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Read all reviewsI've done several escape rooms across the country and I can say, by far, this was my worst experience. It is my impression that they are allowing their "celebrity" to cloud their judgment just a bit and have forgotten that value and customer service are still important in operating a successful business.
Mak M.
Our group of four arrived 15 minutes early to play "The Apartment" and after having an excellent experience at the midtown location, were quite excited. Though we're not fans of being paired with other individuals, we understand that it is a necessary evil and do not dock rooms with this practice. However, in this case, we were grouped with 6 others on a corporate, team-building retreat. With this came a few glaring issues.
First, "the apartment" was most certainly not large enough for a group of 10. Even if we knew everyone in the group, there just wasn't enough room and it was extremely difficult to keep up with the communication necessary to play well. The quarters quickly became cramped and hot making for a deep physical discomfort.
Second, the entire group of six did not arrive on time. Only the first 3 were there at the beginning. The remaining members of the corporate group arrived with just 23 minutes left on the clock and were escorted into the room by the clue master! Not only was this distracting, but these people had no chance of understanding where we were in the game and it took a long time to try to catch them up, forcing us to lose time. This was unfortunate for them as well as they kept finding clues that were already used and it caused them to be disinterested. A few of them actually used this time to just stand in the corner and talk about business. One gentleman even jumped on his cell phone and made phone calls!
Escape the Room, please, do not pair corporate groups with individuals. Admission into the game was paid by their corporation and they were not taking it seriously, so much so that they didn't even show up on time. Our team, however, paid for our own tickets and valued every ticking second on the clock. Though I cannot fault Escape the Room for the poor attitudes of our fellow puzzle-mates, I can blame them for the pairing and actually thinking it was smart to let 3 new people into the room with only 23 minutes on the clock. This was a complete waste of our time and money.
The last item revolves around the clue master. Though he was very nice and helpful, the way clues were handled in this room added insult to injury. You had to request a clue by holding a white board up to the security camera in the corner. This then called in the clue master who would spend several seconds looking around at your progress and he would then offer a suggestion based upon where you appeared to be in the game. This is very clunky, especially with 10 people in the room. When the clue master enters, it becomes even more crowded with an eleventh body. Also, it's not very exciting to be "locked" into a room with the exception of a person who keeps coming and going. It removes from the excitement of the whole experience.
I would love to comment on the puzzle aspect, because I do think it was one of the better games we've played, but we honestly cannot say how much we enjoyed it due to all of the distractions. With a few minor policy tweaks, I'm sure these incidents could easily be avoided and the result would be a much better, valuable experience.