Escape Room Reviews: Escape the Laboratory

Company: Escape the Laboratory
Room: The Laboratory
Date Played: 10/22/17
Player Count: 2, but more would have been better.
Success:  Success!

Premise: In classic video game fashion, you have been imprisoned by a mad genius who wants to watch you solve puzzles. Those who do avoid being patient zero for a humanity-ending plague.

Immersion: This room IS like a lab. Or, it IS like a room a madman puts you in to solve puzzles, because it is jammed full of puzzles. The props are mostly custom made and well built. The bomb that is also your timer is wonderful and realistic.

Highlights: The Laboratory uses a scheme for keeping players on track that I’ve never seen before. On the wall there is a large chart, with photos, documenting the puzzle flow of the room. If you start with the first item in a track, you’ll use whatever comes from it (keys, codes, objects, etc) in the next item in that track. So there’s no wondering what to work on next, and very little search. It’s pure puzzling against the clock. And these are primarily physical puzzles, not activity book material.

Lowlights: The hint system is GM-enters-the-room, but at least that makes things quick. Because we played as a couple, (and requested ‘hard mode’) that meant we only played with 4 out of 6 or 7 tracks of puzzles. I wish I’d known to bring more people so we could have seen everything. 

And Finally:   This game was really excellent. LA has a fair amount of rooms that are sort of guided tours of lovely sets, but for the puzzle-solving player, this room is a can’t-miss. I would strongly consider replaying this game with a different group so that I could focus on the tracks I haven’t seen before. (Or, I kind of wonder how far I could get get playing solo, with the knowledge of how a bunch of things work. There are one or two puzzle types in here that I don’t know if I could process on my own, even if I know how they work.) Out of 36 games played, I’m ranking this one at #8. 

How to book this room yourself: Visit https://www.escapethelaboratory.com