FLEE the Ultimate Real Life Room Escape Game, Washington, United States

5Alastair D 5:00 PM May 3, 2017

We had a blast!
9pm on a Saturday night, my family and I headed up the staircase in a very old building. The guide actually explained very little before the five of us were locked in a darkened control room. The doors were locked--some with multiple locks, and there were strange clues and objects scattered around the room. A countdown clock set to 60 minutes was hard to ignore. We removed the locks and broke into the adjoining rooms, where there were more clues and more locks. I had to use the walkie-talkie to ask for hints, and we solved a number of puzzles, but we were still locked in when the time ran out. Everyone had a great time--my grown children solved puzzles as well as (or better than) the older folks. I want to go back!

5Kendra H 5:00 PM Jan 20, 2017

Just like you'd expect, and we had a good time with kids
My 7th grader went once before ("Fantasy Wonderland") and had so much fun he begged to go back. This time we had two adults, two 7th graders, and one 5th grader (10 years old, the minimum age allowed). We had an absolute blast from start to finish ("Prison Break"). The staff was incredibly helpful, and the puzzles were perfectly balanced - there were some the kids got, some the adults got, some that were easy, and some that stumped us. We genuinely can't wait to go back again and we want to bring all our friends. Some tips I'd give people: 1) Enjoy the story and ambiance of the game too; 2) It's easy to over-think things; 3) You can miss stuff if you're shouting over each other, so try not to (it's really hard); 4) Don't waste a lot of time stumped on one thing. We didn't regret calling in our hints. I think this is an excellent activity for a mix of adults and older kids. The kids think outside the box well, and will often climb onto or poke at something the adults would've overlooked, while the adults are usually far more apt at slowing down long enough to think something through or remember something from earlier. One lovely surprise was how much the staff was willing to talk about the games in general, how nice they were to the kids, and the amount they were pulling for you to solve the puzzles. The location is tiny, and the "production value" is on par with nice stage props (the prison bars were really metal, and felt substantial). It's not a huge place, and it's not fancy, but it is a ton of fun. Another note - I've heard that the Dream Catchers room is a little creepy, but I can vouch that neither Prison Break nor Fantasy Wonderland are frightening. There's not a chained-up monster or other spooky thing in the room with you, like you might have seen on TV. It's much more puzzle than scare. I wanted to make sure people knew that, because that's what made us hesitate to go the first time. You're on your own in the room. It's introvert-friendly (well, introvert-who-can-get-together-three-other-introverts). Final note: from our experience, five was a really nice number. I think six might be even better, but I have a hunch that eight would be a bit much.