Time to Escape - Atlanta Escape Room (Downtown) — Attraction in Atlanta

Time to Escape's Downtown location doesn't meet the bare minimum standard of escape room quality. After playing the Launch, I'm relieved that we didn't spend over $400 to play Zeppelin and still have buyer's remorse for the $40/person we spent. More detailed review below.

𝗜𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 It's clear that the Launch was a high-quality, immersive experience in its glory days, but it's unclear how long those lasted. Today, the Launch is absolutely busted. Broken plexiglass, broken knobs and switched, ripped and peeling labels and modge-podge decor, light panels with less than half of the lights working, and an unforgivable amount of torn, folded, and extremely deteriorated paper clues. The game master's assertion of "NASA budget cuts" is a cute narrative to overcome occasional hiccups, but if guests on average encounter something broken every 5 minutes... just fix your !@?#$ room. We appreciated the theatric ending that allowed us to end on a rare high note.

𝗣𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗹𝗲𝘀 The Launch had one puzzle I thought was unique, inventive, and genuinely stress-inducing, and it's the main reason I'm giving ⭐⭐ instead of ⭐. (Thank you, Jack!) That puzzle aside, the room consists of 3 check-the-box tasks that you repeat... over and over. Only a few could be called puzzles.

𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 Time To Escape makes little effort to integrate the game master role into the storyline of the room or even explain the scenario before dumping us into the room. Our game master was also a prick, and not in a fun banter-y way. Despite selecting "Competitive" mode and finishing with over 15 minutes remaining, we received gratuitous (often abrupt and sometimes aggressive) nudges every 5 minutes or so. By contrast, when we REQUESTED a clue, we were met with a smart "What EXACTLY do you want a clue on?" We don't work here, so how about you tell us? Dead giveaway that he wasn't paying attention to...

Abbey was quite possibly one of the best game masters that we have ever had. My husband and I played The Grand Zepplin at the downtown location. From the moment we walked in the door (actually before, since we got lost and had to call) Abbey was extraordinarily nice, professional, upbeat, and had a great attitude. We have only played two or three games with live actors, but she made it exciting from the very beginning. She was engaging, very good at being able to read us as players, and kept in character so well I think it was hard for her to break out of it when the game was over. Because we loved Abbey so much, we played two more rooms at Time to Escape before heading home to Kansas City. Thank goodness we did because The Launch was our last game in Atlanta and Ben made it clear that good game masters are a common thing here! Even though we came for the last booking of the night (10:45pm), Ben was still just as excited to have us there and made it a really good experience. We had a few technical issues during the Launch but Ben was on top of it. While keeping in character, he would immediately let us know if he thought something was wrong and corrected it so we didn't miss out on anything. Game masters who watch that diligently are unfortunately not too common, but Ben handled every curve ball that came up extremely well.

On top of great employees, the rooms themselves were great! Puzzles were unique and fit to the theme, the set design was very good, and the plots flowed very well. I would highly recommend this company to any new player or enthusiast that makes their...

For our son’s 8th birthday, we did the Grand Zeppelin with Andrew. He effortlessly hosted our party of six loud and excited boys and four adults through this adventure. He was very patient with the kids while managing to stay in character. I found the game play to be challenging, but not impossible. The decor and set dressing were well thought out, with multiple layers that helped sell the scene. There were some fun gadgets and unexpected surprises that provided a rewarding payoff. After the Grand Zeppelin, we retired to a party room which the staff had set up for us, complete with tables and tablecloths for both serving and sitting, chairs, balloons, decor, and the necessary trash can. We brought in pizzas, cupcakes, and some other snacks. The kids had fun and we wrapped up and headed out once they started popping all the balloons. My son and his friends enjoyed the room and party. It was a rare kid’s party where the parents can actually participate. The staff took care of all our needs and gracefully accommodated our rowdy crew of second graders. I would recommend this as a kids’ party destination, and I’d like to return without the kids to try...