Travel Room was a beginner escape room that didn’t feel like most of the others. What it lacked in decor and adventure, it made up in innovative puzzles and fair pricing.
Who is this for?
Puzzle lovers
Best for beginners
Why play?
Beginner room with some innovative puzzle design
Story
A retiring travel agent turned his office into an escape room as a final promotion for his business. We had 45 minutes to determine where in the world he was. There were no stakes, just puzzles.
Setting
We entered a bright, fluorescent-lit travel agent’s office. It had a desk, some chairs, and a collection of travel posters from around the world.
While the room didn’t inspire a sense of adventure, the execution was careful and clean.
Gameplay
Travel Room was all about the puzzles. This was an old-school puzzle-your-way-out-of-the-office-game. Travel Room could have been a point & click Flash escape room.
As with the setting, the puzzles weren’t shocking, but they were smart, cared for, and well executed.
Standouts
The puzzles flowed well. They were well clued and they worked.
One significant interaction seem strangely random… until we understood its message. It was also well designed to engage the group.
One prop wore a lot of puzzles well. It was entertaining.
I cannot overstate how much I respect Escape Room Park City’s approach to pricing. This room is good. It’s worth playing. It’s also priced fairly. Their premium game, Mine Trap, cost twice the price, but it was twice as interesting, twice as complex, twice the size, and more than twice as detailed.
Shortcomings
The set was uninspiring. It was an office.
Escape Room Park City had a lot of rules… and their delivery felt combative. This aggression detracted from an otherwise fun experience. Some of those rules got in the way of simply enjoying the gameplay:
Our gamemaster warned us not to flip over certain items as the contents might break. This whole category of rules could have been avoided with a little bit of foam. Instead we walked around the room nervously hoping that this wouldn’t be the game in which we accidentally broke a thing.
Travel Room clued us to improvise a solution to a puzzle. At the same time, it warned us not to take a specific action, which would have been the obvious solution. This felt uncomfortably restrictive and not all in the spirit of the clue we had received.
Tips for Visiting
If you’ve never played an escape room before, this is a great on-ramp.
The building has a parking garage.
Enter the building through the elevator in the parking garage. (This was confusing.)
Park City has no shortage of food options.
Travel Room costs about half as much as Mine Trap, but Mine Trap is twice as interesting.
Team size: 4-40 (4 copies of the room, each for up to 10 players); we recommend 3-5 per room
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $22 per ticket
REA Reaction
We have mixed feelings about The Heist. Getout Games played with some truly brilliant game mechanics in creating a beginner-friendly competitive escape room. Unfortunately the first half of the game was underwhelming and it left us wishing that Getout Games had focused more on the unique elements of this escape room.
Who is this for?
Best for beginners
Teams looking to compete
Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
To race your friends
The mid-game puzzles
A brilliant final set
Story
Notorious Salt Lake City mob boss Crazy Coz had left his office for the day. We were seeking to relieve him of some of the gold it was rumored he had been trafficking.
Setting
The Heist took place in Crazy Coz’s rented office… which didn’t look all the much like an office, let alone a notorious mobster’s office. It had white walls with a few hangings, a few simple pieces of furniture, and some knickknacks.
The initial gamespace was about as uninspiring as escape rooms get. Fortunately as The Heist progressed, the set became increasingly more interesting. Getout Games staged the final act in a really cool manner.
Gameplay
The Heist was a competitive escape room. Multiple teams could simultaneously race for the gold in up to four adjacent sets.
The Heist was an old-school search-and-puzzle escape room that improved over the course of the experience. The first half was mundane. The second half offered quite a bit more intrigue.
Standouts
Getout Games excelled at the transitions in this escape room. Although they used escape room standbys, they delivered. One was impressively concealed. Another was overt, but smoothly executed.
We enjoyed one mid-game puzzle sequence that changed our perspective.
The Heist was a race. We wanted to find the gold before the other team. If we had been neck and neck as we approached our prize, oh wow, would it have been a dramatic conclusion.
