merylvdm Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I had never heard of Escape Games till about 3 weeks ago. We had to drive to Nashville to meet my oldest daughter who was flying in there for a wedding and we decided to stay overnight. I asked my younger daughter to pick something to do while we were there. And she found one on Tripadvisor. I was a bit dubious as I was expecting her to pick something more typical - but went ahead and booked tickets. And oh my gosh! It was SO much fun. I wrote a whole blog post on it - so if you like brainy stuff and solving clues - either google to find out more, or you can read my post. We are heading to Europe for a few weeks and plan to do ones in Florence and London to see how that compares with the ones we have done here. So far all have been great and also quite different. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 The original escape game is in my favorite older children's book "The Diamond In The Window", which I heartily recommend. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thessa516 Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Oh, how fun! We've had one recently open up in our city. It didn't sound like something I'd be interested in doing, but after reading your review I've changed my mind. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I keep getting Groupon offers for a similar place in Tampa and was intrigued. Now I feel like we have to do it. Thank you for the review! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Interesting. I've seen escape room games in virtual format on the computer but didn't know there were "analog" ones out there. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Dh was trying to get me to try it. I think we're going to, we just haven't found a time yet. Cool to hear that other people enjoyed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I am glad to see that it's family friendly. Sounds fun! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I know the characters on, the Big Bang theory once tried one. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 There is one near Fredericksburg, Virginia. I haven't been to it yet, but may have to go soon. Thanks for the review. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 We've got 2 companies in our city. We might try one of them in August! Thanks for the idea! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Sounds awesome! I'm bummed though...all of them in my area have a horror vibe. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I've never heard of this (not surprising I live in a small town) but I see there are some in the city, I'm putting this on our to-do list! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Anchored, all the ones we did were family friendly. I don't recall anything objectionable in any of the three. Happi Duck - too bad! I definitely would not want to do a horror one! I also saw one someone in CA that is a zombie one and there is a zombie on a rope in the room with you and every second the rope gets longer and he gets closer to you. No thank you!! A ticking clock on the wall is as much as I could manage. My 22 year old son did manage to give himself a fright in the one we did at Pigeon Forge ... he was the first to so something so I am not sure if anyone else would have had quite his reaction. But it wasn't anything "horrible" or truly frightening. Glad everyone enjoyed my review - I wish these places had affiliate programs. I could make a lot of money :) As it is, my review was completely unsolicited by any of them - I just thought many of my readers would have as much fun as I did. And then I thought about you all on here - and many of you seem to like the same things I do so I figured this could be a hit with many of your families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Ellen sent Andy and one other member of her crew to do this. It was priceless. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Sounds awesome! I'm bummed though...all of them in my area have a horror vibe. :( One of our locations does, too. I could choose zombies or murderers. Not interested in either of those! However, both websites said they change them out every 6-8 months, so maybe you could try back again during the holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 My sister and I did one of these in Charlotte a few weeks ago when she was visiting. It was THE BEST thing we have ever done together. We had a blast. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I had never heard of such a thing, but we enjoyed the video game, The Room, and its sequel, so I imagine that we'd think it was a lot of fun to try it in person. There's one half an hour from us! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 One of our locations does, too. I could choose zombies or murderers. Not interested in either of those! However, both websites said they change them out every 6-8 months, so maybe you could try back again during the holidays. Thanks! I wouldn't have thought to keep checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I had never heard of such a thing, but we enjoyed the video game, The Room, and its sequel, so I imagine that we'd think it was a lot of fun to try it in person. There's one half an hour from us! I was thinking thte same thing... sounds like something like The Room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 My question... would it be fun if you have a mix of extremely competitive and non-competitive people. Would the non-competitive people get pushed out of the fun? There are certain people in my family I just don't like playing games with because they are uber-competitve and they suck all the joy out of gaming. It makes trying to do "family" activities a little awkward. I usually just bow out and stay by myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 My question... would it be fun if