Escape Games Canada: Crossroads & Syndicate (Toronto, ON)

Premier escape room facility in North America

Escape Games Canada was another Toronto escape room company that was highly recommended by escape room enthusiasts. There are two locations somewhat far away from the downtown core: one in Mississauga and one in North York. I was lucky enough to be staying close to their North York location (40 minutes north of downtown) where they have six, soon to be seven, escape rooms. I was expecting to have a great time with a bunch first timers by playing "Crossroads" and Syndicate: Relic Heist.

2017 Escape Room Enthusiast Survey

Fellow escape room enthusiasts Errol Elumir and Lee-Fay Low compiled an insightful survey about escape room players and owner. The below are  snippets of the survey and you can see the entire professionally done summary here.

Secret City Adventures: The Secret of Station House No. 4 (Toronto, ON)

The Secret of Station House No. 4, one of Toronto's finest escape rooms

Secret City Adventures runs a couple of different escape rooms series ranging from the familiar franchised Real Escape Games rooms (Time Travel Lab) to what I presume to be their own creations, the Casa Loma Escape Series and The Murdoch Mysteries Escape Series.

I heard through word of mouth that the "The Secret of Station House No. 4" was a top escape room in Toronto so I bought my ticket and flew out to the land of hockey and maple syrup. One thing that I noticed was that a LOT of the top rooms in Toronto are geared towards large groups so it makes it difficult for travelers to plan ahead. From their site:

"Solve the Secret of Station House No. 4
Detective Murdoch is missing and as Toronto’s newest constables you’ve been called into action, but the clock is ticking! You only have 60 minutes to save Murdoch. Discover the clues, piece together the evidence, crack the case, and unravel the Secret of Station House No. 4!

Step into a world of intrigue and wonder as Secret City Adventures & Shaftesbury bring the global hit television show Murdoch Mysteries to real life in the Murdoch Mysteries Escape Series, immersive escape games for all ages."

Although I had no idea what the Murdoch Mysteries TV show was all about, that didn't quite matter as the story was self contained and communicated by the actors in game.

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…"

Red Lantern Escape Rooms: Midnight On The Bayou (Anaheim, CA)

Unique and different...in a fun and enjoyable way!

Red Lantern Escape Rooms opened earlier this year and there weren't any enthusiast reviews that we were able to find to help guide us in our research. We were intrigued by the theme so we made a stop here after we played the Hex Room and Funhouse at Crossroads. From their site:

"You haven’t set foot in Bayou High since graduation, but this carnival-themed reunion sounded fun. Though it is a little strange they’re holding the event on the old Boudreau property at the edge of the swamp, where decades ago several students died in a barn fire. And it is odd that all the carnival workers are mysteriously absent, with the exception of your reunion host who keeps nervously glancing at that creepy old chest…"

Countdown: Pandorus & Krampus (Los Angeles, CA)

Escaped Pandorus and Krampus

Countdown Live Escape Games has great reviews on many sites and its "Krampus" room is a 2016 Golden Key recipient from EscapeRoomArtist and its "Pandorus" room is a Top 15 LA Escape Room for EscapeRoomTips. While I am personally not a horror fan and never frequent haunted houses, we decided to give it a go when one of our team members really wanted to play Krampus. We were also very excited to play Pandorus as for some reason, there aren't that many spaceship themed escape rooms.

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.

60out: Titanic, Wizards Workshop, Senator Payne (Los Angeles, CA)

60out is often touted as having extremely high quality set designs and “Titanic” in particular is recommended on many escape room blogs. This company actually has a few locations in the LA area after some independent rooms were merged together so expect some variation in style between the different franchisees. "Titanic" and "Wizards Workshop" are at the Marina Del Ray location while "The Mystery of Senator Payne" was at Corinth spot. We also played Grandma's Masterplan at the Melrose location which was one of our favorite escape rooms of all time. We love tangible puzzles and beautiful set designs but we're aware that this alone doesn't make a great room.

Cross Roads: The Hex Room & Funhouse (Anaheim, CA)

What a bunch of clowns

Crossroads Escape Games is consistently the number one recommended escape room company in Southern California and I put this location on our "must do" list for our Los Angeles/Anaheim trip. "The Hex Room" in particular, has a reputation of being a solid room with a strong storyline and immersive theme. "The Funhouse" is known to be a fun room, although better suited towards a younger audience. From their site:

The Funhouse: "Come one, come all! Step right up and see if you have what it takes to become a magnificent magician! In this room filled with trickery and illusions, you and your team will be put to the test. Work to beat the clock as you search for clues and solve mind boggling puzzles in a topsy turvy experience of a lifetime! Now all you need to do is ask yourself, do you have the wits of a magician?  Or are as clueless as a clown?"

The Hex Room: "Can you survive a horror film? This murderous horror movie fan wants to watch you try. Each player will take a quiz before the game to find out which character they are: The Nerd, Virgin, Jock, Rebel, Prom Queen, or Detective. Your team will be divided up into separate rooms where you must work individually and as a team. Not only do you need to escape, but you must also survive! Who will live? Who will die?​"

60out: Grandma's Masterplan (Los Angeles, CA)

This room is gold!

As we head towards the 80 games played mark, we become more appreciative of new themes. Given that a handful of themes (prison, bunker, lab, serial killer, castle...) seem to make up 90% of the market, it's not easy to find something vastly unique out there. Via word of mouth, we heard some good things about 60out's "Grandma's Masterplan" and the scenario looked different enough for us to put this on our "must-do" list for our LA trip. From their site:

"The story begins when your granny suddenly disappears without notice. No one has a clue where she is, but one day you come across a letter in which your grandmother reveals a secret about her inheritance. All you have to do is to go into her house and find it -- simple, right? We'll see about that."

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."

Omescape: Sorcerer's Sanctum (San Jose, CA)

It took some veteran escape roomers (+ a relative newbie) to escape this challenging room!

Omescape's latest room, "The Sorcerer's Sanctum", was located in the same facility that has Pandemic and Dark Altar. Sorcerer's Sanctum was a polished game with automated puzzles and also one of the most challenging games, in a good way, at Omescape. We were the 67th team to play the game and only two had escaped so we knew this would be a challenge. The story was as follows:

"You and your friends have accidentally stepped into a house occupied by great magicians. Your team work will be crucial in helping you pass through a series of magical puzzles in order to escape from the spell in time!"

This escape room starts off with the team split into two rooms and while there wasn't that much in each room, they were sufficiently challenging enough to occupy both groups. As the game progressed, there were some fun reveals and some not so obvious puzzles that we could see people having a hard time with. While not totally unfair, you do have to pay attention to detail (surprise!) or risk being stuck on some riddles.

Quicksand Escape Games: The Diner (San Diego, CA)

When you run out of props and use a chair as a decorative element

Quicksand's "The Diner" room had a unique diner (surprise!) theme which was refreshing to see. The decor, down to all the furniture, was spot on and there were some awesome elements that perfectly utilized good old fashioned props. There was a nice mix of fair puzzles that blended in well with the surroundings and storyline. The story was as follow:

"After a wild night at a mob bar a few decades ago, you took up with the wrong crowd and now you find yourself about to rob the local diner.  This isn't your first gig and you're hoping it won't be your last.  The boys didn't give much detail, but said the prep work is all set; just be in and out in less than an hour.  If you can pull it off, you'll be in the "Money Honey".  On the other hand, if you mess this one up, you'll be writing your own version of "Jailhouse Rock", ya dig?"

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.