Shortcomings
As it was, we won decidedly. Because of this, the conclusion was underwhelming. We recommend that Getout Games shuffle the puzzle flow to increase the chances for a dramatic race to the gold. Otherwise, the unique staging is a missed opportunity. While it’s always possible for one team to absolutely blow out another, we suggest stacking the odds in favor of perceived competition, even if one team has a significant edge.
The setting was unimpressive. Getout Games could make the office facade more believable or play up the mob boss character. Either one would give the early game more depth.
Much of this escape room took place in the dark with poor flashlights. There didn’t seem to be any reason for this frustrating game mechanic.
We experienced three reset failures during our one playthrough of The Heist.
Tips for Visiting
Much of The Heist takes place in the dark, with flashlights.
The Heist could be played by a single team, but you will be missing something if it’s not played competitively.
Getout Games has a large lobby and ample parking.
Book your hour with Getout Games’ The Heist, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
The writings of H.P. Lovecraft are filled with curious and adventurous minds driven to madness. Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors replicated that. Its design was highly ambitious but bumpy execution and lighting problems kept some great ideas from reaching their potential.
Who is this for?
Adventure seekers
H.P. Lovecraft fans
Players with at least some experience
Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
Because Cthulhu calls
Dramatic moments
The gamemaster
Story
The Old Ones, the horrors born of H.P. Lovecraft’s mind, slumbered dreaming of their ascendance. We had to puzzle through the madness and lore to prevent them from rising and destroying all.
Setting
We found ourselves in a sporadically lit library amidst skulls and the lore of H.P. Lovecraft.
The set design was uneven. Some of it looked great; other portions were uninspiring.
While there were moments of intensity, this was not a scary escape room.
Gameplay
Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors was a standard escape room with a bit of searching and a heavier emphasis on puzzling and interpreting lore. We struggled to navigate the gamespace without blocking another teammate’s light.
Much like Dracula’s Castle, our in-character gamemaster introduced and vocally oversaw our game… and, oh my, was he a character.
Standouts
Mystery Escape Room opened Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors with an engaging and hilarious introduction. It added excitement to the adventure ahead.
Our gamemaster was a character in our experience. Although offstage for the duration of the game clock, his verbal interactions were helpful and amusing. He was an integral part of Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors.
Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors included an unusual and entertaining Lovecraft lore manual.
The most thematic puzzle had us accept the madness of Lovecraftian lore and unexpectedly triggered an effect.
I’d been waiting for a Cthulu-themed escape room for a long time now. Mystery Escape Room delivered. I was happy that I got to play it.
Shortcomings
In attempting to stay true to the lore, Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors didn’t deliver the intensity that Cthulhu demanded.
The dark gamespace quickly became the most prominent puzzle. We were always in each other’s light… which kind of drove us insane.
There was a lot of reading material, and not within the library books. This was especially frustrating given the lack of lighting.
While Mystery Escape Room built some interesting tech-driven opens, we saw them coming a mile away. To enhance their dramatic effect, we recommend hiding wires and concealing the technology.
We bypassed the final puzzle through a combination of observation and knowledge of Cthulhu lore. We recommend Mystery Escape Room modify the puzzle flow such that teams cannot miss the climax of the adventure.
Tips for Visiting
Mystery Escape Room is located in The Gateway. There are plenty of restaurant options in the complex.
There’s a paid parking garage in The Gateway complex.
At least one or two players will need to crawl a short distance.
Mind your gamemaster for hints and entertainment.
Book your hour with Mystery Escape Room’s Cthulhu’s Library of Horrors, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Mystery Escape Room comped our tickets for this game.
We were locked up with a zombie, but Zombie Apocalypse Escape was not Trapped In A Room with a Zombie. This was a different take on the zombie escape room format that focused more on creating tension and bursts of excitement between puzzling challenges. You’ll need at least a few brave players with decent cardio to make it through this zombie apocalypse.
