Room Escape Artist

Palace Games and Omescape Sunnyvale offer some of the most exciting escape rooms in the United States.

The thing is, they are really challenging for traveling players to book. The games are large, long, and expensive. They are all private-booking and traveling players often can’t get enough players together to book them.

Furthermore, these two companies are about an hour’s drive from each other (more with traffic!) which makes it especially difficult to visit both companies, especially for players who’d prefer not to rent a car.

We are putting this tour together to make these outstanding Bay Area escape rooms accessible to travelers.

“Bay Area” refers to the San Francisco Bay Area, which is the region of California surrounding and including the San Francisco Bay. This seemed like the best way to reference San Francisco (where Palace Games) and Sunnyvale (where Omescape is located) as a single entity.

Yes!

At Palace Games: The Attraction (2022), The Edison Room (2018), and The Houdini Room (2016).

At Omescape Sunnyvale: Robotopia (2024) and Undercooked (2022). The virtual game Pursuit of the Assassin Artist (2020) also won a Golden Lock Award, but it is no longer available to play.

This tour will primarily feature the newest games at Palace Games and Omescape.

If you visited a long time ago and played their oldest games, you may still be able to join.

If you’ve played more than 2 games across both companies, it’s unlikely you can join this tour, but you can fill out a ticket inquiry and we’ll let you know.

Unfortunately, no, you can’t attend this one. You’ve already played almost all the games at Palace Games and we won’t be able to create a complete enough schedule for you. We are sorry.

There is a game called Robotcalypse at Omescape in Toronto. It is not the same game as Robotopia at Omescape Sunnyvale. Don’t worry.

There was a copy of Undercooked in Anaheim, but it is no longer open. It was different enough that if you played it, you can still play Undercooked again as part of this tour.

We will be taking a bus from Omescape to Palace Games. These companies are about an hour bus ride apart (or more, with traffic).

To get from the tour hotel in Sunnyvale to Omescape or to get from the tour hotel in San Francisco to Palace Games, we recommend Uber or Lyft, which are plentiful in the Bay Area. You could also rent a car. We have more detailed recommendations for transportation in the attendee documentation.

We may be able to offer transportation to Sunnyvale from San Francisco on Saturday, before the tour welcome event. This is not yet confirmed.

This tour will start in Sunnyvale and end in San Francisco.

• Welcome in Sunnyvale on Saturday evening
• Sunday and half of Monday at Omescape Sunnyvale
• Visit to the Pinhouse on Sunday
• Bus to Palace Games in San Francisco on Monday afternoon
• Second half of Monday and all day Tuesday at Palace Games
• Wrap up at Palace Games

This will be the first tour to include two tour hotels. We will spend two nights in Sunnyvale and two nights in San Francisco.

Please plan to arrive in Sunnyvale on (or before) Saturday, October 5. We will have a welcome gathering on Saturday evening.

Escape rooms start early on Sunday morning. The event will wrap up late on Tuesday evening. If you plan to leave on Tuesday night, you will miss this event.

Please plan your schedule so that you arrive in Sunnyvale by Saturday and stay in San Francisco until Wednesday. If this isn’t possible, please contact us.

No, but we’ll choose games specifically for you. You’ll fill out a fun pre-tour survey about your escape room preferences. We’re confident you’ll play a lot of games that you’ll love.

The most popular and impressive games in the region will appear on everyone’s schedule unless you opt out of them.

You’ll find out your escape room agenda far enough in advance that you can book additional games for yourself (at discounted prices) during the rest of your time in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Pinhouse is a private residence in a quiet Silicon Valley residential neighborhood owned by Escape Room enthusiasts Trisha and Wei-Hwa Huang. A group of three to four pinball machine owners host about 20 pinball machines and a couple of other arcade machines there, and it is a regular competition location for the Bay Area Pinball Association. Trisha and Wei-Hwa are making it available to this REA tour for the enjoyment of the participants. The games will all be available to you during our visit… and you don’t need to bring any coins! As it is a residential neighborhood, the address will only be made available to ticket holders at the start of the event.