you have a mix of extremely competitive and non-competitive people. Would the non-competitive people get pushed out of the fun? There are certain people in my family I just don't like playing games with because they are uber-competitve and they suck all the joy out of gaming. It makes trying to do "family" activities a little awkward. I usually just bow out and stay by myself. There is usually a lot to do so they can't really prevent everyone participating. The only point at which the competitive people will take over is when you are down to solving a final clue to get out of a room (sometimes there are multiple rooms you move through). And that can be irritating when you might know better than them but can't get close enough to see and your input is ignored. But for most of the time you are in a room with a lot to do so everyone is working. In fact, the one time we didn't escape the problem was that there were just 5 of us and the one high school student (a stranger) really didn't do anything. There was too much for just 4 of us. One idea that might work is if your location has 2 rooms that start at similar times. You split up and do different rooms ie each group is 1/2 family and 1/2 strangers. We enjoyed working with strangers and it isn't weird and we felt it actually added to the experience. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroe1 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 There is one in Tampa? Sounds like a weekend trip is in order. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meena Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 There is one in Tampa? Sounds like a weekend trip is in order. There are a few in the TB area. I know of two in Tampa (Great Escape Room and Can You Escape) and one in Clearwater (Tampa Bay Escape Room). A relative took a date to Can You Escape and highly recommended it. The way he described it, if you love puzzles it's a lot of fun. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I've never heard of this, but thanks for posting. There's one near us & I think it would be fun to visit! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Okay - sounds great! But when I googled it I couldn't find any closer than NYC......I'm in upstate NY so anybody know of any closer?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelAR05 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 One is opening in our area in August. I think I will surprise my family. :) Thanks for sharing your experience! I had never heard of this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I walked by one recently when visiting the city, and with its zombie theme, I mentally filed it away as a possible date night for me and my partner. With all these good reviews, I need to set a date! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Okay - sounds great! But when I googled it I couldn't find any closer than NYC......I'm in upstate NY so anybody know of any closer?. This site says 2 are opening soon in Western NY...Buffalo and Rochester. http://thegreatescaperoom.com/ I also saw one in Niagara Falls, Ontario. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 A friend of my daughters just found this site that lists a lot of the Escape Games all over the US by state and city http://escaperoomdirectory.com/#US 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Okay - sounds great! But when I googled it I couldn't find any closer than NYC......I'm in upstate NY so anybody know of any closer?. How far up? There is are Escape Rooms in Toronto and Ottawa, perhaps Montreal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in MD Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Just wanted to thank the OP for this recommendation. We went to Escape Games Live in York, PA today and had a great time! We are looking forward to going back, especially when they open their "Sherlock" themed room :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 It looks like the place we have in San Antonio is a scary one. Rider Strong (actor) was talking about how fun Escape Rooms are on a podcast (which is like a book club with two of his friends, but Escape Rooms came up). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We have two in San Diego. I think we might do this with some friends for our anniversary in August. I've only played these online, so thank you for the recommendation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Glad everyone enjoyed my review - I wish these places had affiliate programs. I could make a lot of money :) As it is, my review was completely unsolicited by any of them - I just thought many of my readers would have as much fun as I did. And then I thought about you all on here - and many of you seem to like the same things I do so I figured this could be a hit with many of your families. Thanks for the heads up! I'm going to search any in our area. Maybe you could link up to a Groupon special if they do affiliates? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 My sister is opening one up . I am excited for her. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 My younger daughter and I did one recently on a vacation. The puzzles were fun, and I loved tearing the room apart, but we got stuck in a few places and needed help. And we were five minutes over the 60 minute time limit needed to save Portland from radioactive contamination. Sorry Portland. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I saw on the list that there are two places in Charlotte. The one my sister and I did was at The Exit Strategy. Fantastic people running it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zuzu822 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Okay - sounds great! But when I googled it I couldn't find any closer than NYC......I'm in upstate NY so anybody know of any closer?. 