evan


Game
Company
Game
Location
Played: 12 Jan 2022 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivengreat hosting
Played: 10 Jan 2022 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifuloriginalstory-driven

This was a truly delightful experience. Headlock have managed to put together an experience that is somehow an escape room, a Disney musical, an RPG video game, and a puppet show all at the same time. The setup gives you a real sense of immersion in the miniature world, with careful camera positioning, dynamic lighting, and hilarious cutscenes.

I especially appreciated the way that this felt like a movie/TV show that you were a part of - when (e.g.) solving a puzzle would activate a cutscene, the GM managed to time it perfectly so as to be seamless. There's a real mastery here of Zoom as a medium that I don't know if I've seen before.

And while the show is obviously the star of, err, the show, this stands up as a game, too, with well-constructed puzzles that are certainly not impossibly challenging, but not so easy that experienced solvers blow through them.

This game was phenomenal, and definitely worth your time and money to play.

Played: 6 Jan 2022 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techstory-drivengreat hosting
Played: 16 Dec 2021 Team size: 6 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 6 Dec 2021 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive

I really enjoyed the set work in particular

Played: 6 Dec 2021 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive

Super fun environment

Played: 24 Nov 2021 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techstory-driven

In their latest game, Palace Games seems to have decided to move past the "Great People of the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition" theme of their earlier rooms and onto something...more mysterious. They don't say much about the theme so I won't either, but suffice it to say that it is very different, and significantly more story-driven than any of Palace Games' other escape rooms. I found the puzzles in the room to be very well constructed, and it makes great use of both space and technology to create a wholistic experience.

Played: 26 Dec 2020 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 5 Dec 2020 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 30 Nov 2019 Outcome: Failed :-(
original

Super unique concept

Played: 29 Nov 2019 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 23 Oct 2019 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 22 Oct 2018 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-driven😨creepy
Played: 22 Oct 2019 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivenintense👻scary

This is probably the only really horror-heavy escape room I've done, and in general I'm not sure I have the stomach for it, but I have no regrets about doing this room. It was immersive, had high-quality puzzles, and a great arc of tension throughout the game.

Played: 23 Oct 2018 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techimmersivemagical😨creepy

A three Michelin star restaurant is said to be so good that it's worth planning a special journey to eat there. That's how I feel about The Dome. Even though I know that virtually none of my friends here in the US are going to make the trip to Bunschoten, I can't help but try to convince them because it is totally worth it. It's such a brilliant combination of mechanisms, theming, environment.

Played: 20 Oct 2019 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive

We picked this up in some spare time after doing Skurrilum's games. Those are definitely the star of Hamburg, but this game was fun. I will say this: the way you get into the room is one of the most amusing mechanics for any escape room I've done.

Played: 20 Oct 2019 Team size: 6 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 20 Oct 2019 Team size: 7 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivenepicquite easy

Out of this world good set design and production, and a few absolutely brilliant moments of trickery by the GM.

Played: 28 Apr 2019
quite difficult
Played: 28 Feb 2019
immersivestory-drivenoverpriced

Amazing set work, great immersion, and I quite enjoyed the integration of the Sherlock IP. It's not quite the brilliance of Time Run, but still fun.

Played: 10 Feb 2019 Team size: 8 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-drivenquite difficult

Tons of fun, extremely good story telling, and really brilliant use of space.

Played: 10 Feb 2019 Team size: 8 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersive

Totally worth doing, although maybe with a slightly smaller group - with 8 skilled players, I felt like I missed some of what was happening.

Played: 21 Nov 2018
beautifulhi-techintense

I loved this room so much. The set was incredible, the technology added so much to the experience, and the gameplay was a ton of fun! If you want the best puzzles, do the Roosevelt Room. If you want to have the most fun, do this one. (Better yet, do both - they're worth it) This room is definitely less puzzle-y and more game-y than their other rooms, but I thought it was by far the most enjoyable.

Played: 1 May 2018 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 20 Apr 2018 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 20 Mar 2018 Outcome: Successful escape!
Played: 21 Jan 2018 Outcome: Successful escape!
quite easy
Played: 14 Aug 2016 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersive
Played: 17 Dec 2017 Outcome: Successful escape!
value for moneyfunnyclever

I found this to be delightful. Certainly not the greatest puzzles, but a fun experience. As someone who has worked in startups, the humor was on point.

Played: 6 Dec 2017 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techoverpricedquite easy

More of a tech demo than an escape room. Felt mostly like an excuse to string together a bunch of gadgets, without necessarily needing them to be central to the story, and that fact undercut the game in some places. One specific area I remember: at one point you unlock a room with a 3D printer. That printer prints out a key that you subsequently use to open a lock, but it's slow, so the GM rushed us to start the printout before doing any of the other puzzles.

Played: 22 Nov 2017 Team size: 8 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techcleverquite difficult

This was probably my least favorite of Palace Games' 4 (as of this writing) rooms, but that is in no way to suggest that it's even a little bad. It has great puzzles and is a ton of fun, and even if I liked it less than Edison, Roosevelt, and The Attraction, it's still a must-do in San Francisco - probably the #4 room in the city.

Played: 11 Oct 2017 Team size: 3
beautifulhi-techimmersivequite difficult
Played: 31 Jan 2017 Outcome: Successful escape!
very easy

The puzzles were relatively straightforward, and most of the fun was in the environment - there were several costumed actors playing different characters whom you had to go visit during your quest. Very enjoyable if you get excited about Zelda, otherwise probably not challenging or long enough to be worth playing.

Played: 25 Nov 2016
hi-techcleverquite difficult
Played: 27 Aug 2015 Team size: 4 Outcome: Failed :-(
hi-techimmersivestory-driven