Mystery Room

I’ve done other escape the room games before and this was a poor knockoff… do one in the city instead.

It seem disorganized and chaos when we went to register. We, 2 adults, picked the Escape from Alcatraz room and there were only two of us and they paired us with a bunch of 7÷8÷9 yr olds to equal 8 on a room. They should allow a minimum of two people and have an age restriction. There was a sign that kids under the age of 6 yr are free, really. I would have been upset and asked for a refund if we had been paired with kids under the age of 6 regardless if they are accompanied by an adult. We would have had a better time if we were allowed to go in as a group of two. Overall the concept and theme is adequate. (even with a Groupon)

This was not my best escape the room experience, but I would prefer to come back to this location and give it another try before being too critical. My perspective could be entirely based off solving one room (39% success rate); maybe the others are much better!
If you’ve never done any escape games before, this could be a good introduction to them for a fair price (we each paid only $ 14 with a Groupon. regular admission is $ 20). There are also a lot of different options, difficulty levels, and group sizes, which makes it a fun experience overall. This was my friends’ first time doing an escape game and they enjoyed it. I’d definitely come back and give one of the harder rooms a try.
However, if you’ve tried a few before, you might end up being disappointed. The rooms are small and a bit cramped, especially for larger groups. The clues were not extremely sophisticated or multi-​faceted/​layered. The second part is what bothered me more. Rather than there being multiple, interesting clues to solve, there was one very big breakthrough that lead to us to solving the entire room in 13 minutes and breaking the record (I honestly had nothing to do with it, but was with very clever people!). The main problem is that it was too linear, and one big clue solved almost the entire puzzle. Most of the items in the room ended up being just for show– and I was seriously distracted by them while two of my teammates followed one thread of clues all the way to the door’s access code. This could definitely be a problem for bigger groups who would’ve tried the divide and conquer method. Anyway, we were all so stunned when we solved it. it really felt a bit too easy and like we were getting jipped out of some tough puzzle-​solving.
Aside from this, which could be room-​specific, I felt that the quality of the room was lacking. Many of the items in the room were broken or torn or falling apart. The clues and furniture all just seemed very. cheap. The escape games I’ve done in the city arguably cost a lot more money but they just had so much more depth and intrigue, with many more puzzles and types of puzzles to solve, that multiple people could be working on at once and really sink their teeth into.
Finally, I think the manager of this location should make sure to keep up with the demand going forward. The night we were here, it was insanely popular (a Tuesday around 8PM). There were only three very frazzled-​looking teens running the operation and I felt really bad for them.

«Any chance you are at the palisades center mall.»
That was how the text exchange with my sister-​in-​law began and how I ended up at Mystery Room. She was there with a few of my niblings and had a groupon and they could have another person. I was attempting to finish up some Christmas shopping and I don’t get to see them much so I was game to spend sometime with them. I had done an escape room at Comic Con earlier this year, but it was The Black Ops 3 Zombies Escape Room and I was less than enthusiastic about the experience. (That didn’t have anything to do with their production btw, it was more along the line of the other strangers in there with you.)
The mystery room place is a little hard to find because their mall façade is a little unassuming, but it’s on the 3^rd floor between DSW and Bath & Body Works.
You go in and register with the front desk, from there they will assign you a themed mystery room. They give you 45 minutes to try and solve the puzzle (I assume based on the difficulty level).
It wasn’t very busy that day and our group (which consisted of a 40 something, a 30 something, a 13 yo, a 12 yo, and an 8 yo) was assigned the Alcatraz room. According to the website, the ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ «is a Level 1 Escape Room but it is no walk in the park.» It has about a 53% Success Rate. Let me end the suspense now. We are part of the 47%. We were doing quite well until the very end. That’s where we got stuck for about 25 minutes and remained unsuccessful.
Overall the rooms were a LOT less ornate than my first experience, but it was more enjoyable. No menacing zombies, no strangers running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The kids really got into it at first although they didn’t really have a direction and could have cared less about paying attention to the clues. The oldest kid did solve one of the clues himself which was good, but overall I had to guide that age group in the beginning. Once we stopped making progress, they lost interest quickly.
I thought this was fun and definitely something different to do, but be mindful of your group. Depending on ages and interest level your experience will change.
They say they change the room themes periodically so even if you run through all choices, you can still go again soon.
I think the max per room may be 6, but that is the max you would want. We had 5 and it was bordering on being too many people in a small space.

Went there last night with another family, there were 8 of us. Everyone had a blast, kids & adults alike, We did the Alcatraz room which was difficult but not impossible. The staff were very helpful and friendly. Would certainly go again.

My girlfriend and I wanted to do something fun and interesting with this other couple we hang out with.
We figured this would be different.
It was a Saturday night so we could wait a long time for an easy room or wait an hour for a little more difficult room.
We took the difficult room.
The clues were great and pretty hard but if you get stuck you can ask for guidance. Not the answer. Not a clue. But «pushed» in the right direction. (But only if everyone in your party agrees)
We solved the room in 35 minutes.
It was so much fun my girlfriend and I went back a few days later and did an easier room.
Still difficult but the clues again were brilliant.
We got out in 30 minutes.
It’s a great way to have fun. And great to keep your mind sharp.
And different!
I highly recommend it.

I had a good time here with my wife and friends. It was our first time doing a mystery room so I can’t really make any comparisons. We did the Escape From Alcatraz Room which is an easier one but we still had a tough time figuring everything out and barely «escaped» with 90 seconds to spare (each team has 45 minutes to get out but those 45 minutes go fast!) There are a bunch more rooms to choose from at varying levels of difficulty. I would recommend keeping your group 4 or less because then people will be tripping over one another and getting in each others’ ways (room was small). I used a Groupon which was 2 for the price of one. Definitely something different and fun to try.