Who is this for?
Adventure seekers
Agile people (not all need to be)
Nerf marksmen
Any experience level
Why play?
Fleeing from a zombie
Zombie hunting
Thrills and tension with horror overtones
Story
With the zombie outbreak running rampant, we entered a survival bunker looking for another group of survivors we had heard on the radio. Unfortunately, there was something else in there with us… and it was hungry.
Setting
We were initially released into a quiet and dim storage room. Zombie Apocalypse Escape began there as a typical escape room. If our group had been larger, we might have found ourselves in a split room scenario. With our smaller team, our gamemaster played the part of the other survivors.
The early game built tension. At some point – I won’t say when – the zombie emerged.
Gameplay
The first half of the game was a standard escape room with a lot of added tension because we didn’t know when or how the zombie would reveal itself.
The second half of the game split our attention between puzzling our way to freedom and not getting eaten. In order to keep the zombie at bay (as our gamemaster explained in advance of the game), we would shoot it in a bullseye on its shoulder with a remarkably well-maintained Nerf gun. Shooting the zombie would incapacitate it for a little while, allowing us some puzzling time.
When the zombie wasn’t subdued, we could only focus on not getting tagged by the zombie as it had no chain. This zombie was more like Zombieland than Walking Dead… By that I mean that cardio is necessary for wrangling the zombie.
If running from the undead doesn’t sound like your speed, there was a safe zone where the zombie would not enter, but participation options from that space were limited.
Standouts
From its opening moments, Zombie Apocalypse Escape built tension. The premise worked. We were on edge, in a good way, as we uncovered new gamespace, anticipating what else we might find there. Anything new was inherently scary because we didn’t know when or how the zombie would enter the game.
The early sets felt appropriately apocalyptic and intense.
Unlike other zombie escape rooms, at any given moment in Zombie Apocalypse Escape we were either solving puzzles or escaping a rampant zombie. Alcatraz Escape Games introduced a game mechanic that allowed us to separate these two challenges. This didn’t mean, however, that we could relax; the zombie could easily wake up and attack. We aren’t endorsing any one particular style of zombie play, but we did enjoy seeing something wholly different that required us to strategize in new ways.
The zombie actor had a lot of control of the team’s experience. He read the team well and made Zombie Apocalypse Escape exciting and challenging, but winnable.
The best challenges were life-sized. Or maybe, dead-sized.
Shortcomings
While the earlier sets felt ominously apocalyptic, the final set was escape room-y. It was a room with puzzles… and a zombie. We would have preferred the survival bunker aesthetic to dial up over the course of the experience, rather than evaporate into a game room.
We found the initial staging confusing: we were searching for another group of survivors, but our gamemaster was “playing” as the other survivors. Alcatraz Escape Games does not split smaller groups. The staging wasn’t adequately explained at the onset and we were pretty confused by our gamemaster for quite some time.
We received one misleading pregame instruction that caused us to be far too gentle with an important set piece. We recommend rephrasing to avoid confusion.
Given the in-game exhilaration of a hungry zombie, the escape was anticlimactic. The game ended abruptly.
The Serial Killer was all about the gritty and grungy vibe. The gamemaster played a role and losing promised to deliver an intense conclusion. From a gameplay standpoint, this was a beginner game. Castle of Chaos put the focus on searching for items and information rather than puzzling. This wasn’t really our style of play, but we enjoyed it more than most search-centric escape rooms.
Who is this for?
Searchers and scavengers
Thrill seekers
Haunt hunters
Best for beginners
Why play?
Good creep-factor
Thrilling actor / gamemaster interactions
Story
With bags over our heads, we were handcuffed in a grungy murder basement. Could we save ourselves before the killer returned and hacked us to pieces and added our trophies to her ever-growing collection? #Feminism
Setting
The murder basement was dark and gritty. It was unpleasant by design with a construction-site-meets-basement- meets-SAW vibe.
The low lighting made searching a bit challenging.
