Real Escape
Bakersfield, California
Wonderland: Finding ourselves trapped in Wonderland at the mad tea party, we had to find a way to escape the Queen's guards and return home.
The Heist: An evil dictator, Python, has stolen precious relics from around the world. Our group of CIA spies had to infiltrate Python's headquarters and recover the lost relics.
Pros: The creativity in the Wonderland room storyline and set design was excellent. We enjoyed trying to follow the path of Alice and escape from wonderland. The room owners were also very friendly and enthusiastic.
Cons: The puzzles in these rooms had some issues. A few of the puzzles were illogical in the design. Others were way too simplistic. Most were hampered significantly by mechanical errors due to cheap locks or poor set design. Flimsy materials (and most likely abuse by previous players) created problems in moving through the rooms effectively. We wanted to love our experience at Real Escape more, but the above factors dampened our enthusiasm.
Rooms of No Return
Bakersfield, California
The Classroom: Ana is a psychopath who kidnaps people and traps them in a classroom where she pretends they are her students. Our group had to find a way to escape this psychopath's lair.
Jail Break: Our group of jailbirds had break out of jail and find evidence to exonerate Grace Wright of her husband's murder before we were captured again by the police.
Nightmare: Trapped in Jaime's mind, our group had to find a way to escape the nightmare and break Jaime free in the process.
Pros: The game owners and employees were exceptionally friendly with excellent customer service skills. The creative themes of the rooms added to the experience. Live actors in the room also made for more engagement. The Nightmare room had an immersive set design that added to the feeling that we were really inside of somebody's dream.
Cons: The puzzles were largely illogical and unsolvable without extensive hints and clues from the game masters. We found ourselves mostly frustrated and incapable of actually solving most of the puzzles due to poor puzzle design. We did successfully escape all three rooms (even breaking a record in one room). However, we felt that this was largely due to the help of our game masters in pointing us to the answers. Some tweaks to the puzzles could help improve the experience substantially.
Bakersfield Escape Room
Bakersfield, California
The Crimson Storm: Locked in the cargo hold of an enemy pirate ship, our band of pirates had to find the treasure hidden deep inside the ship and escape with the booty.
Winterfall: Searching for a missing MI6 agent, our team had to infiltrate the safe house and recover a missing hard drive.
R.E.S.C.U.E.: Charged with the mission of rescuing a kidnapped girl and preventing an explosion, our tactical response team had to get inside the warehouse and rescue the missing girl before it was too late.
Pros: Shiver me timbers! We loved our experience at the Bakersfield Escape Room. The pirate-themed room Crimson Storm was by far our favorite game at this place and in Bakersfield altogether. The room was decked out from top to bottom in props and furniture that helped transport the players back to the days of yore. The pirate inspired puzzles and linear structure had us wracking our brains. With a few helpful hints from our game master, we successfully recovered the booty. We also enjoyed playing both Winterfall and R.E.S.C.U.E. which were nicely organized games. We were most impressed by the set design in Crimson Storm. The other sets were in line with the themes of those rooms, although not nearly as impressive as the pirate room. Our experience with three different game masters was excellent. They followed our game closely and intervened with hints as necessary. Most of the puzzles were clear and straight-forward so we needed very few hints overall. We successfully escaped all three rooms. We especially enjoyed the complexity and challenge of solving some of the multi-layered puzzles in R.E.S.C.U.E. We highly commend them for the uniqueness of the puzzles in this room especially.
Cons: Each room had at least one puzzle that was not very logical and therefore stumped everyone in the group. A few minor tweaks to these puzzles could help remedy the situation and make for a better gaming experience while reducing the need for game master interference. Overall these are solid rooms that make for an enjoyable escape room experience.
