Whole Brain Escape — Attraction in Apex

Went with my boyfriend for a date night. We chose the Escape from the ‘80s room. Some knowledge of ‘80s pop culture is helpful, especially movies and music, but not strictly required to escape the room. There are cameras in the room so the game master can view your progress to help, but you have to speak into a walkie-talkie to actually request hints.

We didn’t need any hints until well into the game, and it’s possible we wouldn’t have needed any except for issue #2 below.

Overall we had a good experience, but I’m taking a star off for the following reasons: We discovered at the beginning of the game that one of the locks had been left unlocked, so we didn’t need to solve the accompanying puzzle. This was a minor detail, but in escape rooms minor details are so frequently important that we were a bit surprised this one was missed. The game master who reset our room prior to our game accidentally put a particular lock on the wrong box. This led to the loss of at least five minutes as we tried to figure out why we were unable to unlock the box despite successfully solving the puzzle. Eventually the owner came in and confirmed that the box had the wrong lock and we had the correct solution. He apologized profusely and added five additional minutes to our time to make up for the error, which we appreciated, but it definitely interrupted the game flow. Most of the puzzles ended in unlocking a lock of some kind, whether on a drawer or a box. There were even a couple of superfluous locks that had no bearing on the ultimate goal of finding the time machine and escaping. Even though there were several types of locks, including one type we had never seen before, this eventually became repetitive and a bit monotonous. For example, there were no places where putting a prop in a certain spot triggered another mechanism, such as the opening of a box or a door. This was the first time we tried a room with a theme based on a specific time period rather than a place, and there were limitations we hadn’t thought of. For example, some of the locks could have been switched out with a touch-screen code in a different experience, but since those didn’t exist in the ‘80s, such a tool would have been an anachronism in this one. In addition, it didn’t really feel like we were actually in the ‘80s, though the owners tried to make the experience immersive with cheetah and zebra print wallpaper and posters of ‘80s bands. In contrast, the Trapped in a Jungle rooms at Game On Escapes had such heavily customized sets that it genuinely felt like being in a jungle (and later the cockpit of a plane).

Ultimately we still had a good time despite these issues, and I’m especially interested in the books they’ve published that take you on real-life scavenger hunts in Cary and Apex. Those are local touches I haven’t seen elsewhere, and I’m looking forward to going back for those and the other...

Game-room: We did the "Bustin out of the 80s" room. There were multiple types of locks, i mean seriously...all kinds of locks I never knew existed haha (a good thing, as they aren't all the same thing). All of the puzzles were unique from each other and were satisfying to solve in fun ways. Without getting too detailed for spoilers, the puzzles are not all limited to just reading and thinking; there are some "interaction" based ones too which were my favorite. None of the puzzles seemed "unfair" in any way. The variety of puzzles definitely leads to all members of the group being able to contribute as they required different perspectives/types of thinking. They also provide flexible ways of playing based on your preference, which is a nice option depending on if you prefer no hints, or if your ultimate goal is to escape at all costs they will guide as needed while still letting you take the lead. (For reference, I've done ~4 escape rooms prior to this at other locations, and this was my favorite)

Staff: The staff were extremely friendly and helpful when calling to find out information about the rooms/experiences. They were in-depth and explained the various levels of difficulty and gave a recommendation based on what I was looking for. Rafael went the extra mile in helping me arrange a proposal, which went as smoothly as possible due to his help!

Summary: The room we did was awesome, staff were all friendly and helpful. Definitely grabbing more friends to come back and try the...

Staff was unpleasant and rushed to start and get out of the room upon completion. Would not recommend this establishment for escape rooms and will not be visiting again. We had a start time of 4pm and we arrived 15 mins prior to our start time as their site stated. Staff did say hello upon arrival then quickly asked if we completed the release form online. Before the word no was released from our lips they said to scan the QR code and complete the form. Then they said turn around and read the rules. They said follow us and read the beginning of the game. No asking if we had questions or wanted to use the bathroom prior to beginning and started our time immediately at 350. Out of the various escape rooms throughout NC that I have done, this was by far the least enjoyable. Additionally the amount of effort put into each of the rooms leave little to be desired. An escape room here is comparable to your partner putting various pad locks around your house and calling it an escape room, especially if your planning a $96.00 date night in this economy. Spend your money elsewhere if you’re wanting to have a...