Gameplay
The gameplay was search-centric. We needed to uncover small details in a large space. Only one puzzle had substantial cerebral depth, but it was a big puzzle that also carried the narrative.
Standouts
Our gamemaster was a character in The Serial Killer. Despite her off-stage role, she communicated with us in character. We had fun with this.
While the grungy and creepy set was minimalistic, it captured the appropriate mood.
The most critical puzzle was positioned mid-game, ensuring that even losing teams understood the story. This was a smart decision.
We’re pretty sure that the ending would have been awesome if we had lost.
Shortcomings
The Serial Killer was more about searching than solving puzzles. I wish that Castle of Chaos had provided a few more puzzles to chew on.
Castle of Chaos needed to replace an $8 lock that had seen better days. We weren’t going to exert the amount of force required to open it in its worn condition.
The Serial Killer would have been more exciting if we’d lost. Castle of Chaos only really designed one ending. Thus our escape was anticlimactic.
Tips for Visiting
It would have been more fun to lose.
Portions of this game will be challenging if you struggle to see in low light.
Mine Trap started off strongly and escalated to an explosive conclusion. While it dragged in the middle, the beautiful set design kept us engaged.
Who is this for?
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
History buffs
Any experience level
Why play?
The set
The final act
Story
We were on a tour of Park City’s old silver mines when a tunnel collapse sealed us in. Could we find the tools and information necessary to find daylight before running out of air?
Setting
We entered a surprisingly detailed mine shaft filled with wood, stone, and tools. With the notable exception of some carpeting, the set looked phenomenal.
I wish that I could show you a photo or two, but they were forbidden. Don’t let the logo fool you… Escape Park City’s Mine Trap had a set worth seeing.
Gameplay
Mine Trap had three acts to it.
The first act was a basic search-and-puzzle beginner’s on-ramp. It was smooth, well designed, and approachable.
The second act was pure puzzles and combination locks. Escape Room Park City played with interesting concepts, but due to some design decisions, the Mine Trap dragged here.
The final act brought in a little physicality and a ton of innovation. Come for the set, but stay for the third act.
Standouts
Mine Trap opened gently with a puzzle on-ramp. While it was more challenging than Escape Room Park City’s other game, Travel Room, the approachable start opened it to players of all experience levels.
With Mine Trap, Escape Room Park City leveled up their set design. This set would look great in any US escape room market. It’s especially impressive in a city without competition.
We enjoyed the final act. The puzzles were inventive, thematically appropriate, and well clued.
The conclusion blew us away.
I cannot overstate how much I respect Escape Room Park City’s approach to pricing. Mine Trap cost twice as much as their other game, Travel Room. It was worth it. Mine Trap was twice as interesting, twice as complex, twice the size, and more than twice as detailed.
Shortcomings
At any given moment, we confronted a lot of locks, primarily of the same digit structure. While it eventually became apparent why certain codes went to certain locks, for much of Mine Trap we felt like a solution could go anywhere. Dropping 4-digit numbers into half a dozen locks quickly became boring.
We found one common escape room prop far too early. We had to use it senselessly from that point onward. Escape Room Park City’s band-aid for this problem was a rule that they declared before the game, “Don’t turn off the lights, it won’t help you.” We still lost a lot of time and fun on this prop. A better solution for their gameplay problem could be MacGyvered using some of the existing items in the room.
A few of the puzzles involved pixel hunting. We had to find nit-picky details with minimal clueing to derive solutions. While these puzzles were fine, when mixed with the aforementioned digit structure and prop, the game simply dragged when it could have roared.
There was carpeting in the middle of our silver mine, which was confusing.
Tips for Visiting
Mine Trap costs almost twice as much as Travel Room, but it offers twice the value.
The building has a parking garage.
Enter the building through the elevator in the parking garage. (This was confusing.)
