards has left you exiled from the kingdom. The corrupt guards were given strict orders to kill you if you ever returned to the castle. When the King and Queen died, your tyrannical brother ran the kingdom into despair. Disgusted by the decline of a once-prosperous and peaceful land, you decide to risk your life to set things right. Disguised as a pauper, you’ve managed to make it back to the castle undetected, and with your knowledge of the secret passages within the castle walls, you’ve made it to the King’s study. In the next sixty minutes, you must now find proof of your birthright and escape undetected before the castle guards return."

EscapeX Room: The Attic (Irvine, CA)

Krazy Katz & Bill joined us for a midnight game

While we were in the Orange County area we met up with some other enthusiasts and it was fun to play with people who are just as passionate as we are about escape rooms. Bill and the Krazy Katz joined us for this last minute booking late on a Saturday night. From the EscapeX site:

"Sixty years after the disappearance of the Cain family, prospective residents have come to the manor ... every one of them citing strange behavior in the household. Voices echo from the ceiling and footsteps go pitter-patter across the attic floors.

Though the manor has remained abandoned, those that dare enter the establishment report inexplicable chills that linger in the air and feelings of being followed. Some say the spirit of Master Cain remains trapped in the attic, doomed to stay in the house for all eternity. 

Do you dare explore what lies in the attic?"

Mission Escape: Escape The Hydeout (Anaheim, CA)

Caleb was the star in this room!

The Hydeout is the same room that was originally created for the NYC location.  The Anaheim location is smack in the middle of the Anaheim GardenWalk mall beside Disneyland, which is a bit surprising as most rooms are usually in an office building or in some remote industrial area. Judging by the pictures I have seen of the set design, it seems that the Anaheim decor is far superior when compared to the original NYC location. From their site:

"The Hydeout is a Victorian-era mission inspired by the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Be prepared to go into the good doctor’s home but beware of his dark side. Dr Jekyll has been acting strange and gone missing. It’s up to you to find out what has happened to Dr Jekyll before Mr Hyde shows up…"

Evil Genius: Occam's Apartment & Norcross Art Gallery (Los Angeles, CA)

Chapter One > Chapter Two

Evil Genius created a two chapter adventure that you can book in a single two hour slot. This was the first time we had seen such a scenario and we hoped that there would be a natural transition between the rooms. Chapter One came out a few years ago and they more recently added Chapter Two, so these rooms could also be played separately. When played in one session, teams can bank the extra time from Chapter One and put it toward Chapter Two and that's exactly what we did. The transition between the chapters was fun and the layout of the location also helped make it feel more immersive.

Unlockables: The Informant & The Escape (San Diego, CA)

This post was written by Mio! The Unlockables is a relatively new set of rooms in San Diego with a very friendly owner/operator who is himself very well versed in playing escape rooms (+100 rooms). He actually took over part of the space from a previous operator so his own "The Escape" room was added in addition to the existing "Informant Room". As a result, the Informant Room makes for a pretty good introduction room for beginners, but will likely be a breeze for more advanced players. Even though it was your typical investigate a murder scene setting, it still was an above average game. "The Escape" room, on the other hand, is a great deal more immersive and challenging – one that our crew enjoyed a lot and kept us well occupied.

Steal and Escape: Mysterious Stranger (San Diego, CA)

We saved America!

Steal and Escape's Mysterious Stranger was highly recommended by everybody as a "must do" room in San Diego. Located south of San Diego in National City, we made the trek to see what this room had to offer. The story was centered around breaking into some random dude's home in order to either save or end America as we know it.

The room had above average decor and there were a lot of things to solve. There were a few crafty puzzles that were quite fun and we appreciated them a lot. We also liked the heavy searching element of the game as that's exactly what we like to see in a escape room. The weird part about the room was that there were bottlenecks that made it hard to move about the space and we were constantly bumping into each other with four players in the game.

Escape Era: Deja Vu (San Diego, CA)

The Mad Scientists are at work again

Escape Era, a newish location without many blogger reviews, was located a little out of the way, north of downtown San Diego. The story for their only room, "Deja Vu", was as follows: "It feels like you've been here before, but you can't remember. Can you solve the mysterious case of Deja Vu?". The theme of losing your memory and trying to figure out what happened was rather common but Escape Era did a good job in making their room a lot of fun. 

Epic Team Adventures: The Sparrow Files (Seattle, WA)

"The Sparrow Files" was the third room we played at Epic Team Adventures (ETA) and this was more like a traditional escape room rather than a quest or a puzzle intensive session like ETA's Storybook Legends. The scenario from their site says you "will be immersed in the most enigmatic cases of P.I. Carmen Sparrow: collecting information from various sources, examining evidence for clues,  investigating every suspicious detail, and racing against time to foil the evil plot". This film noir theme takes place all in one room so it's good to know this before hand to set expectations. I was debating whether saying if an escape room didn't have extra rooms was a spoiler, as it was not obvious this was the case for this game, but I feel knowing this before hand would make the experience better so, in my opinion, this is the opposite of a spoiler.

