Room Escape Artist

Well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous.

, , ,

New York City: Escape Room Recommendations

The best escape rooms to play in New York City

REA Hivemind
2–4 minutes

Last Updated: October 21, 2026

New York City is our home market. We’ve been playing in this city since escape rooms first started popping up in North America. There is no escape room community that we know better.

Here are our recommendations for escape rooms in New York City (or accessible via Metro). Since we like nuance, they are broken out into categories.

New York City Escape Room Guide

Market Standouts

Puzzle Focused

Set & Scenery Driven

Beginner Friendly

Small Team

Something Different

  • Great Gotham Challenge is an annual puzzle hunt that takes place in a specific neighborhood in Manhattan. Along the way, teams are provided not just puzzles but also information on the history of the neighborhood.
  • Masquerade reworked the telling of The Phantom of the Opera into a large-scale immersive theatrical production.
  • Midnight Madness is New York City’s most exclusive puzzle hunt. Nineteen teams of six players each pay the $42,000 entry fee, and for twelve puzzle-packed hours, navigate New York City, all the way from the furthest reaches of Coney Island to the heart of Manhattan. The only prize is bragging rights.
  • Check out our friends over at No Proscenium for a detailed listing of what immersive experiences are currently running.

Regional Roadtrip

  • 5 Wits – West Nyack, NY 🔒- If you can get there, it’s worth it
  • Battleship & Disco 54 at Unreal Escapes are strong and interesting games on Staten Island. It’s not the easiest company to get to, but they are certainly among the regional standouts.

REPOD

On REPOD, co-hosts Peih-Gee Law and David Spira interview immersive gaming creators about the nuance of their craft.

Executive Producer and Creative Director of Masquerade, Asher Young joins us to chat about this fresh approach to a Broadway classic.

Gara Roda and Moritz Marti, the co-founders of MyssTic Rooms, joined us on REPOD to talk about the challenges of building a world class escape room in bustling New York City.

Great Gotham Challenge founders, Jon Seale and Ryan Patch, discuss how much of their game is designed to encourage players to explore stories of New York’s oddities and its secret histories. 

If you enjoyed playing at Doors of Divergence, we suggest listening to our REPOD episode with Christian Vernon and Zac MacKrell.

Spoilers Club

In this monthly Patreon exclusive podcast, David Spira and Peih-Gee Law discuss an escape room in great detail, spoilers and all! Often bringing on the creator to go behind the scenes.

To listen to this show, back Room Escape Artist on Patreon at the “Search Win!” level ($15 per month).

You are always welcome to contact us if this recommendation list doesn’t answer your specific questions.

🔒 Golden Lock award-winning experience

19 responses to “New York City: Escape Room Recommendations”

  1. Escape Maniac Avatar
    Escape Maniac

    Thanks for sharing. It’s a interesting way of categorizing. Better than a toplist, where you always have to defend the why.

    Reply
    1. David Spira Avatar
      David Spira

      Everyone loves a different game for different reasons.

      Our goal continues to be helping people find the right games for their groups. This was the most reasonable method we could come up with.

      Reply
  2. Jonathan May Avatar
    Jonathan May

    Thank you so much for putting this list together — it is so helpful and there are many rooms here I’d love to check out. I’m a big horror fan and would love to check out the rooms you recommended for that genre, but for an upcoming gathering I’ll have a group of 7 and we won’t fit in the rooms you listed. Could you please recommend any horror rooms in NYC that can accommodate 7 players?

    I do realize Sanatorium by I survived the room accommodates up to 8 players, but you recommended no more than 4 players for that room. Is there another horror-themed room in NYC that’s more suitable?

    Many thanks.

    Reply
    1. Lisa Spira Avatar
      Lisa Spira

      You’re welcome! We’re so glad this is helpful.

      We’d recommend that you check out The Sanatorium anyway, even with a group of 7. We think you’d have the optimal experience with 4 people, but you’ll still have a lot of fun with 7. You could also enjoy The Darkest Hour with 7.

