Category: ESCAPE ROOMS

Moriarty’s Manor

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://mindfoxescape.com/rooms/

Rating: 7/10
Theme/Ambiance – 7/10
Puzzles – 7/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 8/10

Location: San Diego, CA
Company: Mindfox Escape Rooms
Website: https://mindfoxescape.com/

Moriarty’s Manor, a Sherlock Holmes era themed escape room located in warm San Diego, CA! We were in the area for vacation and wanted to try our hand at a San Diego escape room. Seeing the theme, it was not one we could pass up.

The room was well decorated and the puzzles added the mysterious ambiance that you would expect from this type of escape room. All the puzzles tied into the ambiance with some surprises along the way. The game masters were super friendly and helpful throughout, creating a welcoming experience. The puzzle difficulty I would say is pretty average, and you should have a couple escape rooms completed under your belt before attempting this one. There was one puzzle in particular that paid homage to one of my hobbies so I was pleasantly surprised :)!

If you are in the San Diego area, I would recommend this room! I would come back to try their other ones as well in the future!

The Train Heist Adventure

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment

Image from https://thesecretchambers.com/escape-rooms/train-heist-chamber/

Rating: 6/10
Theme/Ambiance â€“ 7/10
Puzzles â€“ 5/10
Difficulty â€“ 6/10
Excitement/Fun â€“ 7/10

Location: Fort Worth, TX
Company: The Secret Chambers
Website: https://thesecretchambers.com/

The Train Heist Adventure at The Secret Chambers in Fort Worth is a cute experience that does a good job immersing you into the setting. There are references to Texas in everything around you from the decor to the puzzles to the ambiance.

The entire experience is pretty linear and you progress forward in adventure of a train heist. Overall the puzzles are not too difficult and would be good for a beginner group. The puzzles do become easier as you progress while the room focuses more on the story. If you have interest in this type theme it is worth a shot!

THE ATTRACTION

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment

Image from https://palace-games.com/the-attraction/

Rating: 8.25/10
Theme/Ambiance – 9/10
Puzzles – 7/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 7/10

Location: San Francisco, CA
Company: Palace Games
Website: https://palace-games.com/

The latest and greatest addition to the Palace Games escape room series, the Attraction! I definitely had high expectations going into this room, seeing the quality and technology from the previous rooms. We put together our original group that did Edison + 1 more for this attempt!

So in my opinion, Palace Games is not really known for their storyline. The past couple rooms had a historical theme where we would learn about the figure and some of what they had contributed to society (theme-wise) during their lifetime. The Attraction was definitely different (without spoilers) and took us by surprise. There was much more story involved versus the previous rooms and personally it was not to my taste.

Ignoring the story portion, as always Palace Games has their A-game when it comes to technology. Their passion and creativity brings the room to life to another level and the Attraction wasn’t any less. I was surprised by the innovation and would recommend anyone to do this room purely based on that. I find this to be a fantastic room for beginners and those that are trying to step into the Palace Games escape room line.

X-CAPE Z-51

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment

Image from https://www.escaperoomnapa.com/escape-rooms/xcape/

Rating: 7/10
Theme/Ambiance – 7/10
Puzzles – 6/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 7/10

Location: Napa, CA
Company: The Grape Escape
Website: https://www.escaperoomnapa.com/

An enjoyable weekend in picturesque Napa, where you wine & dine, then wine some more. We wanted to top it off with an escape room, so our online search led to The Grape Escape. Not only does the company have an adorable name, the decor and themes are well executed as well. We walked in and were greeted with attentive game masters as well as a well-decorated lobby. We chose to play X-CAPE Z-51.

We a group of randomly picked heroes set out to fight against a terrorist group that has infiltrated a CDC secret lab. To our dismay a terrible virus has been created and if released out into the world an inevitable outbreak would be in the midst. We must do what we can with our knowledge to try and contain this virus before the worst case scenario happens! Walking in, we are greeted with an eerie ambiance that is amplified by the props and decorations. Occasional mysterious sounds and a sense of urgency keeps us on our toes. The puzzles are fair and the room overall was enjoyable. No complaints :).

If you are looking for an escape room to do while in Napa, definitely give The Grape Escape a try! 🙂

MIDNIGHT IN HONG KONG- TEAM VS TEAM

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://omescape.us/sunnyvale/escape-games/

Rating: 7/10
Theme/Ambiance – 9/10
Puzzles – 7/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 6.5/10

Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Company: Omescape
Website:https://omescape.us/sunnyvale/

Omescape Sunnyvale is a pioneer of creating escape rooms with interesting twists. Midnight in Hong Kong is no different, creating a unique spin on the escape room genre. Two gangs, Tigers vs Dragons are competing for control of Hong Kong. You must go through a variety of tasks in order to win the favor of Mr. X.

Being as competitive as we are, our group was super psyched to give this room a go. The problem was splitting the group in a way where it was considered fair and even. After we got that sorted out, all we had to do was book and go! The theme and vibe was very cool and the storyline was interesting. There was only one issue that I had in regards to how the room played out, but will not mention since it is partial spoiler. We had an overall good experience because both teams were neck and neck so we had an opportunity to do almost all of the puzzles.

I would recommend this escape room to those looking for a newer experience. The issue is that the room requires a minimum of 6 people which may be difficult for some groups. If you have enough people, I would recommend giving this room a go.

