Room Escape Artist

Magician’s Workshop is one of the best games in the Metro DC area. Here are our other recommendations for great escape rooms around Washington DC.

Prestidigitation

Location: Herndon, VA

Date Played: June 7, 2024

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $44 per player for 2 players to $32 per player for 5+ players

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: None

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Escape Room Herndon’s Magician’s Workshop took us backstage to uncover the secrets of a magician’s impossible new act.

Both the gameplay and the scenic design of Magician’s Workshop were steeped in magic and magic history. The strongest interactions incorporated large stage props and bold methods, leading into some memorable reveals and revelations especially in the final act.

Across Escape Room Herndon’s current slate of games, Magician’s Workshop was one of the more traditional and approachable. The puzzles flowed smoothly, starting fairly sequential before opening up to involve more hands in the second half. There was a healthy balance of by-the-book reveals along with some creative twists.

Magician’s Workshop would make an outstanding introduction to escape rooms for newer players, or a worthy warmup for more experienced players. Every single game at Escape Room Herndon is worth playing, but if you’re limited on time, I’d most highly recommend 8-Bit Escape for a passionately nostalgic experience, Cryptid Grove for playful polish, and Maritime Mutiny for a puzzle-dense challenge.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Fans of The Prestige and stage magic
• Any experience level

Why play?

• A slick introduction to escape rooms
• Magical puzzling

Story

As a magician’s apprentices, we’d heard news of a rival magician’s amazing new trick that could put our boss out of business. We snuck into our rival’s workshop to find out his secret.

Setting

Magician’s Workshop was set in the parlor and studio of a world-renowned magician and inventor. With billowing red curtains, vintage magic posters, and a smattering of magical memorabilia, the stage was set for a show.

Gameplay

Escape Room Herndon’s Magician’s Workshop was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around solving puzzles, making connections, and searching.

Analysis

➕ Magician’s Workshop utilized large stage props to create wonderfully thematic moments. From the opening act to the finale, we, the players, took center stage as magicians, performing hands-on interactions rooted in real magical methods.

➕ The set design was warm and nostalgic, with wallpaper, furniture, and posters all strongly evocative of the Golden Age of Magic.

➕/➖ The puzzles throughout Magician’s Workshop were generally fun and well-clued. Especially by the final act, there was plenty to do and touch for a medium-sized group of experienced players. On the whole, though, the gameplay was less bursting with character compared to Escape Room Herndon’s other experiences, in part due to a forgettably diffused collection mechanic.

➖ In two puzzles, the normal way of interacting with certain objects served as perhaps unintentional misdirection from the intended solution. Clearer signposting could have made these interactions feel more like magic and less like escape room logic.

➕ A brilliant reveal opened our eyes to a main character’s true intentions.

➕ In the final act, a dynamic trick was exciting and magical.

➖ Magician’s Workshop paid tribute to the film The Prestige. However, it presented something closer to a collection of allusions rather than its own coherent story. Since I was familiar with The Prestige (great movie with a complicated plot!), I recognized and enjoyed these references. My teammates, who’d never seen The Prestige, found many of the story details throughout Magician’s Workshop to be a bit hazy and random, lacking further context.

Tips For Visiting

• There is a parking lot.

Book your hour with Escape Room Herndon’s Magician’s Workshop, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Escape Room Herndon provided a complimentary game.