2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 6 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 6 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 6 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 6 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 6 60 min.
2 – 6 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
2 – 10 60 min.
I've never done an Escape Room, but my buddies and I decided to give it a go. We did legacy and it was really good! We didn't get out in time, but we were close, and the hints were perfect enough to guide us. Destiny was a great host and the other people were nice as well answering all of our questions. I definitely recommend this place and will be coming back for another room and to check out their arrow tag.
Anthony
o say I'm disappointed after the experience my friends and I shared at Brainy Actz in Tacoma would be an understatement. I was disappointed to learn that fine print in a Verizon contract required me to pay $600 for an undesired smartwatch that couldn't be returned despite being unopened and unused. I was disappointed when I let LA fitness talk me into a training contract and I came to misconstrue their cancelation policy. Disappointment comes from a failure to oneself; from acceptance of a mistake made. No, a night at Brainy Actz did not leave me feeling disappointed, but rather misled, cheated, and utterly dismayed; robbed not of money, but of valuable time held in too short of supply.
Grant Swanson
For the first time in many months, and the last time for many more, I got to see some old friends of mine from across the country. Looking for an exciting and mentally stimulating activity to engage in, we found Brainy Actz on Google and figured an Escape Room would be perfect. We all had experience with the games. In past successes and failures, we have always found enjoyment in the immersive puzzles that Brainy Actz purports to offer. We failed the room, but not until long after the room had failed us.
During registration, we were informed that our reservation was for easiest escape room the site had to offer. Despite being the easiest, it bolsters only a 25% success rate. We assumed by this statistic that we were setting the table for a challenge of the mind. The further we got through the room, the more evident it became that the true challenge was set against our pride.
Due to poor builds, missing clues, illegible hints, utterly flawed and paradoxical riddles, failed and mistyped mechanisms, and a wildly overworked gamemaster, the only way to get through this room was to ask for the answer every step of the way..
The best hints the room contained for puzzle-solving were the 'secret' hinges that could be found on effects that hadn't yet occurred. We knew what we had to open, and had to figure out the how instead of following a puzzle or clue to a plot twist or a secret. At no point in our failed escape did I feel that a 'brainy act' had been committed. The more we tried to use our brains, the further we strayed from the plot line of this nonsensical story.
One puzzle could only be solved through trial and error. One required name-object association with an engraved name that could not be read with any amount of direct light or shadow tricks. A major puzzle required interpretation of a clue that had not been placed in the room. This set culminated in some magnet-magic that turned out to be mechanically insufficient. The effect didn't occur until long after we solved the puzzle.
With each failed test, we debated asking for another hint. But we paid to solve a puzzle, not to get walked through a script, so we tried putting each one off until there was no other avenue to explore. Each time we checked in with the GM, we had to provide a status update for where in the puzzle we were. While he wasn't the only employee on site, it seemed he was being forced to handle 95% of the active responsibilities.
While another group was being introduced to their room, we were left on read. This led to a lot of aimless wandering and guesswork, and flaws in the game itself were left unresolved for 10-15 minutes past the point of their exposure.
When he did have the time to help us, the hints the game master provided were essentially full answers; and even those possessed core logic which was utterly confounding.
A major reveal in the escape was based on a riddle which, after full explanation and thorough analysis, makes absolutely no sense.
Trying to not be fooled again, we met the next riddle with a skeptics eye, interpreting it every which way from Wednesday to Tuesday. After abstraction and analysis, this riddle proved to be not only a literal description of what to do, but described a non-linear step in the game we had already taken. This was the second non-linear problem forced into a paradoxical chronology.
The final puzzle was literally a broken Cyphex. First combo we tried tore the end off with no force, the Styrofoam glued inside of it made it so even the correct solution couldn't open it.
There is no immersion, there is no cohesion, the big words that Brainy Actz plasters their website with are only that. Words. We all wish we had simply given up or never shown in the first place.
The sign on the back door offers a 20% discount for good reviews. I have no intention of returning to this facility, so I see this discount as a futile attempt at keeping this waste of time and money under wraps.
Reading deeper into online reviews (obviously filtering 5-stars out to remove finacially-based bias), we did find some other detailed experiences very similar to our own. The same problems we faced have been present at this facility for months. Same filth, same invisible clues, same busted mechanisms, same overall disappointment.
This was a complete waste of a night.
We booked through Groupon and got to play at a discounted rate; even at 50% of the advertised price, this escape room and this facility are a ripoff and a joke. I am so far beyond disappointed, because this wasn't a mistake. We were misled into believing that this would be anything close to Escape Rooms we've tried in the past. I am furious because Brainy Actz has the audacity to talk themselves up like a world-class facility, incentivize customers to say nice things about them, and have absolutely zero gusto to back up their self-spun hype. It was inconsistent and flawed in so many ways, yet falsely advertised and wildly overpriced. Brainy Actz is playing T-Ball at Yankee Stadium and charging you for a World Series ticket.
I'm not upset that we failed the room. I'm upset about WHY we failed the room.
I implore you to spend your money elsewhere. An Escape Room is supposed to be about the experience of the games, not the expedience of the gains.
Puzzles & Locks worn out and don't work well even with the correct combos. Staff pays no attention to your progress so expect to ask for many clues just to find you solved it correctly but the puzzles / tec didn't function as designed.
Chad Griffin
Weekend warrior who does 2 - 4 rooms a weekend and travel out of state to participate in escape rooms. That said, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED skipping these Generation One rooms.
Puzzles & Locks worn out and don't work well even with the correct combos. Staff pays no attention to your progress so expect to ask for many clues just to find you solved it correctly but the puzzles / tec didn't function as designed.
Chad Griffin
Weekend warrior who does 2 - 4 rooms a weekend and travel out of state to participate in escape rooms. That said, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED skipping these Generation One rooms.
Puzzles & Locks worn out and don't work well even with the correct combos. Staff pays no attention to your progress so expect to ask for many clues just to find you solved it correctly but the puzzles / tec didn't function as designed.
Chad Griffin
Weekend warrior who does 2 - 4 rooms a weekend and travel out of state to participate in escape rooms. That said, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED skipping these Generation One rooms.
I've done about 20 escape rooms in the past year, and this was worst! I've never before felt like I just wanted to stop before my time ran out. Many of the puzzles wouldn't unlock, even when solved correctly. Many of the locks were old and took several attempts to open. More than once, we asked for a hint only to find we already solved a puzzle, but staff had to come in the room and manually open the next clue due to faulty equipment. The staff weren't tracking our progress at all, and when asking for a hint, they would ask "what puzzle are you on?" We also finished a room and didn't know it, because there was nothing to indicate we were done. We continued searching for the next clue for 5-10 minutes before asking for a hint, and they said, "oh, if you've solved (the last puzzle), then you've escaped." I would say it was completely a waste of money, but at least now I know to never go back!
Sammy
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