Breakout Games — Attraction in Columbia

We came to celebrate my best friends birthday and Breakout far and above exceeded our expectations! We made our reservation for Mystic Manor. We tried our best but ultimate were two locks away from the end when our timer ran out! We were stubborn and did not ask for many hints, but were all feeling super motivated and when our incredible Game Master, Brooklyn, offered a discount to book another room to give it another shot, we happily took her up on the offer. Brooklyn, and all of the wonderful other Game Masters (shout out specifically to the kind young women at the front desk's whose name I did not quite catch) quickly set up and made arrangements for us to do Kidnapping 2 last minute. They did not say this and were very polite, but we could tell they had to pull strings to have us in this room. We cannot emphasize how grateful we are they did! In the next room, I had a lot of anxiety as it starts in complete darkness and some of the plot is dark! But they were so understanding and I had no problem stepping out when I needed a minute and our Game Master was even willing to help advise me on jump scares. On the second room, we advocated more for ourselves to get the guidance we needed (I think we ended up needing ~4ish hints?) and were able to break out of this one.

If you are like me and worried about being anxious, I would say the kidnapping ones may not be the best fit for you! That being said, the kidnapping one was super well done, with the puzzles being tricky but easy to execute and well sequenced. The ambiance of Mystery Manor was amazing, but the clues blurred a bit and you sometimes had to try the same code in a few places. And warning- there is a jump scare in Mystery Manor! If you are sensitive to it, I am sure the Game Master could probably help clue you in a bit. But there is no live actors in the rooms if that helps ease any anxiety.

Overall, an incredible experience. We live about 2 hours away and will be back again to try some of the...

I preface this review by saying we did not solve the puzzle, nor do I think we would’ve solved the puzzle if the problems we had did not occur, but the problems on top of the poor attitude of the manager definitely make me shy away from coming back.

The two main problems we had: The room we had was dark and our very first puzzle of the room involved something that really required strong vision. Both my fiance and I wear contact lenses and our prescriptions were not strong enough to read something that was far away, blurry, and the size of the bottom row of an eye test.

The second problem: At the start of the game, the game master told us that anything marked with a “B” was out of play. Long story short, a final significant clue in the whole puzzle was within an item marked “B.” Again, I don’t think it affected the rate we solved our clues and we still probably would’ve failed, but very misleading on their part.

The manager who runs the place was not a happy guy and may want to rethink a career choice in customer service. But he did offer to refund my money when I explained the issue with the “B” so as not to mislead the next group of guests. I never intended to get a refund but his cold, irritated demeanor from the moment we arrived made me accept his offer. I look forward to trying another escape room elsewhere.

Pro Tip: Be sure to clarify with the game master the difference between items that are “out of play” and items that “should not be touched.” It may make a...

I really wanted to like this escape experience but it was okay at best. I booked the Kidnapping 2 room for someone’s birthday. This isn’t my first rodeo as I’ve been to at least five different escape rooms. My discontent stems mostly from the game master and the initial clues in the room. For starters, the game master had absolutely no enthusiasm. I can deal with that but coupled with the fact that we had to call out multiple times to get a single clue, not happy. I’m unsure if he wasn’t paying attention or what but a few times we gave up trying to ask for a clue because he wouldn’t respond. Additionally, he made no effort at the end of the game to explain the puzzles we didn’t solve although I heard the master doing so for the room next to us. He didn’t even offer. I thought was odd because in every escape room that I haven’t broken out of, they normally automatically just tell you what you missed. Also, although I didn’t see it, someone in my party (the one whose birthday it was) said that he was on his phone multiple times immediately after giving us instructions and right after he took our photo at the end. Can you just pretend to be engaged? Also, I didn’t love the room. I know it’s new but I think the initial clues need to be a bit easier to find considering you’re in the dark. One of the places you had to look, in the dark, just seemed a little far fetched to me. Lastly, I’d recommend adding the difficulty level to games assuming they aren’t all...