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” -Sherlock Holmes
Location: at home (in our case, a hotel) in Salt Lake City, UT
Date Played: January 5, 2018
Team size: 1-8; we recommend 2-4
Duration: 60-90 minutes
Price: $45 per crate for a 24-hour rental; plus a $50.00 fully refundable deposit (per crate)
REA Reaction
Lockbox Mysteries crammed a ton of gameplay into a crate and briefcase. We’re always a little cautious when approaching a new game format, and Sherlock Holmes and the Great Charade made us believers. While we wished that the props felt just a little more of the era, Lockbox Mysteries delivered excellent puzzle content. We loved playing this game from the comfort of our own home hotel room and the price could not be beat.
Who is this for?
Story seekers
Puzzle lovers
Families
Any experience level
Why play?
You can play from the comfort of your own home
It’s affordable
A lot of puzzling content
A smart final puzzle sequence
Story
It was 1910 and Scotland Yard was stumped. With a dead woman and no leads, they hired the greatest detective in history, Sherlock Holmes, to crack the case. Wearing the hat of Mr. Holmes, we explored evidence and interrogated the behavior of a number of suspects, puzzling and deducing our way to a conclusion.
Setting
We drove out to a Salt Lake City suburb and retrieved a large box and a briefcase and brought them back to our hotel room.
When we opened the box we were greeted by a binder that explained the game in careful detail. This included everything from what an escape game is, to the hint system, to basic lock functionality.
We started the included timer and investigated the initially available evidence. From there on it was all puzzles and locks.
Gameplay
Our Lockbox Mysteries experience essentially played like a low-tech escape room without the set. There were lots of locks sealing all sorts of boxes and bags shut. There were even more puzzles.
There was plenty more where this came from.
We needed to deduce the particulars of the murder case before us and rule out suspects. Each suspect had their own branch of puzzles that provided a piece of the overall picture.
All of this culminated in a final deduction puzzle that emphatically punctuated the game with a challenging, creative, and elegant conclusion.
Standouts
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Charade played like an escape room. It was less immersive than (most) on-site escape rooms, but more physically interactive than (most) at-home escape rooms that come in the mail. It straddled these subgenres. More importantly, it played well.
Lockbox Mysteries surprised us. With each open, we uncovered substantial game pieces… and more puzzles.
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Charade had a lot of puzzle content and the puzzles flowed well. They also broke into parallel plot threads. There was a lot of game and it branched such that it could keep a large group entertained.
The hint system worked. It didn’t give away too much, unless we wanted to get to the solution. Then we could see the solution.
We understood the characters, story, and mystery without working at it. We took it in by way of solving the puzzles. Consequently, the puzzles felt purposeful and the sleuthing felt natural.
The mystery wanted to be solved. It didn’t resolve to some crazy unforeseeable twist. We could play along like detectives, making hypotheses and working towards a conclusion.
Everything was self-contained. We didn’t need an internet-connected device to facilitate the game.
Shortcomings
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Charade leaned heavily on decipherments. A few of these overstayed their welcome. Long after the aha moment, we were still deciphering the information.
While we appreciated the many tangible locks in this play-at-home escape room, we would have liked more varied digit structure. At times we’d derive a code that could have unlocked any one of a number of locked items.
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Charade was aesthetically uneven. Some props felt of the era, while others felt far too modern or geographically incorrect.
Tips for Playing
You do not need a computer, phone, internet connection, or any outside tools for this play-at-home escape room.
You will need to pick up the game near Salt Lake City, and return it the next day. Mass transit will not be an option for the travel.
If you can, cook up a meal and really make an evening of the game.
Team size: 4-20 (2 copies of the room, each for up to 10 players); we recommend 4-5
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $22 per ticket
REA Reaction
Reactor Room had a great set as well as dramatic and memorable moments. Getout Games could refine this experience by improving the puzzle flow and eliminating some unnecessary confusion that inflated the difficulty of an already challenging escape room. This was a fantastic escape room for experienced players; it wasn’t a yellowcake walk.
Who is this for?
