Gatlin's Escape Room Games — Attraction in Gatlinburg

10 / 28 / 21 - I had recently got into contact with Stephen, the Director of Operations at Gatlin Escape. He had watched our gameplay, checked the two rooms, and spoke with his staff. He wanted to hear our concerns to help better train his game masters to ensure a better experience. He was apologetic, hearing our concerns. He offered to refund our experience and had us come back to try another of their rooms on the house if we ever returned to Gatlinburg.

This was very nice of them, and while I can’t in my conscious give them back the 5-star review I once had given them (see below), I felt like I should at least add a couple of stars back in for his help.

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10 / 27 / 21 - After a great experience last time, I decided to go try another of their rooms for my Birthday with some of my buddies. What follows is one of the most disappointing experiences I have ever had. Keep in mind that we are all experienced players as well as game masters from another city.

Myself and one of my friends arrived a little over 20 minutes prior to our start escape room (We chose the Hyde House at 6pm). We were welcomed by one of the staff members who asked us to wait in the designated waiting area. We did and a few minutes later our 2nd and final friend arrived. We then waited the remaining 15 (ish) minutes without even a single hello or acknowledgment from any of the staff. It was almost as if we were ghosts, like the young Isabella we were hoping to save.

Our game master (who did not get her name) arrived a couple of minutes after our start time. She took us to the room which apparently was left dark. She went and doubled checked the lights. After two attempts they were on and we walked in. She went into her speech for the room before pressing what looked like the start button for the room. Nothing happened. She stopped, doubled check the status of the game, and then returned to press the buttons again. Nothing happened. She led us out of the room and went to fetch maintenance. She returned with what looked like to be the manager who went to check the system. She apologized stating that the room was down but offered for us to do one of the 3 remaining rooms. We were fine with that since we know that sometimes a room does that. Tech is tech and has a mind of its own. It’s not their fault if it goes faulty.

We chose to do the Kraken eye room. The start of the game was probably my favorite part. The rest of the room went downhill from there. Confusing connections. Strange logical leaps which made little if not any sense. And to top it all off- a game master who didn’t seem to care to help us out.

We finished the room. Our game master quickly gave us celebratory stickers and said goodbye to us. Again, no apology was given for anything that occurred. We were barely congratulated and pretty much rushed out of the room. No offers for pictures, which we’re accustomed to. No inquiries if we had any questions about the room. We have ushered out the door we came in and that was it. We had to walk back to the main area (a completely different building) by ourselves and again were ignored by front desk staff. It felt as though we were just an inconvenience overall. Would definitely not recommend this location or their rooms to anyone, severely disappointed. (STARS - 1 / 5)

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2019 - Did these rooms a couple of months back. They are some of the best I have ever done. Great puzzles and use of tech to really make you feel a part of the story. Can not wait to go...

While visiting Gatlinburg, we stumbled across a brochure for this, and we decided to try it out. The first thing that drew us in, was the ability to book the whole room privately for only a small fee, which is greatly appreciated. Other places require you to pay for all spots, so it was refreshing to see this option. We did three rooms: The Haunting of Hyde House, Masters of Magic, and Curse of the Kraken’s Eye.

The first two were the best out of the three and our favorite. The game guides for these two were spectacular, friendly, and interactive with us, going above and beyond just giving us clues. There were nudges in the right direction as well as some well-timed, humorous responses to things we said, that just made it all the more fun. For example, in Haunting of Hyde House, one of our group members said “I guess it’s gonna be me to have to do this” and the game guide said “yes”, because he knew two of the us (one being me) wouldn’t have done that given the spook factor (which was fun, don’t get me wrong). I loved the creepiness of the room, even if I was spooked the entire time. It just added to the experience and I truly enjoyed it. I wish I remembered our game guide’s name to give him credit for making the experience better than previous escape games (the other guide gave us a card with his name on it, so I can give him credit next.)

Masters of Magic was so much fun, so well done, and I loved the clues for it, the logic behind figuring out the puzzles. The game guide here, Brandon, also did an amazing job in making the game feel more immersive and interactive. He was super helpful with giving us nudges in the right direction, and also gave humorous comments and responses, adding to the experience. I loved the story behind this one (and the Haunting of Hyde House as well). Other escape games it’s more about actually escaping the room, but this one had a bit of a twist by giving the players a different goal depending on the room, which I enjoyed.

The final room we did, Curse of the Kraken’s Eye, was a bit more of a letdown. Mostly one puzzle in particular. It felt more as if it were based on ability than logic and reasoning, so it was less of a puzzle while also being more time consuming. That and the game guide (I can’t remember her name) wasn’t as interactive as the other two—which I know isn’t necessarily a requirement or is expected, but it did help with our experience to have that interaction and small nudges to let us know when we were heading in the right direction. When she came in to explain the remainder of the puzzle (we didn’t finish :( ) it kind of felt like there wouldn’t have been enough clues to figure out the puzzles, that and the logic didn’t seem to connect. It was mostly that one spot that we didn’t really care for that felt more time consuming than need be. The other puzzles were fun to figure out. This isn’t to say we didn’t have a good time in this room, we did, just that one part was a bit more disappointing.

Overall though, I would recommend this Escape Games, and I hope to return one day to do the...

We did our first room here earlier in the day and the woman we had as a room keeper was amazing! It was enjoyable enough that we booked a second room for the same day at her recommendation for the new room. It looked amazing and we were so excited!

Came back to a different room keeper and from the start he was half listening and seemed to be rushing. We decided to just shrug it off and enjoy the experience. The puzzles were super great and very physically engaging however, they have a part about halfway that requires you to use crazy shaped tools to move multiple steel cannon balls through boards and a net wall with little ability to move or see. We struggled with it and even hurt myself from struggling to lift the tools, even to the point of me being in tears. It took 20 minutes to do a single spot because of the situation. There could’ve been a pause offered or a helping hand given as we had before in the previous room when we had missing pieces and struggled. But no. Any puzzle help, hints or assistance came with snark and a “seriously you can’t get that” kind of energy.

We ran out of time and didn’t complete the room. I asked my partner to grab my purse from the first room as we made our way back to the start, hoping maybe we could still get pictures. Guy walked into the room and says “do yall wanna see the puzzles you didn’t solve and what the ending was since you didn’t get to it?” And nothing else. I said no thank you and waited to see if more would be said and there wasn’t. We went to leave to which we were followed down the hallway and told “it sucks you guys didn’t like it but just so you know 99% of our customers love our rooms”

We loved the rooms both of them. I truly think it was just the fact that the room keeper was such a vast difference in each one. One being helpful and supportive and welcoming and the other making it awkward and uncomfortable and upsetting. I recommend this place with her as the room keeper but beyond that, hard pass. First visit of the day 100/10 amazing experience, second visit -0/10 is rather eat my own show than experience that again or deal with the physical pain I’m now in afterwards.

Edit: I would love to be in touch with someone about my experience. If I could get a number or name to reach out to I’d appreciate...