Escapology Escape Rooms Dallas - Victory Park — Attraction in Dallas

ROOMS REVIEW I USE THE WORD “ROOM” A LOT. I am a new escape room enthusiast, some of the first couple of rooms that I have done have been at this location. But I do want to compare the rooms for anyone wondering. I am by no means an expert and everyone has their own way of playing. TBH I always have fun with escape rooms, even if there are problems with the rooms or staff so this might be a lax review. I always end up having fun here! Firstly, the staff has always been courteous and helpful. Sometimes, when we asked for clues they were a bit delayed, but I know this is purely a management issue of being understaffed and not an employee issue. Another thing that is my personal preference, when the staff briefed you before you start the room, I wish it was OUTSIDE the room to aid in immersion because I like seeing the room for the first time when the timer starts. But I completely understand the reasons they need to brief us inside the room.

Now the rooms. I have done three. When doing a room, I like when puzzles are satisfying to solve even if it is difficult, room design, and narrative.

SPOILERS 4/5 SCOOBY DOO: I recommend this room! First room I did here, and the second escape room I have done ever. This room is a CLUE-murder type mystery. If you’re like me and bad at piecing evidence together, it might be a little difficult but fun nonetheless. I liked that the puzzles required you to interact with the room versus it being just purely locks and codes. The room design adhered to the scooby doo theme. I like when a room has a bit of back story and a motive as to WHY you need to escape, but since Scooby Doo is a recognizable franchise, there was already a framework so the motive was clear. I did it with my boyfriend so it was just the two of us and there were enough tasks so one of us wasn’t just standing around. We did not escape bc I might be stupid lol but we had fun anyways!

4.5/5 SEVEN DEADLY SINS: I also recommend this room! I think the narrative, and room design complemented each other. There was a clear motive as to why we needed to escape and the room design and props were immersive. Like the Scooby Doo room, I appreciated that the puzzles required you to interact with the environment. I did this with three other people. If there were more, I would feel cramped. My party of four escaped this room!

1/5 BUDAPEST EXPRESS: I do NOT recommend this room. Like Scooby Doo, it is a Clue murder mystery. This is considered one of their more difficult rooms but in my opinion, it is hard for the wrong reasons. The narrative felt lackluster and did not make the motive to solve the room feel actually high stakes. The look and feel of this room were average, I did not feel wowed by it like the other rooms. Also, some of the design was purely decoration even though it took up a significant part of the room and we couldn’t interact with it. This room also lacked a lot of interaction with the room mechanisms, compared to the previous two that I did. The puzzles WERE difficult but felt incredibly unsatisfying and frustrating to solve, so in the end, when we DID escape, it felt anticlimactic. However, I still had fun because I am addicted to escape rooms. I did this room with three other people. SPOILER 1 Escapology has three rooms for every room. The previous two required you to interact with mechanisms in all three. For the third room in Budapest Express, all we did in the third room was look at a code on a wall and never interacted with it again. SPOILER 2 The last “puzzle” requires you to read the evidence that was gathered off of a piece of paper and solve who the murderer was by using a chart to keep track of everything. This meant in the last 10 min, we were just crowded around a piece of paper and no longer interacting with the room. I did not expect to pay a large sum of money just to do puzzles on paper…

In summary, I do recommend Escapology, especially for newcomers, but be careful with which...

Our host was polite, but lacked enthusiasm which at the start worried me about our experience.

And this….

“There are only two of us here, so when you ask for a clue, be patient.”

Timer started. Found one clue on our own. From there, NOTHING. We tried to communicate to the host in the control room but he was not watching our game play. So he had no idea that we were in need of clues. So much time was wasted when he came on the intercom asking if we could hear him.

When clues DID come, it took too long to get them. Can’t really display patience when a timer is ticking.

When we got a clue, they were clues on things we already accomplished, yet halfway accomplished because we lacked a key. Had our host been attentive, he’d know *where we were at in the game, *what we lacked and *how we’ve been trying to obtain it.

Fast forward to the end. Host came in. We explained that we thought something was amiss and a clue or puzzle MIGHT be missing. He started examining the clues and noticed that a key was in fact not available to us - perhaps a past player put it in their pocket and left with it. That does happen.

The host did apologize and say that “I hope it didn’t ruin your experience.” We remained patient in hopes he’d offer something for our ruined experience. It most certainly did ruin our experience. Very much so. We did not ask for any compensation, we were just told that we can go take a photo if we want to.

I hope the creators are reading this review because we love escape rooms and we want to see people succeed. But if you guys do not train your hosts to prevent these things, you will have more disappointed, likely upset players leading to awful reviews.

I guess the takeaway for me would be to ask our host if he checked the room thoroughly to be sure all keys, puzzles and clues were reset properly. But one should not have to do so.

The room was well...

I am completely in love with this place! A great, challenging family outing. My group was able to come in early to look around and the bartender was super helpful and accommodating. There are puzzles and riddles scattered throughout the lobby so there are things to do while you wait. The bar is stocked and a lot of the drinks are $9. I did try the "myx" and it was a smaller 6 ml glass bottle for $9, not worth the price for me, I will try a margarita next time.

When it was our time, the game master brought us to the room and gave instructions and started a background video. My only criticism is that our video kept going out every few seconds and going to a blue screen, so we could not get the whole background but we filled in the gaps ourselves (this could have been a connection error, not a big deal overall for us). We did the 7 Deadly Sins and it is extremely hard (for reference I have did only one room and the rest it was their first time). It did take 30 mins to finish the first room. The screen with the hints is at the first room so you have to keep an eye out for hints because they do go away. We made it to the third room with a literal minute left. The game master that came in the end--I didn't get his name but he had dreads and was helpful. We will come back for sure.

My have a few tips when coming here. Read the email they send you and do the waiver ahead of time. The rooms are dark (as some reviews have said) and even with the flashlights can be hard to see but there is a light switch that you can adjust, so just ask the game master. Come with a group of at least 4, these rooms are HARD and have fun. Even if you don't "win" you can always come try another room. Tuesday and Wednesday it is $15/pp but you will pay a base rate of $60 so you pay for 4 even if there will be...