Puzzle lovers
Scenery snobs
Players with at least some experience
Why play?
Hilarious intro
Practical effects
Lovely set
Story
With Salt Lake City’s nuclear power reactor in meltdown, our crew was summoned to stop the chain reaction before we crossed the point of no return and all would be lost.
Setting
Reactor Room was a lab setting built around a glowing reactor. Glass walls and doors made the space feel large, while restricting movement and adding intrigue.
Lighting, practical effects, and hilarious sound cues made Reactor Room feel like it had stakes.
Gameplay
Reactor Room combined heavy searching with substantive puzzles. It was a challenging escape room.
While most of the gameplay centered on searching and puzzling, a few aspects turned up the adventure. These made Reactor Room memorable.
Standouts
One prop transformed… This was a reaction we’d never seen before. It was nifty.
Our gamemaster delivered an amusing introduction. It set the tone for the escape room.
Throughout the Reactor Room, we received timing updates by way of hilarious bits of story.
Detailed set and effect considerations elevated the drama of Reactor Room.
Shortcomings
As we entered the room, we were warned not to move a particular prop because it could be messy. Thus we approached this item too cautiously. It turned out to be perfectly safe – and even recommended – to move it.
At one point, we had to search a large space for faint clues. While this worked conceptually, it was frustrating to play though. Getout Games could refactor this segment to deliver a more fun and dramatic reveal.
The puzzles in Reactor Room almost flowed. At times the escape room lacked clue structure. In these instances, our gamemaster readily provided hints. We recommend that Getout Games determine which hints they give most often and incorporate additional cluing for these into the environment.
One prop felt all too random considering the well-themed gamespace and the story of the escape room.
Dracula’s Castle was a search-and-puzzle escape room with a narrative twist: from introduction to conclusion, our gamemaster was an off-stage character in our experience. Mystery Escape Room had some shaky execution, but their inventive and humorous game delivery was impressive.
Who is this for?
Adventure seekers
Puzzle lovers
Dracula fans
Any experience level
Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle
Why play?
The puzzles
Dramatic moments
The gamemaster
Story
Who knew Abraham Van Helsing wasn’t a closer? He thought he had slain Count Dracula, but the legendary vampire continued to draw blood. We were asked to invade Dracula’s castle under cover of sunlight to finish what Van Helsing couldn’t.
Setting
Dracula’s Castle was dimly lit and lined with stone walls. Most of the light entered from a couple of stained glass window and our lanterns. Count Dracula’s coffin rested in the middle of the space.
Gameplay
Dracula’s Castle had a standard search-and-puzzle escape room structure with an emphasis on narrative and magical happenings.
All of the gameplay was overseen by our incredibly attentive and hilarious in-character but out-of-room gamemaster. He remained a regular audible presence throughout the experience.
Standouts
Our introduction to Dracula’s Castle was phenomenal. It was informative, engaging, and humorous.
Our gamemaster was a character in our experience. Although offstage for the duration of the game clock, his verbal interactions were helpful and amusing. He was an integral part of Dracula’s Castle.
The puzzles flowed well.
The dark set was appropriately ominous and felt castle-y.
The conclusion balanced intensity and humor. It worked well.
Shortcomings
The set was too dark. The perpetually inadequate lighting turned otherwise fun puzzles frustrating.
When we solved a puzzle, we couldn’t always find the resulting open. Especially given the darkness, Mystery Escape Room could build more feedback into tech-driven opens, in the form of lighting, sound, or movement.
We had to stop and read a lot. We would have preferred more variety in clue structure and more clueing born of the environment.
One involved puzzle overstayed its welcome.
Tips for Visiting
Mystery Escape Room is located in The Gateway. There are a few restaurant options in the complex.
There is a paid parking garage in The Gateway complex.
Mind your gamemaster for both help and amusement.
Book your hour with Mystery Escape Room’s Dracula’s Castle, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Disclosure: Mystery Escape Room comped our tickets for this game.
