2021 TERPECA: Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiasts' Choice Award

If you were ever wondering what the top escape rooms in the world were, TERPECA does a pretty good job at aggregating ratings across trusted enthusiasts across the globe. In my opinion, this is vastly superior in comparison to sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Reviews and even the Facebook Escape Room Enthusiast group. For TERPECA, only enthusiasts who have played +200 escape rooms can nominate rooms and those who have played +50 can stack rank the games they have played. Note that only games that can be played in English are eligible. From TERPECA's site:

"...each stack rank was used to create all possible pairwise comparisons between rooms (or companies) in a given stack rank, and then those were used to create a matrix of scores between rooms using all the direct comparisons from any of the participants".

I have played 10 of the top 50 rooms which are listed below (links for reviews). These are all great games and I would say that there are many other rooms that did not make the list that are just as fun as the below. Anything with a 5 stars in my ratings are all top notch and must play escape rooms.

Top Escape Rooms

11. Strange Bird - The Man From Beyond (Houston, TX, USA)

13. Cutthroat Cavern - 13th Gate (Baton Rouge, LA, USA)

21. Ghost Patrol - Trivium Games (Emeryville, CA, USA)

25. The Lost Island Of The Voodoo Queen - Escaparium (Montreal, Canada)

28. Servant Of Sleight - The Exit Game FL (Clearwater, FL, USA)

31. Evil Robots - The Nemesis Club (Phoenix, AZ, USA)

32. The Edison Room - Palace Games (San Francisco, CA, USA)

35. Mogollon Monster - The Nemesis Club (Phoenix, AZ, USA)

37. The Attraction - Palace Games (San Francisco, CA, USA)

45. Lab Rat - Hatch Escapes (Los Angeles, CA, USA)

2021 was a tough year to travel and play escape rooms so hoping that 2022 will be a better year!

Trivium: Ghost Patrol (Emeryville, CA)

What do you get when you combine a beautiful set with clever puzzle design? You get one of the top games in the country! Trivium's "Ghost Patrol" is at the top of almost every Northern California enthusiast's list for a good reason. This ghost themed room was actually not scary at all so we can recommend it for enthusiasts and families alike. From their website:

"Spirits can be a real nuisance for the living. So how do we deal with these pesky poltergeists? Just trap them, right?! And then what, store them in some big, central containment unit indefinitely?! Imagine the liability! We're not animal control, we’re detectives! If we can figure out why the ghost is hanging around and fix its problem, then POOF! No spirits to store and no messy clean up. "

Set Design, Technology & Puzzles

Ghost Patrol's set design was impeccably clean and visually pleasing. The attention to detail was apparent in so many parts of the game ranging from the environment to the puzzle flow. The early puzzles built up the knowledge base needed for the later puzzles which was just brilliant and frankly uncommon in many escape rooms. What we also loved was that it was very clear what objects were "in play" and which ones were not so we didn't lose any time debating if we had all the necessary elements to solve something. 

The technology used in the game was well hidden and just like many other aspects of this escape room, seamless. The crafty use of lighting and sound enhanced the gameplay and added to the overall immersion of the game.

Memorable Moments 

The originality and continuity of one of the main puzzle elements was great! Many other items in the room were also custom made which added to the uniqueness of the experience. On a completely different note, the odyssey began with a memorable sci-fi Easter egg. 

Room For Improvement

Ghost Patrol did extraordinarily well in most departments, however, I would have loved to have more action-oriented or "wow" moments. This is personal preference as I am not as puzzle oriented as many enthusiasts. 

Overall Thoughts

If you are ever in the San Francisco Bay Area, you should 100% play Trivium's Ghost Patrol. The game is accessible to all skill levels (unlike, say, Palace Games in the area) and is family friendly as well. The puzzle flow was world class and you'll have a blast! For this reason, we have awarded Ghost Patrol with the Achievement unlocked Award for one of top escape rooms played! 

• Set design: Great!
• Difficulty: Average
• Price: $225-275 for 4 players, +30$/ additional player
• Number of players: 4-8 (recommend 4)
• Duration: 90 minutes
• Overall Rating: ★★★★★

See their website here: https://www.triviumgames.com