La Crosse Escape Room — Attraction in La Crosse

Full disclosure, I manage an escape room in St. Paul, Minnesota that is not affiliated with La Crosse Escape Rooms at all. The following has some details of the puzzles in the room, but no spoilers.

I've played most (if not all) of the rooms that they've ever had there dating back to 2017. Originally I was disappointed by the lack of technology and some of the puzzles were a stretch. But lately I've been pretty impressed with their Prison Break, Deserted Island, and Bootlegger's Pub rooms. In all fairness escape rooms have come a long way since 2017, so it's not surprising that the rooms had worse quality initially. In fact, it shows a quality business to keep improving and evolving!! My 5 Star Rating reflects those improvements.

One of the biggest enjoyments is that the employees here are always energetic and fun. I enjoyed the riddles in the lobby as well.

It's been a bit since I've played Prison Break and Deserted Island, but I only remember great things. Deserted Island is still one I talk about as a favorite room. The set design for that room is phenomenal and very unique (in the best way). The puzzles feel like a perfect complexity. They make you think, struggle, and then have that 'oh duh' moment.

Bootlegger's Pub also had an amazing set design. Everything was extremely authentic. The puzzles in Bootlegger's Pub seemed to disappoint a bit compared to the amazing experiences in Prison Break and Deserted Island, but were still a huge step up from their earlier rooms. My biggest issue was some thematic distractions that walked the line between red herrings and set design authenticity. The surprise way of starting the room out was fun as well. I enjoyed some of the very clever puzzles. It overall was a fun room.

I have edited my original review to reflect some of the really positive communication I've had with the owner. He seemed very receptive to my thoughts and I also found out a couple of my earlier issues with the Bootlegger's Pub were due to unfortunate rare room malfunctions or player error of things my group and I didn't pick up on. :)

If you have to make a choice and can only play one or two rooms, then stick to the Deserted Island or Prison Break rooms, but you should really try to play them all. I am really excited for the new location at the Valley View Mall that they...

We've done a couple of their rooms and the experience was okay. But the other day we were there it was bad. Booked for 945pm, got there 15 mins earlier but nobody was around. 945 and was told the room is not available. Could have called us ahead of time to inform us about it. Good thing we still haven't done the last room, which they still had to set up. We did that instead but was rushed the whole time. They were giving us clues even when we didn't ask, we were out with 30 mins left on our time. Didn't have a great time all in all. (RESPONSE TO THE OWNER: We definitely didn't book the wrong day. We booked Prison Break and when the attendant finally showed up, the group she just helped just got of Serial Killer which we ended up playing. When we asked her why we couldn't play the room we booked, she just said it wasn't available. Maybe because it was late and she didn't want to stay another 75 mins and maybe that's why she rushed us, giving us clues so we can get...

We've now done five different rooms a La Crosse Escape Room, all four of their current rooms plus an older one that is no longer offered. We are very experienced players of escape rooms/games, and found the rooms at La Crosse Escape Rooms to be fun and challenging. I will say that with the four rooms that they currently have, each has their own level of difficulty. If you're new to escape games, you may want to ask them before booking which room would be good for your group. The staff at La Crosse Escape Room are very friendly and helpful, and we appreciated them being flexible in scheduling our group in. We are happy that La Crosse Escape Room went to the business model that when your group books a room that is closes it down so no one else can book with you. We don't mind playing with "strangers," however, we enjoy playing with our small group of experienced players more. Certainly give them a try, you are almost guaranteed...