Room Escape Artist

Puzzle tracks

Location: Honolulu, HI

Date Played: September 7, 2025

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 3-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $42 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: Minor uneven flooring when entering the room.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Breakout Waikiki was conveniently located in a touristy area full of shops and restaurants, close to the beach. If you hit a rainy day, or just spend too much time in the sun, Breakout Waikiki is well-positioned to provide an air-conditioned hour of puzzling.

Secret Sabotage was a puzzley game with a solid set with interactive props. We most enjoyed the communication puzzles that engaged the whole team, collaborating to switch, turn, plug and unplug, and the like. The puzzles were quite varied, however, including searching, dexterity, logic, and other skills, giving everyone their moment to drive.

Secret Sabotage was more challenging than it need to be, largely because it lacked sufficient clue structure. It started without an onramp, with puzzles that needed more cluing. We expect a lot of teams lose momentum early on and become frustrated. Teams probably also stall, as we did, with unclued interactions later in the game when momentum should be building.

We had fun in Secret Sabotage, despite these missteps, because we enjoyed a lot of the puzzles and the mechanisms. We also went in prepared to search and puzzle. Because of this, we recommend Secret Sabotage for more experienced players. If you’re looking for an escape room in Honolulu, Breakout Waikiki is a solid choice.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Best for players with at least some experience
• Players looking to fit an escape room into their island vacation

Why play?

• Interesting puzzles
• Solid set design
• You’re on a low key quest to play an escape room in each state ✈️

Story

We may have snuck onto a freight train for a free trip. However, that train ride hit a series of snags and we found ourselves helping the train’s engineer save all of our lives.

Setting

Secret Sabotage started in the wood-paneled set that evoked train tropes. It had storage crates and a few different mechanisms.

Gameplay

Breakout Waikiki’s Secret Sabotage was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, making connections, and solving puzzles. This was an older style of game where searching was key to forward progress.

Analysis

➕/➖ The wood-paneled set immediately set the vibe. It wasn’t necessarily a train. And we did wonder about the periscope on a train… but through the set and props, it gave off a train feel.

➖ Secret Sabotage lack a clear onramp, making it hard to get started. The first puzzle was a complex, layered puzzle without adequate clue structure. While it could be an excellent puzzle sequence, it would have been better positioned later in the game, so that teams can get started with some quick wins.

➖ In general Secret Sabotage lacked cluing. Breakout Waikiki used some nifty visual tricks, which were fun to solve. However, for these to be fun ahas to players who don’t immediately recognize the puzzle type, they need to be clued.

➕ Secret Sabotage was quite a bit bigger than it immediately appeared. We enjoyed when new spaces opened up, each revealing new prop-based interactions.

➖ One early prop looked great, but twice failed to work as intended. At first, information was not visible even though we were looking in the right place. Then a later reveal failed to appear at all. We could see the potential in this prop, but visual clarity, in-game feedback, and proper displays were missing.

➕ Secret Sabotage had some big, interactive props with satisfying mechanisms, especially in the later portions of the game.

➕ We enjoyed a well-clued, split information puzzle built into a prop with solid interaction design.

➖ Late in the game, we knew just what to grab to power our mission forward. However, we stalled at this critical moment, prop in hand, unsure how to proceed. There was no cluing for how this prop would interact with a locked door. This stalled our momentum.

➖ There were opportunities to improve the lighting. In one instance, we received a handheld prop too early, leading to wasted effort searching. Additionally, selective spotlighting would make the Secret Sabotage more comfortable to play.

➕ The puzzle variety offered opportunities for everyone to get involved and have their hero moment.

Tips For Visiting

• Breakout Waikiki was in a convenient, walkable location with lots of restaurants and shopping. We don’t know what the parking situation would be.
• We enjoyed a nice dinner overlooking the ocean at House Without A Key.

Book your hour with Breakout Waikiki’s Secret Sabotage, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Breakout Waikiki provided media discounted tickets for this game.