5 Wits in Syracuse came up when I was googling as well. http://escaperoomdirectory.com/#US Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Another question... What about people with claustrophobia? I think it would be a fun outting for my sister's and I for my younger sis. 50th... but bot have claustrophobia. I'm thinking this might be a bad idea for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 It looks like the place we have in San Antonio is a scary one. Rider Strong (actor) was talking about how fun Escape Rooms are on a podcast (which is like a book club with two of his friends, but Escape Rooms came up). The Panic Room is also in San Antonio. They have a room about a museum heist that I thought sounded fun. (Scroll down on the link.) I'm not interested in zombies or murderers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Question: I noticed some of these have a success rate that seems pretty low. Does that mean you don't solve the puzzle? So your time is up and they just kick you out? How does that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in MD Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Another question... What about people with claustrophobia? I think it would be a fun outting for my sister's and I for my younger sis. 50th... but bot have claustrophobia. I'm thinking this might be a bad idea for them. The one we went to has a safety feature for this. The door is locked, but all you have to do is turn the knob really hard and it will open. They did ask us about claustrophobia before we went in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in MD Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Question: I noticed some of these have a success rate that seems pretty low. Does that mean you don't solve the puzzle? So your time is up and they just kick you out? How does that work? When our hour was up, we hadn't finished solving the puzzle. But I guess since there wasn't a group after us, she let us stay in until we figured it out, probably another 7 - 10 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 The Panic Room is also in San Antonio. They have a room about a museum heist that I thought sounded fun. (Scroll down on the link.) I'm not interested in zombies or murderers. Cool, thanks! The other one I found was just zombies and scary stuff. Their zombie one doesn't sound horrible, but the museum one sounds really good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 A friend of my daughters just found this site that lists a lot of the Escape Games all over the US by state and city http://escaperoomdirectory.com/#US Thank you for this list (and for your original post) – there are about a dozen different places within an hour of us. I can't wait to try one out!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Question: I noticed some of these have a success rate that seems pretty low. Does that mean you don't solve the puzzle? So your time is up and they just kick you out? How does that work? The one we did allowed us to continue working on the puzzles. Our guide (or mentor or whatever he was called... the guy on the other end of the radio) told us that we could continue to stay but we would be "risking radiation poisoning" (we were locked in the lab of a mad scientist). We said we'd risk it. If somebody was booked directly after us, I suspect we would not be allowed to continue. Also, the fire marshal had told the company they weren't allowed to actually lock us there. So ours wasn't so much an escape game as it was a find-the-radioactive-bomb-before-it-blows-up-Portland game. i don't think a claustrophobic person would have trouble with it since we could leave if we wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Question: I noticed some of these have a success rate that seems pretty low. Does that mean you don't solve the puzzle? So your time is up and they just kick you out? How does that work? At The Exit Strategy in Charlotte, they usually take up to 10 people per room, but we were there on a slow day, so it was just my sister and me in our room. A few more people would have been very helpful, although I think 10 would have been too many. We didn't quite get it solved in the one hour, but we were getting close. The owner offered us an additional hour for an additional $10 each. We jumped on it. Otherwise, yes, we would have just been "kicked out" and we wouldn't have known the answers to the parts we were missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Another question... What about people with claustrophobia? I think it would be a fun outting for my sister's and I for my younger sis. 50th... but bot have claustrophobia. I'm thinking this might be a bad idea for them. The room we were in was quite big -- about the size of our living room. There was a key in a little box on the wall that we could grab at any time to unlock the door if we chose to. And there was someone on the other end of the walkie talkie who could be there within a few seconds if we called for help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 We did our 4th one today ... in Florence! It was called "Adventure Rooms" and this one started off with us handcuffed. We made it out in the fastest time in 3 months so we were very happy. To answer some of the questions above: I am not super claustrophobic but definitely don't like feeling confined and none of these games has made me feel at all uncomfortable. They always start off telling you how to get out if you need to. Today we were told to bang on the door, wave at the monitors or anything to get her attention. Others have shown us where the emergency key is etc. And when we haven't escaped the one let us try for 5 minutes more - and then came in and the girl running it explained where we had gone wrong. The other time we didn't make it out we were on the final clue and so they just showed us what the solution was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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