The Venue
9/10
The Prelude
9/10
The Clues
9/10
The Escape
9/10
The Picture
7/10
The Score
7/10
5280 Ways Out Rating
(+1 for Bonus Lounge)
9
Nuts & Bolts
- Check out difficulty ratings and book a room to match your experience
- Arrive early to find parking
- Great space to hang out before or after escape (and try out the drink custom created for your room)
- Use your free clues
- Ask for picture with your phone
The Summary
Escapology is a well-funded franchise that works hard to provide the same joy for escapes found at much smaller venues. The large number of quality escape rooms will keep you coming back, and the lounge and staff will keep you coming back even after you have escaped all the rooms.
The Details
The Venue
Escapology occupies a rather large space in downtown Denver and currently offers seven (!!!) escape rooms. The steampunk decor within is on point (which is a huge relief for us steampunk fans). Parking can be tough, especially if you’re in a rush to get to your scheduled escape. Arrive early if possible and enjoy the lounge & puzzles.
The Bonus Lounge!
After checking in and filling out your waiver via tablet, you are welcome to wait in Solutions Lounge and Restaurant. The food & drink are worth the visit without an escape room (but who has time for anything but escape rooms??) so this is a great location to arrive early or leave late. It is nicer than we expected to be able to lounge on-site before and after our games. The staff at Solutions have been just as friendly and helpful as the game masters.
The Prelude
You are escorted directly to the room where the game master gives a brief intro to escape rooms then leaves to let you watch the introductory videos.
The first video is the same in every room – this is how an escape room works, don’t break anything, only write on the whiteboard, etc. This is an odd time where the 60 minute timer hasn’t started so you’re not really sure if it’s okay to start searching (even if it’s your 5th escape at this location and are very aware of the rules).
The second video is a well-executed backstory of the room. If you’re here for the experience, pay attention to the story for maximum immersion. Escapology seems to put more than average work into creating a scenario with a believable story and reason for trying to escape.
The Clues
At any time, you can request a clue by pushing a button next to the monitor. A sound (in the theme of the room) is played and a clue is displayed on the monitor. Your team gets three free clues which are displayed on the room’s monitor (which also has the time remaining). Having a visual reminder of how many clues you’ve used so far is super useful. Your brain can be used for more important tasks – like figuring out how the hell to escape.
Seemingly due to the large number of escape rooms (this is one of the only locations where we’re not the only team escaping at any given time) we have experienced receiving clues for puzzles we have already solved. This can be frustrating in a room that doesn’t provide walkie-talkies. However, the clues are typically quick and helpful without being too obvious.
The Escape
If your team can solve all of the puzzles and enter the correct code for the exit door, the door frame flashes green and your game master congratulates you as you exit. If you have not escaped within the 60 minutes your game master enters to commiserate with you.
We had a weird experience once where the door flashed green but there was no game master to meet us and the clock didn’t stop. The monitor continued to display clues but the clues were for a puzzle we had solved and we could not figure out what aspect of the room we had missed. When the game master entered at the end of 60 minutes, everyone figured out that we had successfully escaped during the five minutes that their video feeds had crashed. This wouldn’t have been an issue in a smaller venue, but technology is never 100% and overall they handle being a larger venue well.
The Picture
Escapology has a branded background for all team pictures. The lighting is harsh and unflattering but the props are more fun than the standard “I’m a genius” signs at most locations, including props that match the theme of some of the escape rooms. They snap a photo of you and email a low res copy to anyone that okay-ed it on their waiver. If you want a higher quality pic, you may want to request a quick shot with your own camera.
The Score
If you escape and have a top 100 time, you will be added to the local leader board. In our experience, the times haven’t matched our escape times exactly because of arbitrary rounding but it’s not a huge discrepancy. You cannot provide a team name – your “team name” will automatically be the first name and last initial of someone that signed a waiver for the room.
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