Xcape Adventures — Attraction in Mesquite

So much fun! I already LOVE puzzle "escape" video games and so the types of puzzles here were not entirely new to me. Made it less intimidating for sure! My husband and I went together for a date night; he was pretty intimidated and thought we would fail, but he ended up having a BLAST. We participated with 3 other people (whom we did not know but had also purchased tickets for that room's time slot) and all had fun together. We definitely asked for a hint the few times we got REALLY stuck, but it didn't take the challenge out of the game: the hints were helpful but vague; just enough to nudge us in the right direction.

If you purchase single tickets, you'll likely be paired up with a few strangers, but let me encourage you not to be worried about hesitating on that account! We all had such a lovely time and worked together well. :-) Just do your best to communicate with your teammates, explore the whole room, and arrange clues together as fast as you can. We chose the Captain Scully pirate-themed room and it did not disappoint! There were definitely a few surprises for me!!! :-) The couple who run this joint are SO kind. They told us they have been in the escape room business five years, back when there were only a few dozen in the whole nation--now there are a few dozen in DFW alone! They're business is still going strong and has fantastic reviews on the web. They were lovely people and worthy of more visits from us whenever we can make it out again.

Tip: If you're not confident in your puzzle-solving capabilities, you can practice at home by playing "escape the room" games--there are several good ones you can download in the app store and many websites dedicated to them as well. The practice should help orient your mind to the kinds of puzzles...

1st rule of Xcape Adventures is listen to the staff. 2nd rule of Xcape Adventures, see rule 1. We had a blast this last Saturday night. We had four people and we booked the "Contagious" Room just for us. When we arrived they asked about our experience and suggested we might start with an easier room as only two of us had done an escape room before. Of course we ignored this advice and dove in head first.

The room was a ton of fun. The puzzles and story were very compelling. We were told not to "Beautiful Mind" it, and we should taken that a little more to heart. The clues are there, you just have to calm down and see them for what they are. With our experience and skill set we of course did not get out in time, but we had a blast none the less.

After our defeat, which still felt liker a win from sheer enjoyment, we decided it was still early enough to try our hand at something more in our league. We decided to go for the "Dr. Gene Etics" room. Once again the puzzles and story were super fun. The pace of the room was amazing. Once you build some momentum the puzzles really start to come together quickly. It's amazing how much story they can fit in a small space. We made it out with 35 seconds on the clock and we cheered and hugged and carried on like weirdos. Then we took some commemorative pictures with props.

So in conclusion. Listen closely to the staff. Not only concerning the rooms, but also all of the stuff they tell you before you enter the room. We will definitely be back to try the two other rooms we didn't do. The rooms are great. The staff is AMAZING. I would recommend Xcape Adventures in Mesquite to anyone looking. Now get over there and test yourself. Play smarter not harder, and...

• UPDATE*

Since they decided to answer several years later, I figured I would do the same. Since, this catastrophe, I’ve done multiple additional escape rooms in different areas of the United States. Never have I experienced anything as unprofessional and blatantly disrespectful as this business and it’s owner. Im not going to argue with the owner, I only came back to this post to just reiterate that there are better businesses to support out there.

Hands down the worst escape room expirence so far out of the 3 I have participated in. Let me get started. For starters they lied to us over the phone and said Contagious was one of the easier rooms. Definitely way to challenging for new players but we were already there and decided to go through with it. We participated in Contagious and when we were getting briefed on the setting of the room the Host rushed through and forgot the script. (I thought understandable seeing how many rooms they had.) As we entered the room I instantly realized the room wasn’t properly reassembled correctly from the last players game. So getting started was very tricky. Also, when we asks for hints, the host seemed very short and sarcastic because he wasn’t understanding that the hints he was giving were already completed ... by the staff before we got in the room. I could keep going by mentioning all the broken equipment and inop magnets which made me feel as though our money was COMPLETELY wasted ($136) but I would have to separate this into chapters for a well spoken novel. Then to top things off when we exited the room the staff was nowhere to be found and we didn’t receive out $20 voucher as “promised” over the telephone. Not that I mind that...