The set and the story were great and highly immersive. The familiar narration of the film noir genre was present and the look and feel of everything was spot on. The puzzles were a mix of paper puzzles and tangible elements and the storyline was quite important in this game. We enjoyed the automation of the reveals and the overall mood of the room.

Epic Team Adventures: Quest For Excalibur & Raven and the Red Death (Seattle, WA)

As Michael would say "FOR FREEDOM!"

We are graced by having fellow game enthusiast, Michael Thompson (front row, right), write this post for two rooms at Epic Team Adventures (ETA). Note that these rooms are quests and not your traditional escape rooms like ETA's Sparrow Files.

ETA Story Book Legends adventures consists of two scenarios: “Quest for Excalibur” and “The Raven and The Red Death”. They were created in that order, so naturally we played them the other way round, because we’re funny like that.

Hourglass Escapes: Rise Of The Mad Pharaoh (Seattle, WA)

We made Mummy proud

"Hourglass Escapes" features one room, "Rise of the Mad Pharaoh" and our group of four decided to play this while in Seattle after some word of mouth advice. The story followed Dr. Carter's archaeological dig, which sets off a trap and locks him in an Egyptian tomb. The narrative and countdown were relayed via a TV screen in the room and the flow of the game was smooth. Each player roleplayed a character and used their expertise, in the form of a hint on their character card, to solve a puzzle. We liked this roleplaying and have only seen this in a few escapes room to date.

The Basement: The Basement Room (Las Vegas, NV & Los Angeles, CA)

The Basement (room), the original room

For those easily scared - be warned!  This room is not for the faint-hearted ... but this is mainly because it is so very immersive - impressively so.  Our group of half boys - half girls did well to upkeep those gender stereotypes with many a high-pitched scream emanating from the girls while escaping this room.

The Basement is the original room from this chain - rooms such as The Study (see review) and The Boiler Room follow on from this story.  In The Basement, your team is kidnapped, taken to an underground lair, and threatened with death by notorious serial-killer, Edward Tandy.  You have 45 minutes to escape a terrifying and gruesome death.

Kuma Escape: Detention (Santa Clara, CA)

Michael (second from the right) was a bad boy in detention

Kuma Escape's "stage 3" room, Detention, opened in May 2016 and even though it touted the highest escape rate (20%) out of their three rooms, it was actually the most difficult one. Keep in mind that "stage" simply means room and you don't have to do "stage" one or two to play the third one. It seemed that a lot of enthusiasts played this room and given that the record was only 45min, it was no surprise that this was a challenge. We were six people in the group with two people who were new to escape rooms.

Enchambered: Whispering Halls & Containment Breach (Sacramento, CA)

Enchambered is often hailed as the best escape room in Sacramento. We did both rooms here and as most reviewers have said, the production value was top notch. The puzzles were solid and the themes, although common, worked out well. All the rooms are open to the public, so everyone who books the same timeslot will be mixed together. The physical spacing of the rooms relative to the number of people was a downside which should not be overlooked.

Quandary: Runaway Train & Locked In Dead (Roseville, CA)

Runaway Train (left) & The Locked In Dead (right)

[Updated June 2017] Their new "Runaway Train" room was awesome and there were a lot of great puzzles that were new to us. The physical space was fine for two and I feel it would be cramped if there were any more than four people in the room, let alone eight. The co-founder, Ryan, explained how we solved the room the way he originally intended for it to be solved in terms of team communication. The room was simplified to accommodate the general public. If you ever play the room, you will understand :).

Time Run: The Celestial Chain, London (England)

We scored 78% in this Time Run

Time Run touts itself as an immersive cinematic experience that takes escape rooms to the next level. This was definitely a unique experience and quite an extravagant production. The set up was completely immersive as you wait outside the premises in some industrial area where the entrance seemed to be the back of an old shipping area. You only go in once your time has come (there is no lobby to wait in) and once inside, you're in the story. The actor was quite good and never broke character. He didn't even ask for my name for the booking, he just took us in at our time and boom, right into the theme.

Omescape: Pandemic, San Jose (CA)

20 minutes to spare with no hints!

Omescape Pandemic deals with a virus breakout in the sewers and the story gives a slight nod to the 1990's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon.  It was one of the most enjoyable room due to the quality of the room designs and seamless automation of reveals. The production value for this room was exceptional and it was also very spacious, probably only second to the Palace Games rooms which are already ridiculously large.