We’ll spend enough time for you to play lots of pinball and hang out with other folks from the tour in a relaxed environment.

Teams will be either 4 or 6 players. You will have teams of varying sizes on this tour, even at a single company. This is determined by what is best for the game.

If you purchase 2 tickets together, you’ll play all of your games together.

If you purchase a single ticket, you may flag 1 other person to play all of your games with. We guarantee this request will be honored… provided that you both request one another.

You may request as many people as you’d like to have on your team for at least a few games and we’ll honor these requests to the best of our ability.

Your pre-tour survey will also help us select teammates with whom we think you’ll gel.

Yes, provided your group is 6 people or less.

While you won’t play all your games on the tour together, we will arrange it so that you play all the same games as each other, even though you’ll play them at different times. This will simplify your scheduling for additional games outside of the tour. In order to ensure this, you must tell us who you are traveling with in your pre-tour survey.

If your group is more than 6 people, we may not be able to accommodate entirely matched schedules, but we’ll do the best we can.

Not at all. A lot of our regulars travelers alone. Coming alone is just an opportunity to meet new friends.

We’ll put you in groups with other escape room enthusiasts from far and wide.

We will use the pre-tour surveys to group you with teammates whom we think you’ll enjoy playing with. On past tours, many groups loved playing together so much that they booked additional rooms together at the end of the tour.

That said, we will vary your teammates. You likely won’t play more than 2 games with the exact same team.

Your ticket does not cover travel or lodging. We will designate a tour hotel each in Sunnyvale and San Francisco near the escape rooms, where we will have a hotel block with a great rate. Hotel block information will be emailed to ticket holders.

Your ticket includes one meal.

Your other meals are not covered, but we’ll share restaurant recommendations for Sunnyvale and San Francisco.

No, there is only 1 ticket type for this tour.

This is a more expensive tour for us to operate, and the price reflects that.

These games are all longer than 60 minutes (some games are 120 minutes!) and the games are priced as the premium experiences that they are.

The San Francisco Bay Area is generally more expensive than other parts of the country, and the price of the tour reflects that.

It’s no secret that US cities especially on the West Coast have been struggling with some safety issues, but personal safety continues to be very good. San Francisco has always been a colorful, accepting, and diverse place but is not tolerant of violence. As in any urban area, keep your wits about you and don’t leave valuables visible in a car or elsewhere. The Marina District (where Palace Games is located) is calm, civilized, and scenic, known for sailboats and pretty houses and fancy parks.

Every year is different and every city we visit in different. Early October was the best timing this fall for us and all the companies (and individuals) helping us host this tour.

We can’t really say. We are planning to run additional tours, but they may go to other destinations.

Yes, we are planning to run Montreal again in 2025. Stay tuned for more information.

It’s likely we will run a New Orleans tour again, but it’s too early to say when.

All of our events are designed for both creators and players. RECON Los Angeles will be a professional event that combines learning, entertainment, and conversation. There will be opportunities to play games, but that won’t be the focus of the event. On this tour, playing escape rooms is the focus.

If it’s impossible for you to attend both events, we suggest that a player lean toward Escape Immerse Explore: Bay Area and a creator select RECON Los Angles.

Yes! All are welcome.

Yes! Really… all are welcome.

We are looking into an event that includes locals, so that you can hang out with everyone coming on the tour. Stay tuned for details. Please contact us if you’d like to receive an email with this information once it becomes available.

Unfortunately, no. All participants must be 18 years of age at the start of the tour.

This is an insurance thing.

This is the world we have to operate in now. We do our best to remain aware and adaptable, and support the needs of all guests. If you are high risk, know that a tour is a social event, and make the right decision for you.

No.

Contact us about sponsorship opportunities.

Contact us.