Architect Escape Rooms — Attraction in Los Angeles

UPDATE: Back for the second time around and this time we did the Orient Express room! We escaped this room with 15 minutes left to spare. Although most of the puzzle are just basic locks and keys, this room uses some more higher tech puzzles than the Houdini room. With that being said I thought that the difficulty level was about same between both. There are lots of puzzles that keep you moving and thinking the entire time and there is never a dull moment. We did have to use our hints and the GM did a great job of pointing us in the right direction yet not blatantly giving us the answer, which I appreciate. I am also happy to report that the rooms now have countdowns them! Also the staff is still as amazing and friendly as they were last time. They do a great job explaining the rooms backstory, the rules, and ways to get help if you need it. This time we even got to see some magic tricks while we were waiting for our room. If you are looking for an escape room to do that is well themed and well priced, I highly recommend Theme Quest (Now Architect Escape Rooms) ! Can’t wait to go back for the Bonnie and Clyde room!

ORIGINAL POST: Did the Houdini Room (the smallest and most challenging room) and escaped with 1 minute left! It's a fairly low tech room (mostly just spin locks, and keys). The hint system was through walkie talkie and the GM was very attentive and helpful when we were stuck on some of the puzzles. There are no red herrings in this room, which is very useful so that you don't get stuck on something that isn't part of the game. Only negative thing is that there is no countdown in the room so you either have to ask, or just remember the time you started and time yourself on the clock. The staff was very helpful and friendly. We ended up parking outside in the metered parking. I believe it was $1.50 for 1 hour. We will be back for the...

First and foremost, we need to give a BIG shoutout to one of the game masters, Britain. One of the nicest, friendliest, most interactive, and most helpful escape room staff we've ever had the pleasure of working with. She was perfectly splendid. That being said, onto the experience.

For only having ONE location, they have their branding so much more established than any of the escape rooms (except maybe Escape Hotel Hollywood, but we haven't visited that one yet). Key chains, mugs, even jewelry bearing the brand and logo are available in their lobby. As for the rooms, we did the Orient Express and Houdini's Hideout in our first visit.

Orient Express is currently my second favorite room (my current first is Vampire with Maze Rooms which is a very very close match). The theming was beautiful and more than a handful of their puzzles were very unconventional. It was refreshing to play an escape room that doesn't keep rehashing the same tired, old techniques. It's a fantastic medium difficulty game that is pretty linear but exciting.

Houdini's Hideout was much more difficult but very fun. Just a word of warning, certain clues are very well hidden so LOOK EVERYWHERE... and I mean EVERYWHERE!! This game is mostly linear but a handful of clues will require direct solutions without being lead to it.

If there is any advice I can give you, it's this: TRUST your UV light. We are coming back for the other 2 in a few days. Hands down, Architect is one of THE BEST escape rooms...

We recently did the Tesla's Secret room with a larger group of 8. While we enjoyed the experience, I would consider it below the average of escape rooms I've done in the LA area.

Positive: Easy booking process through website. Plenty of street-side (metered) parking nearby. Fun theme with a couple creative puzzles.

Not-so-positive: The game master seemed stressed. We had some delays getting into the room, and the introduction was rattled off. Some of the rules were also (somewhat aggressively) repeated across the verbal intro, room intro video, and signs in the room. Sound from a group in an adjacent escape room kept penetrating the walls, which was both distracting and broke the immersion. The puzzles weren't very well distributed in the available space. We were a larger group and most of us ended up standing on top of each other. Due to some confusing sequencing/layout involving a door, we solved the final part of the room in a way that was not intended.

Overall, enjoyable room with some production quality gaps. It's probably a better room for a smaller group (around 3-4). It was not worth the price per person for our...