      Alternatively, you could head out to Komnata Quest in Brooklyn (note that they have multiple locations) and split into two or even three different rooms there.

      Reply
      1. Jonathan May Avatar
        Jonathan May

        Thank you for your recommendations! I think we will give Komnata a try. So excited!

  3. Claire Harter Avatar
    Claire Harter

    Are any of these something that a team of a beginner (my friend) and an experienced escaper (me) could tackle together, or would we really need to go to a beginner room for her to enjoy herself?

    Reply
    1. David Spira Avatar
      David Spira

      The only three rooms on this list that I would discourage beginners from trying are:
      – Sanatorium, I Survived the Room
      – Boxed Up, Komnata Quest
      – Limitless, Komnata Quest

      The rest of them are all doable, especially if you have someone experienced on the team.

      The biggest difference will be that newbies won’t be able to appreciate some of the nuance, and that is just fine.

      Reply
  4. thelemonkitchen Avatar
    thelemonkitchen

    Are there any games that might be good for a more “experienced” escapee (me) and my friend, who has never done anything like this before? I’d like it not to be too simple for my own sake but also not too crazy for hers.

    Reply
    1. David Spira Avatar
      David Spira

      Any of the games listed under “The Unusuals” are going to offer something a little more interesting for an experienced player. They all do something that is rare, and with the exception of Alien Attack, they’re all playable with 2 players. Two of them are only two player games.

      Reply
  5. Tim Beedle Avatar
    Tim Beedle

    This is a great list! I’ll be visiting New York this summer, and we’re using it to find some unique escape rooms to tackle while we’re there. One quick comment, though. It seems like several of the rooms on this list no longer exist! Since you regularly update this article, maybe it’s worth taking them off? I know I was bummed to discover rooms like The Escape Test no longer seem to be open.

    Reply
    1. Lisa Spira Avatar
      Lisa Spira

      We’d been meaning to update this list for quite some time when you left this comment… so we finally did. Thanks for the nudge. We’ve removed the closed games, shuffled the categories a bit, and added/dropped a few games from the lists. We’re looking forward to a few new rooms opening in NYC this summer and once we play and review the new games, we’ll make additional updates here. As always, if you have any specific questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

      Reply
  6. Tim Beedle Avatar
    Tim Beedle

    Excellent! Thank you so much for doing this and for maintaining this site. It’s a fun, very helpful resource!!

    Reply
  7. Lisa Spira Avatar
    Lisa Spira

    You’re welcome 🙂

    Reply
  8. Michael Jones Avatar
    Michael Jones

    Coming in next week! Any updates or new recommendations?

    Reply
    1. Lisa Spira Avatar
      Lisa Spira

      I just updated! Thanks for the reminder. We haven’t played too many local games this summer, but we expect more updates this fall/winter.

      Reply
  9. Andrew Avatar
    Andrew

    Do you have a recommendation for group of about 8 who are escape room enthusiasts? We want something reasonably challenging, but also love great stories

    Reply
    1. David Spira Avatar
      David Spira

      Sorry we somehow missed this comment last week while we were traveling.

      8 is a very large group for a New York City game… especially with an engaged enthusiast group.

      If you all want to play in the same room at the same time, I’d suggest Clock Tower, Escape the Room NYC. Most everything else you’d be better off splitting into two different groups.

      Reply
  10. StatsChica Avatar
    StatsChica

    Hello! You might not see this because it has been a bit, but I’m travelling for a few days in January to NYC and super excited to do a few escape rooms. Any updated recommendations? You mentioned 5 wits – is it worth us trying to go?

    Reply
    1. David Spira Avatar
      David Spira

      It really depends upon the group and what you’re looking for. There’s nothing else quite like 5 Wits, it’s sort of like if Disney had made a family friendly, high-throughput escape-room-like experience about a decade ago.

      If you have a group of kids, or are interested in their tech and approach, it’s fantastic.

      If you’re looking for something that resembles a traditional escape room, it’s not going to be what you’re looking for.

      And I wouldn’t hype it too much. If you have finite time in NYC, it might be a bit too far. I hope this helps.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending