Room Escape Artist

The writing is on the wall

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Date Played: September 27, 2025

Team Size: no limit; we recommend 1-4

Duration: 30 minutes per game

Price:  Free for self guided, $18 per person for a live gamemaster

Ticketing: Private… but in a public space where others could join in

Accessibility Consideration:  The escapes are located in a stairwell between floors.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Located on two adjacent floors in the stairwell of a university student housing building, Return of the Radiation and Don’t Bring Your Zombies To Work were separate mural escape games. They were the latest creations of Tyler Neufeld, who had previously impressed me with his design ingenuity under tight constraints. My first experience with his work was Code Green, a full-fledged escape room in his dorm room that I played over Zoom. It had an entertaining story, engaging puzzles, and impressive home-made props. He followed that up with an immersive escape-play Escape! The Great Specific Garbage Catch which was all the more admirable for its environmental bent and cardboard set. These mural escapes continued that tradition, transforming the walls available to him into puzzle canvases that deserve a much wider audience.

Because the games were situated inside student housing, access for nonresidents was inconvenient. In our case, we had the privilege of being hosted by the creator himself, though the murals were designed to be fully self-guided.

Each game had a short introductory text that served to establish the story and provide a starting point. There were distinct graphical cues worked into the image to guide the puzzle flow. Despite the unusual location, I felt as though I was playing in an actual escape room, even with the occasional resident coming or going. 

While the puzzles were contained within the mural without the use of additional props, a smartphone was helpful at various points for reference, note-taking, hinting, and checking the solution.

Overall, these mural escapes were a testament to Tyler’s ability to transform limitations into opportunities, offering a fresh and creative take on the escape room experience.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Best for players with at least some experience

Why play?

• To experience first-hand the authentic charm of this fun set of escape puzzles in a unique medium
• You can play for free in the self-guided version!

Story

In Return of the Radiation, we were on an off-course spaceship with an important delivery and we had to find the password to gain access to the ship controls and get back on track.

In Don’t Bring Your Zombies to Work, we were in a facility where the normally-contained zombies had been accidentally released. We needed a door code to fix this situation!

Setting

Both games were implemented as murals in a stairwell in a student residence building near UCLA.

The murals were one floor apart, in the same stairwell. The art styles were completely different. They were clearly 2 separate works, although gameplay functioned similarly.

Don’t Bring Your Zombies to Work had a panel that called to the player’s attention. It looked like a message, and contained a short intro to the story, and hints at how to get started.  A QR code painted on the wall took us to a document with hints.

Gameplay

Dorm Scapes’ escape room murals had a moderate level of difficulty, when considered in the context of escape rooms.

The puzzles relied on observation, pattern matching, wordplay, and made use of some well-known codes and puzzle games. There was a small amount of process puzzle work, more so in Don’t Bring Your Zombies to Work than in Return of the Radiation.

Analysis

➕ An entire escape game as a single mural is a unique design.

➕ The puzzle design and flow all made sense. The murals were well integrated into the space. Puzzles were thoughtfully positioned and there was just enough room for our group of four to play.

➕/➖ Each game lasted 30 minutes, which was substantial. As an experienced puzzler coming to the stairwell to play these games, this felt like the right amount of content and difficulty. The depth of content was impressive, especially considering the unusual medium. However, this would be too much content to engage a casual, puzzle-curious audience who might be walking by. Students in the stairwell are likely busy.

➕ No host was required. Online hints were available.

➖ Access was inconvenient. Parking was difficult, and entry was not straightforward for non-students, if they wanted to get to the murals for a self-guided experience.

➕ It’s hard to beat the price of free for the self-guided version!

Tips For Visiting

• The murals are located in the northwestern-most staircase of UCLA’s University Cooperative Housing Association on 500 Landfair Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024. It is available 24/7 and playable as a self-guided game. See the booking website for updated access information.
• There is free on-street parking in the area, though an open spot can be challenging to find. There are public garages half a mile away in Westwood Village.
• Westwood Village also has a large selection of restaurants.
• For more about the creator and these games, visit this website.

Play Dorm Scapes’ Return of the Radiation & Don’t Bring Your Zombies To Work, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.