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."

Real Escape Game (Quadra): Escape From The Time Travel Lab (San Jose, CA)

We're going back to the future...with a chicken

SCRAP's reputation precedes them and while we were not the biggest fans of their style, (heavy pen and paper puzzles, low tech, crosswords, illogical final riddle), we read that this was SCRAP's best room from another trusted escape room enthusiast, Will, at EscapeRoomTips. Three of us signed up to play in a public room and ended up with a group of eight teenagers. We knew this would be a tough room given that the success rate was 7% (pretty low compared to most which are 20%-30%) and that we were in a mixed group. The story was as follows:

"You are trapped in the mysterious laboratory, where it has been said, they study time travel...You wonder if they were able to make time travelling true… If you cannot find the key to open the exit, you will drop into the spatiotemporal distortion and not able to return to this world again. Will you be able to escape from the time travel lab?"

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.

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.

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".

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 :).

Escape Edinburgh: Darker Side of Edinburgh & Da Vinci Room (Scotland)

The Darker Side Of Edinburgh

We booked two rooms at this place which was billed as "Scotland's First Live Escape Game". Their website was terrific and we were excited to do both these room.

The Da Vinci Room

The first room we did was "The Darker Side of Edinburgh" and this was one of the least exciting rooms we've played to date. There were no extra rooms and only padlocks to open so maybe it is showing its age as the first escape room in Scotland. We also managed to open the final lock that gave us the key to the exit at around the 12 min mark which lead to the moderator to rush in and tell us not to use it. He questioned how we got to it and we explained that a riddle lead us to a number, which we were told was a coincidence. Ok, so we agreed to put it back and asked that he let us know when it was time for us to use the key since we already solved the puzzle. He never comes back and we eventually escape with 12mins to spare.

Resident Evil Escape Experience, Capcom & iam8bit, San Francisco (CA)

"Gurghhhhhhaaaa..."

The Resident Evil Escape Experience was dark, creepy and...underwhelming. The set design was cool but when the only things to open are padlocks, it gets old fast. The actors hired played the part of Umbrella Corp technicians and they were pretty creepy which played well with the theme. The music at the end puts you into panic mode and given it's only 45 minutes, it does get your adrenaline running. We escaped with the fastest time of the day at 39mins.

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.

Limitless Escape Games: Bank Heist Diamond of Destiny, Livermore (CA)

We brought two total noobs to Limitless Escape!

This brand new room opened to the public a few weeks ago and we were excited to see what Limitless Escape Games had to bring to the table. We played the Bank Heist room two weeks after it opened (fits up to 10 people). We decided to bring along some friends who had never played an escape room before.