The Ruse Escape Rooms — Attraction in Grand Rapids

Five of us completed the outdoor escape in hot, sticky weather but truly enjoyed ourselves. Exercise, sun, hanging with friends, seeing the city, finding clues: what more can you ask for? Pedestrians asked us what we were doing because it looks so fun. You definitely stand out because you're inspecting buildings while holding a map, journal, tiles and knapsack.

It was pretty windy, so I was eating my hair when we arrived. I didn't have a hair tie because I purposely left my purse at home. Our host let me borrow his personal hairband right from his own head! Come on, that is topnotch service and his boss should buy him a drink. Make that two.

For the outdoor challenge, wear comfy shoes, bring sunglasses and a water bottle, and look at the weather report before you schedule a time. I wouldn't want to do this in heavy rain because you need clear views of the city, and you don't want to be holding an umbrella while reading maps and clues.

It took us 2.5 hours with no breaks. We wanted to do it right without hints so it probably took us longer than most. We were glad the hints were there, though, because otherwise you could go way off course if you're not a seasoned escape artist. Do not do the outdoor challenge as your first escape room ever! Some of the clues were a little obscure (we thought one tile clue was a money bag, but it wasn't). Our host was very receptive to our suggestions afterward.

We will definitely be back and would totally beta test new rooms! The only other advice I have is that I would reconsider the Simple Booth group photo app. Four separate group photos would be preferable to one collage of four photos, if that makes sense, because you'd get better detail. I would recommend just having the host take a couple group photos with one of the guests' phones, and then that guest can send it to the rest...

I was just visiting Grand Rapids and randomly drove by the Ruse, when I found out they have an outdoor escape room, I was sold: I can explore Grand Rapids without having an itinerary and play puzzle/problem solving at the same time. Highly recommend to anyone who is visiting Grand Rapids for a day trip. I think this escape room should be included in TripAdvisor's Grand Rapids' Top 10 things to do list. Such a gem and such a unique experience.

I have done about 20 escape rooms, mostly in the Bay Area so I have a decent standard to my escape room. The Ruse's puzzles are very clever and up to par with the world-ranked Palace of the Arts escape room puzzle in San Francisco. Their puzzles are fair and I love how they incorporate the environment (everything in Grand Rapids) into their puzzles which makes it not only fun, brain-teasing but also educational (to tourists) at the same time.

Since the Outdoor escape room is new, there are a few mistakes in their puzzle props that we had pointed out to them. I think for anyone who are interested in the Outdoor escape room, make sure you ask them in advance what are the mistakes on their clue items so you don't waste too much time on them like we did. I also hope they read this and would tell people on advance (I was told they are ordering new props to correct all these mistakes so this is only temporary). That said, it's still a very thought-out and well-designed escape room.

+1 for the interior design of the lounging area. Never been to an escape room this stylish in my life! Makes it more enjoyable to walk...

Edit as of (6/2/21): Bill, the owner of the establishment promptly emailed hours after the below occurrence. He's offered to help remediate the situation. We will be returning with the same group (+2 new people) sometime this weekend. I will update the review again with how the second room went.

AMAZING customer service support though!! Good for them!

Went today (5/22/21) at 6pm. Hosted by Solomon. The room malfunctioned with 15:00 minutes on the clock. The host just kept giving us the same clues. We ran out of time, Solomon came in, tried the puzzle himself with the same answer we already had, and it didn’t work at all.

He just said sorry and said this doesn’t happen often. He asked if we wanted to finish and we said yes. He said something like “well... it’s not even that much left anyways... the key drops down and there’s a message that plays on the screen.” He revealed the end! Then we asked even though it’s not much if we could still finish. He said “no, I can’t actually let you finish, I’d have to take apart the whole machine to fix it.” Then why offer to let us finish??

He didn’t even offer any coupons or reimbursement for not providing a working room to complete. For $30/person, to not have a working room to complete is absurd.

Overall, the story was good and the room was fine beforehand. Would’ve finished the Inventors Room with 4 people and plenty of time to spare. Nice...