Unlocked History Escape Rooms — Attraction in Charlottesville

I have generally liked any escape room I have done, but this one was a real stand-out. The hidden room was fantastic, plus the creepy ambiance, the cleverness and variety of the puzzles, and the elaborate details were all great. Really inventive how some of the puzzle solutions were electronically activated. The creativity was over the top. Loved it!

May 21- Update

After the great time we had in The Raven room, we decided to return and have a go in The British Are Coming. Great care and attention to Jeffersonian details in the setting and in the puzzles as well. Really clever how the room physically interacts with you, and how each step is unique and unexpected. The hidden rooms are a real treat. The guides are very enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Another 5 stars!

Dec. 30, 2023 - Update

After 2 excellent experiences, we were absolutely looking forward to an all-new room, and The Allied Spy did not disappoint! What makes this and all of these rooms so unique is the inventive approach not only toward solving the puzzles, but also the variety of ways the locks are activated. You're not simply opening combination and keyed locks (just a few of those), but activating objects electronically in quite unexpected and varied ways. They have really figured out how to apply to a physical space the kind of animated interactions you find in the best escape room...

The experience rooms were amazing! Very cool concept for the Allied Spy theme and the staff person was enthusiastic when giving the background details. That said, we were also told at the start that the staff wants us to succeed. Great, but… I have a few issues. The very first “challenge” was not operating correctly and they kept telling us to pull harder. I was afraid I would rip the item off the wall. Probably better to just replace the piece of hardware. I also didn’t love the in-person interruptions from the facilitator. I think the team should ask for help, not just be given help. Plus she came into the room 2-3 times while we were working through the clues. NOT a true escape room vibe! It used to be that assistance was given over the speaker which was much less intrusive. When a team/family is heads down in the middle of clue finding and deciphering, they don’t want to be stopped mid-thought. We pay a $140 for one hour of fun together as a family hoping to work through our dynamics and smarts to be successful. You should think about changing the “hints” back to previous years when the staff stayed out of the “escape room”! It was still fun but all of us were annoyed which is unusual...

BEST escape room(s) we’ve ever done, and we’ve done a LOT!

What a cute place! First, it’s super convenient with easy parking, which, as a millennial, matters haha.

More importantly, the owner is an engineer, which explains why the rooms are just SO cool! Instead of the mundane escape rooms of endless plain locks and keys, he has really neat features in all the rooms that we’ve never seen before. Without giving spoilers, I’ll just say the Independence room is super fun for beginner/mid level; Raven is better for mid-level folks, and the newest spy room is the hardest of them, but it’s SO fun! We went with a group of 8 of us when we did it, so my husband and I are considering going back with a smaller group to appreciate and understand more of the room that we didn’t personally work on during our first go at it! (I’d say you could re-do all the rooms at least once with different people and have it be just as challenging and fun).

I highly recommend this business, you’ll have a blast!!

(The circled area in the second pic is the store front, just minutes from the...