![]() The bonus puzzles were not nearly as interesting as any of the mainline puzzles, and they really can’t be, because they have to be designed to not matter in the larger story. I can only hold and manipulate one marble per hand at a time, two at most, and apparently that’s a problem when I knew the answer to the puzzle but entering it was overly complicated. In Pandora’s Box, one of these puzzles was the epitome of jank. In the middle of one of those, you are reminded to go finish your narrative even thought the mini games really had no influence on it. You are getting to the big reveal, the victory, the high five… and then you get to play a few mini games that really have nothing to do with what you’ve been doing. So, in Pandora’s Box, we were just about finished with the main mission with 20 minutes left and then they introduced new puzzles.ĭid this system work? Kinda but really no. If you get near the end of that storyline early, you get to do more puzzles, essentially several bonus rounds, so you get your full hour. What that means is that there is a main storyline. Smaller group is better here.īefore I talk about the other rooms, this place does something we haven't seen before: variable difficulty. On the positive side, there were some excellent atmospheric effects in this room, the staff gives you thematic hints in character (they were great in characters) and I’d recommend this for first-timers, but not enthusiasts. Not my favorite mechanic and it limits group size significantly. Minor spoilers on the puzzles: All the non-bonus puzzles (see below) are entered on a big box in the center of the room - it's pandora's box after all. I really, really don’t enjoy it and it limits how active you can be in a room. As in…a spotlight shines on the puzzle you should work on. Why is it in this section? It wasn’t for us (well, one of our team liked it far more than the other two I’m one of those two). More like mid 3's rating-wise, but it’s good. This is definitely their best room and it is a good room. Trapped Pandora’s Box (4.1), Operation X-13 (3.3), Grandma’s Surprise (3.8).įirst, Pandora’s Box. Why? Just give me that combo to start, skip the middle part? Who thought was good?) Do not do Cartel: DEA. ![]() If you are looking for a room full of puzzles, this isn’t it.!: you find a combo to a locked box and open it to find painted inside…the combo to another lock. It's not a room to be silent or observe in get into it and you will have fun. If you want a little more detail (very minor spoiler):>! this is a little more of a hybrid room: interactive theater with a few puzzles - you will spend half your time doing improv with the host in character. All we knew going in was some advice, which I wholeheartedly endorse: “get into it.” The actor was phenomenal and you will be interacting with them extensively. Has a live actor (not a spoiler, it’s on the web site) Very very interactive/immersive experience. The flow works so well with the theme and puzzles. There are some good jokes/meta-commentary about escape rooms. You are in a human-size cage and the rat scientists are performing experiments to see how smart you are. This might be my most favorite room of all time. These were the stand-out experiences of the trip. My suggested team sizes apply to people who have done rooms before unless otherwise noted. ![]() I’ve attempted to keep this list as spoiler free as possible (and even spoiler tags don't spoil very much). We get very annoyed at “jankiness”…like broken puzzles or making it difficult to enter an answer you’ve worked hard to get or puzzles that have little tolerance (that “1” is a millimeter off? No open for you…yeah, no thanks, the fun is in the solving, not trying to enter the answer 15 times). We like good puzzles and room flow, narrative, and immersion. We are not out to set speed records in fact, I think we enjoy rooms more when they are immersive and challenging. This is our fourth team trip, following Los Angeles in 2018, Phoenix in 2019, and Portland in 2021. Individually, we’ve done between 200 and 250 rooms each. We post our impressions mostly for other enthusiasts and people getting into escaping. There are some more detailed enthusiast reviews on several sites as well. For this region, there is a SoCal community spreadsheet which was a great start (when I mention ratings below, that’s the rating I’m referring to – it’s a 5 point scale). We find TripAdvisor and Yelp reviews are unreliable. It’s hard to plan a trip like this and find good information on which rooms to choose. ![]() Here's the full agenda and accompanying map. Our Seattle-based team of three did a Los Angeles (and surrounding) Escape Room weekend in August 2022. ![]()
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