Beyond Escape, Escape Room Review

Beyond Escape

San Francisco, California 

Trapped in the Circus: Scholomo was a circus clown who designed a room of puzzles and riddles for J. W. Kite's Circus. After Scholomo's untimely death, the circus decided to honor his memory by allowing guests like us to try our hand escaping his puzzle room. 

Pros: The storyline was very unique and had us amped up to take on the circus clown's challenge. The game master emerged in character and ready to escort us into the circus. We really enjoyed the enthusiastic opener. The puzzles in the room were relatively straightforward and all tied into the storyline and theme. The game master was in the room and provided necessary assistance throughout the game.

Cons: The game master provided too much assistance. Although she was well-intentioned in her desire to keep us on track and definitely helped us to identify which puzzles to solve first, the help was much more than we needed. If the concern is to ensure that everyone escapes on time, then we suggested they allow the normal 60 minute escape time rather than 40 minutes. Perhaps then the game moderator will feel less pressure to move people through the puzzles faster. The puzzles could also have been improved by a few modifications to help lead the players to a more logical conclusion and thus to solving the puzzle. This would also free the game master from feeling compelled to provide so many hints. The decorations and set-design were minimalist and really in need of some major improvements to add to the experience of the players. A few small changes to the decor could make a dramatic difference. 

http://www.beyond-escape.com 

PanIQ Room, Escape Room Review

PanIQ Room

San Francisco, California

Psycho - A psycho serial killer had locked us in his apartment. We had to escape before the sadistic psychopath returned to kill us.

Geek - As employees of a tech company we found ourselves locked in the office. Our boss had lost his mind and determined to end it all with a bomb. We had to find the bomb before it detonated.

The Prison - Our group of jailbirds were locked in opposite cells. Together we had to work out a plan to breakout of the joint.

Pros: The waiting room was nice and large with a variety of games and opportunities to socialize before our escape game began. The game rooms were nicely decorated and clearly tied to the storyline. Each room had a good introductory story that helped set the tone for the game. We really liked the setup of the prison room and the separation of the groups was a nice added element that enhanced game play.

Cons: These were the most expensive rooms we have ever played. We do not mind paying for high-quality games and since this is a chain we expected high quality rooms. However, we definitely felt like it did not live up to the hype. The game moderator was unenthusiastic and monotone. While we were waiting to play, we could hear him giving hints to the group that played before us. We all had to try to not hear what was being said. When it was our turn to play, we quickly found that we needed help. When we requested hints during the game his responses were delayed and condescending. Rather than giving hints, he gave full answers.  At one point, we pointed out that we were unable to solve a puzzle because the information on the hint did not match the lock. He insisted we were just doing it wrong and did not come into the room to check it out. At the end of the game, he looked at the lock and insisted that it was indeed the wrong lock (and therefore the puzzle was unsolvable). Rather than apologize, he simply insisted there was "problems with management." Similarly one of the hints provided to another puzzle was completely wrong and when we pointed this out he simply dismissed it. Our concern was that he would do nothing to fix the problems for the next groups.

The puzzles in all the rooms were not tied to the theme of the rooms. They were both too simplistic (crosswords, sudoku, simple mechanical puzzles) and yet overly complex and time-consuming. We felt more like we were doing homework than playing a game. Not our favorite experience. 

https://paniqroom.com/sanfrancisco

Palace Games, Escape Room Review

Palace Games

San Francisco, California

The Great Houdini Escape Room: The 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco attracted the brightest minds from around the world. The famous magician Harry Houdini allegedly built the first escape room as a challenge to those geniuses. Our less than brilliant group had 80 minutes to attempt the same puzzles and challenges that these legendary innovators faced over 100 years ago.

The Roosevelt Escape Room: This room had some connection to Theodore Roosevelt and World War I. Although the historical narrative made little sense, we knew we had to solve puzzles to escape. 

Pros: Both rooms had awesome, AMAZING sets. High-tech, elaborately decorated rooms created an immersive feeling for game-players. The puzzles were all tied to the theme and were creative and unique to this escape room. A mix of puzzle types but many mechanical elements. The Houdini Room had a great storyline that carried throughout the entire experience. The storyline was less clearly articulated in the Roosevelt Room and seemed more of a hodgepodge of history. Puzzles were difficult in both rooms and definitely required the whole team. Palace Games is an absolute MUST-DO for escape room addicts.

Cons: The game moderator's opening speech was too long and detracted from our initial enthusiasm. The large group size (they encourage 12) is way too big. These are such great rooms, it would be nice to take them all in with smaller groups. They now allow groups with a minimum of 6 but you have to pay $400 at the outset for the whole room. This equates to $66 per person for a 6 person game. The tendency is then to try to pack 12 people in the room in order to reduce the price per person down to $33 dollars which is much better but still at the high end of the escape room price scale. Twelve people in the room is overwhelming. We recommend that you pay the extra money per person to keep the group size down to 6 people. This may make it more difficult to solve the sheer number of puzzles in time, but the reduced stress level and ability to focus and listen to your teammates will create a better and much less chaotic experience in the end. Less is more in our opinion. We don't like to miss what's happening by having too many distractions.

http://palace-games.com

Escape SF, Escape Room Review

Escape SF

San Francisco, California

Escape from Alcatraz - Handcuffed and locked in a cell, we had 60 minutes to fly the coop before the guards returned. 

Blind Tiger - Our first task was to discover the secret location of the 1920s speakeasy. Once accomplished, we had the more difficult job of trying to identify the identity of the 7 mafioso who operated the illegal business. 

Escape from Antique Room - Searching for the stolen Mona Lisa, our group was on the tracks of an art dealer who was suspected of the crime. 

Pros: Good set design. We especially liked the speakeasy feeling and layout of Blind Tiger. Some unique surprises in Blind Tiger and the Antique Room kept us intrigued the whole way. The puzzles were logical overall. We easily progressed through the Alcatraz room but struggled more with the puzzles in Blind Tiger. The game master was very attentive, intervening when we were clearly stuck and providing helpful hints along the way. The puzzles ranged in type and complexity but were quite solvable. The storyline was basic but the cool sets pulled us into the game.

Cons: The only cons at this place was the complexity of some of the puzzles especially in Blind Tiger. But the challenge was great and the game master kept us moving along. In the end, the set experience made it worth the frustration caused by the difficult puzzles.

http://questroomsf.com

Beyond Escape, Escape Room Review

Beyond Escape

San Francisco, California

Trapped in a Room With a Zombie: It seemed like a normal room at first, until the blood-hungry brain eating zombie revealed his presence. Drool dripped form his disfigured, decomposing mouth as he screamed and clawed at us. Although he was chained to the wall, we were terrified. We knew we only had 60 minutes to escape before we became zombie lunch.

Pros: A zombie! Who doesn't love spending quality time with a zombie. The added element of terror of having a zombie chained to the wall made this escape room experience even more challenging than the average puzzle room. The puzzles were appropriately difficult. The game master was helpful at times to keep us on our feet. The set-design was basic overall. Limited storyline, but with a zombie, who needs a story anyway?

Cons: This being our inaugural experience in an escape room, we were so terrified of the zombie and confused by the chaos that we had no idea what was going on. More experienced escape room fans will love the added challenge of the fear factor.

http://www.beyond-escape.com