Cross Roads Escape Games- Escape Room — Attraction in Anaheim

The Hex Room room had been on my to-do list for a while now so last night my group of 6 went in to see if we could escape it: We did! We escaped and survived!

Team Dynamics: Two players with 40+ rooms, Two players with 15+ rooms, One with 5 rooms, and one who had only done one room before.

Location: The building was easy to find and there was tons of parking in the private parking lot.

Staff: We were immediately welcomed by 3 smiling and friendly employees who greeted us, handed us waivers and character questionnaires. Be honest when you are filling these out as this is what they use to pick your characters. Don't lie and say you aren't claustrophobic because if you do, you may find yourself in a tight space! After filling the forms out we locked our personal items away in the provided lockers and were guided into the briefing room.

Briefing: There we were shown and well produced video of the room rules. It wasn't your typical "Don't break things...2 finger rule" type of video. This was an in character video which gave you some storyline and also explained the rules and clue system for the room. Our Game Master, Mykie then announced to us which character roles we would be playing as. I was given, the detective.

Clue System: Hints are given at the Game Master's discretion and must be relayed by the Detective to the needed rooms. I enjoyed this because unlike other escape rooms there is no hint limit, so if you come with someone who is completely new to escape rooms the GM will be able to give hints to help them and it won't cost the team one of their hints.

Room Design: (It's not a spoiler since it on the website) Everyone starts out in the own room, separate from the others. The Detective is in the middle and is capable of "interacting" with each separate room. Be sure that you have a quick and capable detective because they will need to understand what everyone has in their rooms and what they need, if anything, from the others. The rooms that I got to see were all elaborately themed, lighted well, and had there own sound system to set the mood for the room. There is a timer in the main room so for those of you that need to know how much time you have (like me), they've got you covered!

Puzzles: The puzzles that I had in the detective room were not super difficult but that could be because I have 40+ room experience. From what I could tell by discussing with my other teammates, their puzzle were not extremely difficult either. That being said though all of the puzzles were entertaining and immersive. Nothing felt out of place or like it was just thrown in as filler, it all made sense.

Hex Boxes: Each character has their own Hex Box which holds your key to survival in it. It's an optional box to open but it if you have the time to solve it, I recommend doing so. There was a point where I finished everything from my room and each of the characters were working on their own rooms so I just sat on the floor and solved it. We did get to a point where some of our group was solving of characters boxes, so don't worry if you can't figure it out because maybe someone else in your group can!

Ending: We escaped with 37 seconds remaining because we didn't want to leave one our hex boxes unopened. If we didn't try solving it we would have been out with about 7 minutes left, but we wanted the extra challenge.

Overall: Fantastic room, and I recommend it for both beginners and enthusiasts! The decor, theming, immersion, and set up make this room stand out for the others. I am so glad that we made the trip down to try out The Hex Room because it was well worth it!

I hope one day my group can go back and try the Fun House and the room they are currently working on,...

I am an escape room enthusiast, which makes the fact that I finally had enough players to attempt a game as famous as The Hex Room an incredibly exciting opportunity. Not only did the game live up to expectations, but I also left the facility with one of the strongest experiences with incredible, involved game-mastering and customer service I have ever had. Olivia and Molly (The Weeping Witch and The Hex Room, respectively) were genuinely some of the kindest, most enthusiastic individuals I've interacted with - in such a genuine way. From getting hints and jokes in The Weeping Witch (with a very careful consideration for the mood of every individual) to Molly entering the room to help one of the first-time players in the group with a lock (as well as many other helpful hints), I really appreciated how they both were considerate of the quality of everyone's experience. I've been to many companies where hints or engagement are not properly balanced for the team's needs - this can make even excellent experiences disappointing. I genuinely respected how well both of our game masters balanced things perfectly, and our post-game discussion was similarly sweet and affirming to me as an autistic individual as well as others in the group who Olivia made sure felt comfortable with aspects of The Hex Room. This isn't even discussing the absolutely cinematic experiences Cross Roads have designed. The Weeping Witch feels like a perfect blend of a haunted house, escape room, and theater piece, especially during several particularly intense sequences. The Hex Room's split team dynamic made everyone feel like a hero in their own way, and created a powerful internal narrative from our interactions. The set design, game design, and narratives all felt pulled straight from a classic, fun horror movie - scary, but also funny, adventurous, and mysterious. I particularly wanted to highlight our game-masters because I think it's rare for me (as someone who struggles with social interaction) to feel so at ease in certain escape room situations, in spite of my love for them. I've seen countless examples of both poor design and poor game mastering ruin interesting creative decisions, especially split team elements or more playful game mastering. To have individuals (and designers!) who can execute and maintain such elements seamlessly is rare, and from what I understand, this isn't just limited to Olivia and Molly. It sounds like the company has created a satisfying work culture built on acceptance, fun, and community - even the individual (who I unfortunately did get the name of) who checked us in was just as inviting and polite as our two game masters. I can 100% recommend Cross Roads, not just as an excellent escape room experience, but as a wonderful, opened minded place that extended a lot of really reassuring respect and kindness...

My group and I did the hex it was an awesome experience. I would say I’m better then average at escape rooms since I’ve been doing it for a couple years. This is how I would rate the aspects of this room.

Pre game: 5/5, Before you start the game you are given a questionnaire that will basically decide your role in this escape room. This is really important because it will dictate what room you start in since this escape room is divided into 5 separate rooms and one main one in the middle. I was given the role of prom queen and I had a great time in my room and won’t get into specifics to save spoilers but just know there’s at least one surprise in each room.

Puzzles: 4/5, The main puzzles themselves were honestly pretty easy for my group but fun. Where the real challenge lies in my opinion is in the hex codes which is a puzzle given to each player. These puzzles are completely optional but I recommend your group gives it a try as it’ll feel very rewarding to complete them. I would go in to deeper thoughts on my puzzles but I don’t want to spoil anything so just make sure not to overthink and communicate with your team.

Immersion/Game Master: 5/5, This is where this escape room shines. Since you are taking different roles based on horror movie characters each character has their own room and my god the theming is amazing. I went out of my way to try and get a good look at every room just because of how cool it was. The only way you can get hints is through a phone in the main room from your game master. We had the pleasure of having David as our game master and he was fantastic. When it would be time for a hint David always gave great tips that lead us on the right direction without giving away the puzzle. This room only works as well as it does thanks to him.

Overall 4.5/5, This is tied for the best escape room I’ve done so far thanks to the whole team including David once again. If you are in the area I can’t recommend this place enough and will be back soon to try their...