Room Escape Artist

November… the season of table top escape game reviews and RECON talks! Whether you’re shopping for the holidays or planning your 2026 travel schedule, we’ve got you covered.

Now Available: RECON 25 Talks & RECON 26 Tickets

If you missed RECON 25 in August, you’re in luck. This month we started releasing the RECON 25 videos on YouTube. And we put tickets on sale for RECON 26 in Laval, Québec, Canada. (🎁 You can get your ticket now with the holiday coupon code below!)

• August 16-17, 2026
• Laval, Québec, Canada
• General Ticket: $699 (USD)
• RECON Event Website
• Venue: Sheraton Laval Hotel… and the room block is now available!

🎁 Use code REA50 to get $50 off a RECON 26 General Ticket.

This holiday coupon code expires on December 31, 2025.

2025 Holiday Gift Guide

Reviews

🔒 Golden Lock Winners

Aunt Hilda’s Room, Trip Trap (Geneva, Switzerland) – Aunt Hilda’s Room was the quintessential Swiss escape room, transporting us back in time to a picturesque medieval town. (Review by Matthew Stein)

Election Day, Appleseed Avenue (Newhall, CA) – A delightfully bizarre mashup of Sesame Street and CSI, Election Day at Appleseed Avenue was an innovative and punny escape room. (Review by Matthew Stein)

Kaleidoscope 1963, Time Maze (Baden, Switzerland) – For a vivid and varied trip with transportive otherworldly scenic design visit Time Maze’s Kaleidoscope 1963. (Review by Matthew Stein)

Play-At-Home

The Intergalactic Race, EXIT: Advent Calendar (tabletop game) – This Advent calendar is great for those who want a fun holiday daily puzzle. It challenged assumptions of how at-home games can be played. (Review by Tammy McLeod)

The Shackleton Series, Escape Mail (tabletop game) – The Shackleton Series provided an interesting historical story surrounded by an engaging, fun tabletop puzzle experience. (Review by Christina Rohlf)

Escape Room Adjacent

District 57 (Charlotte, NC) – District 57 is a challenge arcade in Charlotte with a distinctive distopian vibe and fun team-based mental and physical games. (Review by Lisa Spira)

Return of the Radiation & Don’t Bring Your Zombies To Work, Dorm Scapes (Los Angeles, CA) – Los Angeles escape room puzzlers, check out these mural-based escape rooms from a student at UCLA. They are on campus. (Review by Tammy McLeod)

Podcast

REPOD S10E7 – The Best Escape Room in the World: Jonathan Driscoll and Sacha St. Denis of Escaparium – We interview the creators of Magnifico, the #1 ranked escape room, and so much more.

PG’s Playhouse E31: Kiki and Bouba (ft. Adal Rifai) – We learn about the linguistic phenomenon of “Kiki and Bouba” with Adal Rifai of Hey Riddle Riddle.

Recommendation Guides

Update this month:

• Barcelona, Spain
• Los Angeles, California
• San Diego, California
• San Jose, California

Commentary

American Waiver Blindness & Escape Rooms – The relationship that Americans have with waivers is insane, and it blinds us to actual risks. (By David Spira)