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!

EscapeSF: King Arthur & Gingerbread House (San Francisco, CA )

We got to play our first in person escape room of the year at EscapeSF, located in Chinatown in San Francisco. It was such a great feeling to be able to physically touch things in an escape room rather than just viewing it through a computer. We ventured out to play the newly released King Arthur's Legacy and also a Christmas popup, Gingerbread Cottage Escape, that was never released due to Covid-19 shutdowns last year.  From EscapeSF's site:

"King Arthur's Legacy

Ages past and the Knights of the Round Table are no longer in Camelot. The gift of Lady of the Lake is waiting for the hero and Merlin the Magician keeps its secrets. You must assemble a company and get to the Excalibur. 

Gingerbread Cottage Escape

Ding! Nothing beats the smell of fresh baked gingerbread cookies around the holidays...except when YOU are the gingerbread cookies. *Kids friendly"

Set Design, Technology & Puzzles 

King Arthur's Legacy

The set design in this game was on par with what one would expect in an office space right in the middle of Chinatown, however, the props that were used were great. The swords that were used were custom made from Russia and they were really heavy to lift! There were some neat surprises that we didn't expect and this reminded us of how much we loved playing physical escape rooms. EscapeSF was also the company where we played some of our very first games back in 2016 so it was great feeling to come back. Many of the puzzles were based on observation and ciphers that are prevalent in escape rooms.

Gingerbread Cottage

This game was designed for kids and we were told it was super easy but we loved the Christmas theme and how cute it was! The set was basic, but effective given that it was made for children. Experienced players would get out of this 45 minute room in 15-20 minutes so it's best to play with kids.

Memorable Moments 

King Arthur's Legacy had a fun physical puzzle that fired us up and made our day. Gingerbread Cottage was just really cute and it's hard to forgot the Gingerbread man that you are trying to build. It reminded me of the same character in Shrek.

Room For Improvement

We felt that the ending of the rooms lacked a grande finale that we often crave from an escape room. Also, the set design could have been more elaborate to provide a more realistic feeling of being in King Arthur's world. 

Overall Thoughts

We enjoyed the first in person room we played in 2021 and while the games were not groundbreaking, they were definitely some solid fun.

• Set design: Average
• Difficulty: Average
• Price: +$115/game
• Number of players: 2-7, (we recommend 2-3), private
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Overall Rating: ★★★★ (both games)

See their website here: https://escapesf.net

Disclosure: EscapeSF comped the tickets for this game

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! 

Palace Games: The Edison Room (San Francisco, CA)

We finally escaped, with no hints!

"The Edison Room" is Palace Games' latest room and the follow up to "The Great Houdini Escape Room" and "The Roosevelt Escape Room". The set design and automation were real standouts in the previous two games that we played here and we were hoping that their newest game would have some of the same magic. We have yet been able to escape any of the Palace Games rooms so we were ready for the challenge. From their site:

"The Palace Games team recently unearthed this telegram sent by Thomas Edison in 1915 on October 2nd. 

Since the discovery of Edison’s telegram, the Palace Games team has located his study at the Palace of Fine Arts. It is now open to the public. Come play to learn the secret reason Edison built and maintained this special place at the Palace of Fine Arts!

49 Boxes: Evening At The Houdini Estate (San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA)

Evening At The Houdini Estate

After not being able to find any enthusiast reviews for 49 Boxes, I decided to post about my experience at 49 Boxes San Francisco showing in November of 2017. At the time of this writing, there seemed to be limited showings of "Evening At The Houdini Estate" in both San Francisco and Los Angeles with costs ranging from $100 for a normal 90 minute session (my ticket) to $650 for a session and accommodations. From their site:

"The 49 Boxes is an episodic, story-driven experience where audience members play a role in solving mysteries that have been kept secret for more than half a century—all while interacting with artifacts from the Golden Age of Magic. This is not an experience that unfolds around you…it unfolds because of you.

Entry into one of the world's most exclusive and private members only club [The Battery]. An exclusive, intimate performance of the most buzzed about immersive storytelling puzzle experience: 49 Boxes—"The Magic of Thayer."

Reviewing this event was not a simple task as the designers do not see this as an escape room (more as immersive storytelling) but from an enthusiast's perspective, the format and experience is on par with any large format escape rooms games that a company like SCRAP commonly holds. There are 10+ tables with 8 people per table all solving puzzles with an overarching storyline.

Palace Games: The Great Houdini Escape Room (San Francisco, CA)

We finally got around to playing Palace Games' original game, "The Great Houdini Escape Room". We played "The Roosevelt Room" last year and despite the puzzles being average, the automation and grand reveals were enough to hype us up for their first room. We knew that The Houdini Room would probably be less advanced as it was older but we had to experience it for ourselves.

The storyline has Houdini building the world's first escape room a century ago and he challenges eight innovators to escape the room. These innovators include famous icons such as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Charlie Chaplin. There was quite a lot to do so eight is a reasonably good number of people to take on the tasks at hand.

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.

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.

Palace Games: Roosevelt Room, San Francisco (CA)

Team Commonwealth
The Roosevelt Escape Room at Palace Games is one of the highest rated rooms on most review sites. While it is one of the greatest rooms, the cost is pretty steep and a few puzzles are repetitive. In the final room, a few of us had to sit out and wait in another previously explored room as there was no space for us and nothing for us to contribute. Nonetheless, expect some great "eureka!" moments and exceptional grand reveals.