UNDERCOOKED

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://omescape.us/sunnyvale/escape-games/

Rating: 9.5/10
Theme/Ambiance – 10/10
Puzzles – 9/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 10/10

Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Company: Omescape
Website: https://omescape.us/sunnyvale/

At time of post, this room is Omescape Sunnyvale’s newest escape game. I am a big fan of the Overcooked franchise and it is very obvious that this room was modeled from that game in terms of design. I LOVED IT. The theme was super cute, the puzzles were rewarding. The room itself felt very immersive even though storyline did not play a huge role.

Undercooked did a really good job at utilizing and efficiently using all of the space that was given. The chaotic team environment contributed to the ambiance that theme presented. There were also some very cool and cute mechanics that pleasantly surprised me. Will be sharing this room with others!!!

Omescape overall is my go-to recommendation for a solid escape room company. I would definitely recommend this room to others!

CURSE OF MAPUCHE

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://xteriousescape.com/games/

Rating: 7/10
Theme/Ambiance â€“ 7/10
Puzzles â€“ 6.5/10
Difficulty â€“ 7.5/10
Excitement/Fun â€“ 6.5/10

Location: Las Vegas, NV
Company: Xterious Escape
Website: https://xteriousescape.com/

You are on an expedition with your team of archaeologists to go find the Sun God Mapuche statue before those bandits do! Will you be able to get what you came for or will the Curse of Mapuche get you first…

I usually do not have good experiences with Indiana Jones-esque themed escape rooms, but man was this one the worst. The rooms were decorated okay… but my biggest gripe was that nothing was working when we attempted this escape room. Some of the puzzles even had previous markings from past groups, so we could tell exactly what the answers were without even attempting the puzzles. Many of the puzzles were finnicky and did not work at all. We had to alert the game masters several times to get clarification or things fixed. Then the final straw was that the final puzzle did not even register properly, so no one knew we “completed” the room. Not even the game masters. Very unfortunate.

I cannot stress enough how I would never recommend this experience to anyone. The rooms were obviously not well-maintained and the game masters were indifferent to it. This is one of the worst escape rooms I have ever done.

THE BASEMENT

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://travelnevada.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/lass-id-original-1527128392-5b062148bc19c.jpg

Rating: 8/10
Theme/Ambiance – 9/10
Puzzles – 7.5/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 9/10

Location: Las Vegas, NV
Company: The Basement Las Vegas
Website: https://escaperoomvegas.com/

This is the first installment of The Basement series based in Las Vegas. I did this escape room after The Study which was in Los Angeles, but would highly recommend to do The Basement series in story-order like intended. I am a huge scaredy-cat when it comes to horror themed escape room games, but I was convinced to do this one since I had already done The Study. You have been captured by serial killer Edward Tandy and if you do not do something soon to escape, you will really end up as a goner!!!

Even though nowadays you can easily say an escape room like this could be outclassed by more technology heavy rooms, The Basement really brings an experience unique to itself. After all of the escape rooms I have done, this series is still one of the most unique and no other has been able to compare. The story telling and experience really immerses you into this setting. The puzzles are fairly simple and not difficult at all, but they are very fitting to this theme.

The Las Vegas location did a really good job and was comparable to the Los Angeles branch. Would highly recommend this room to any horror-themed lovers.

THE SPARROW FILES: THE PEKING DRAGON

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://epicteamadventures.com/product/the-peking-dragon/

Rating: 7/10
Theme/Ambiance – 9/10
Puzzles – 6.5/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 8/10

Location: Seattle, WA
Company: Epic Team Adventures
Website: https://epicteamadventures.com/

The Peking Dragon escape room is part of The Sparrow Files series at Epic Team Adventures. My significant other and I were looking for an escape room to do with just two people and this one looked doable after some research online. Little did we know that we would totally be blown away by the story-telling experience. If you have read my other posts, you know that I put a lot of value in the experience itself versus having a bunch of puzzles just randomly sitting around in a room. For The Peking Dragon, you will be thrown into one of P.I. Carmen Sparrow’s famous cases and it is up to you to discover the truths!

I just wanted to preface this by saying… we failed. We did not beat this escape room, in fact I believe you need at least three people not two for this room due to one particular puzzle I will not specify. That being said, why do I still rate this room so highly? The story-telling experience is phenomenal. They say the theme of this escape room is noir and at first I did not really completely understand what that meant in an escape room setting, but man was it cool. It is unique in the way the story is told as well as the theme. If you value those points in an escape room, I highly recommend giving this room a try! If Epic Team Adventures release more escape rooms in this series, I will definitely be back!

SPECIAL OPS: MYSTERIOUS MARKET

~ thepeacheelife ~ Leave a comment
Image from https://theescapegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/TEG-Spec-Ops-38-300×200.jpg

Rating: 5/10
Theme/Ambiance – 6/10
Puzzles – 4/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Excitement/Fun – 5/10

Location: New York, NY
Company: The Escape Game
Website: https://theescapegame.com/newyorkcity/

This escape room is Special Ops: Mysterious Market at The Escape Game based in New York specifically. This company has this same room in many other locations as well, so experiences may vary. You are a field agent and it is up to you to investigate to see what is going on in this mysterious market. Little do you know that one thing will lead to another…

The theme of this escape room is cute and the puzzles all added to the ambiance and vibe. Unfortunately, during this experience some of the puzzles did not work as intended and it ended up being a lot more janky than we’d like. There were some instances where the game master had to interject to let us know something was supposed to happen when it did not. My thoughts are that due to the high usage of this room, many parts of it probably do not work as intended anymore. I really hope in the future they do their best to mitigate these scenarios since it really destroys the immersiveness that escape rooms strive to obtain.