Escape game Geek

Reviews of escape game "Geek"

• Over the last year I've played lots and lots of escape games in many different cities. In comparison, the "Geek" room at paniqroom was a huge disappointment. It was hard because of all the distractions and red herrings scattered around, not the quality of the puzzles. A big fraction of them were the same old find-a-key/code and try it on all the locks -- not too much fresh or creative. Also a disappointment in a six person room was that no real teamwork was required.
  
  Our game master did not hint well. Good hints point the player in the right direction but leave part of the puzzle intact and thus some of the satisfaction of solving it. In contrast, our game master would just tell us the answer, the value of the next code, for example.
  
  Practicalities:
  
  - No count down timer in the room so keep track of your own pace.
  
  - You are supposed to use a walkie-talkie to communicate with the game master but the sound quality was so bad he was almost impossible to understand.
  
  - Equipment failure: We were stuck at one point and it turned out that it was because an electronic safe we needed to open was malfunctioning. The game master worked around the problem by just giving us a replica of the object we needed from inside and some extra time.

  John C.

• To celebrate my son's birthday, we went to PanIQ a Room...there were 8 of us...we got the Geek room...good thing there were some smart young people in our group. If it had been left to my husband and I, we might still be there.
  
  Since my husband and I are older, we had no idea as to what to expect. The thought of being locked in a room and having to solve clues and puzzles to get out kind of scared me. It was reassuring to know that we were being watched and that someone could eventually help should the need arise.
  
  As we enter the room we were given all the rules, then locked in. I had no clue as to how to begin, but the young folks did. He quickly found the first clue which let us to the next and the next and the next. The brainy mathematicians worked which helped us find more clues. Slowly locks were opened and although we were tossed red herring over the loudspeaker we did finally find our way out.
  
  All in all it was fun, challenging, and satisfying when we finally got out. I highly recommend this activity, but be sure you bring smart fellows with you!

  Lyn L.

• I originally found this room though an living social deal. And of course i waited till the very last minute before the coupon expired. I tried to gather a bunch of people together so we can go enjoy it. But my boyfriend forgot to actually book the sicko room!! (argh) So I called the same day and asked if we can do another room (Geek Room). The guy (who I assumed is the owner) say it was fine and he would honor the coupon. AWESOME!!
  
  When me and my party got there for our 7:15 experience, we were both they were running 30 minutes behind. No biggie, they had some board games, jingo, and an foosball table to entertain us. They also had a huge case of water for us, which was incredibly thoughtful!
  
  Ok... So I'm a little bias because I've done most of the escape rooms/events around the bay area. The room rating is where I took off 2 stars.
  
  GEEK ROOM: (No Spoilers)
  
  The room itself was quite small. No wonder it's max of 6 people! But there was definitely enough space for everyone to move around. The plot itself was unique (but one thing I noticed was that the description I read on the website wasn't the description the staff member told us). The puzzles were creative, but fairly easy. The staff was extremely friendly and provided us with one hint that we would have never gotten... even though it was in plain sight.
  
  Rating (out of 5 stars - 5 being the highest)
  
  Difficulty: 1 Stars
  
  Theme/Storyline: 3 Stars
  
  Creativity: 3 Stars
  
  Organization/Maintenance: 5 Stars
  
  # of Puzzles: 2 Stars
  
  Fun: 3 Stars
  
  Overall:
  
  I'm sad to say that I cannot recommend this room. The price isn't worth it. Although, I thought the room was creative and the staff/owner were super nice! The room was too easy and there wasn't enough puzzle. But then again, I've been to many escape rooms/events so my view has shifted. Who knows, this might be a great beginner escape room before you move on to the big contenders.

  Christina L.

• This review is for escaping the Geek room.
  
  It was a fun experience trying to escape the room with 5 other friends. We arrives 15 minutes prior to our reservation time to read the general rules and sign a waiver. Then, we were given a scenario that we are working for some (geeky) company and were given an offer to another company, so we are trying to set a bomb to our old company and escape the room - weird scenario, but let's go with it. After being given a walkie talkie and led to a room (and shown what not to touch and what to use in case of dire emergency), we were locked in with a final warning that "our boss" might come knocking on our door and check on us to see we are working (in order words, don't let him see you try setting the bomb).
  
  I am not going to spoil and say how to solve it, but I will tell you that you have to find your inner nerd and remember some of those old skills you haven't had to use since grade school. There were a couple of technical difficulties (smudge things we needed to solve and not working bomb thing) and minor injuries (like bumping heads while crawling to check under stuff), but it was a pretty interesting experience.
  
  Only docking a star because we really did have some technical difficulties that threw us off and some noise from other rooms could be heard (like knocks that wasn't "our boss"), so there is definitely room for improvement. I would suggest to PanIQ to have a better maintenance system on the things in each room, like use permanent marker on things that need to be solved so they don't get smudged and you can easily clean up and dry eraser market stuff.
  
  I would like to come back with my friends to try the prisoner room, but maybe after I hear from other Yelpers that their maintenance system has gone up.
  
  That's really all I can say aside from gather a group of random friends you can work well with - those random skills/abilities may come on handy.

  Christina L.

• We walked in the Geek room, and were out within 5 minutes. Apparently, they didn't clean up after the last people, and there were combinations on post-it notes that were not meant to be left there. So we were put back in and told to finish it properly.
  
  The puzzles were super contrived, and apparently necessitated the use of our cell phones to look certain things up? I'm not liking that part one bit. Every other room I've been to expressly forbids cell phones. So... YMMV.
  
  As for me, I think I'd rather pass on the other two rooms.

  Harley C.