Escapology Escape Rooms — Attraction in Montgomery

Ahhh… where it all began.

On Fat Tuesday, 13 February 2018, then plain old Julie and Chris were having dinner. We were seated next to a window and across the street was a big sign reading “ESCAPOLOGY.” Escape Rooms! I (Julie) had done one for my bachelorette party and had a blast. Our group actually broke a record, so I pretty much never stop talking about it. Because of this, Chris was eager to try one. So, despite our fancy dinner attire, we walked across the street and The Escape Couple was born.

What a place to start with–Escapology sets the bar HIGH. First of all, they have a stellar location in downtown Montgomery with plenty of nearby parking and an array of bars and restaurants for your post escape room debriefs. But when it comes to first impressions, no one beats Escapology’s lobby. It’s like stepping into the lounge of a luxurious Steampunk mansion, which made me immediately love this place. There are gadgets and puzzles and plenty of comfortable places to sit. Oh, and if you come on a weekend evening, you will be entertained by Arcane the Magician! Seriously, no one handles this first touch point better than Escapology.

And oh, the staff. How we love the staff here. We visited Escapology eight times and we never had a negative customer service experience. The entire staff, from our buddy Arcane to Miles the General Manager, is professional, friendly, and extremely enthusiastic about escape rooms. Our personal favorite staff members are Alex and Tyler, but once again, everyone is great. Escapology handles walk-ins very well and will do everything they can to work with you on your group size and room preferences.

Escapology has six rooms, three of which we did twice. We did some of their rooms with a group, so we wanted to come back and get the full room experience with us. Because of the number of rooms, we won’t go into too many specifics by room, but here are some of the high points:

While we occasionally took issue with puzzles (it’s backwards because it’s a backwards country…uh, no), overall the puzzle design is very strong throughout despite each room being very different. There are no patterns that you will pick up on that will make your next room easier, and that’s actually great, providing for six unique experiences.

Production value is very, very high throughout as well. Every room is completely immersive, including antique furniture (where appropriate) and extremely realistic, high-quality props. There are places that wow you because of high-tech gadgetry, but Escapology wows you on the sheer level of thought that has gone into every detail of every room.

We don’t talk about this often, but we also love the room intros at Escapology. You go into a small dark room and a fabulous, high-quality video walks you through the rules and plot of the room. These narratives are also playing on speaker in the bathrooms, which is a nice touch.

Every room at Escapology is family friendly and all are very accessible to those with physical limitations (still chat with the business to make sure before booking). Each room is doable for two people, especially if you are experienced. While the staff will tell you slightly differently, we feel that Budapest Express and Arizona Shootout are their hardest rooms, with the The C0D3 serving as their easiest room. Of course, everyone thinks differently so it’s hard to say. What we can say is that we found every room challenging yet logical and therefore, solvable. We could name a favorite room if we had to, but the reality is that we love them all and think you will too.

We have moved on to DC, but we loved having Escapology as our first home base while we lived in Montgomery. We look forward to visiting in the future to see what additional rooms they come up with. Thank you to the staff for always being amazing and providing us with such stellar entertainment. While this was our first experience, almost 70 rooms and five states later, its still one of our favorites.

The...

I consider myself somewhat of a semi-pro with lots of rooms under my belt, so I know that escape rooms are all a little quirky and are prone to issues. We tackled the Murder Mystery with two people for context below.

It was really simply to get a reservation, and the online waiver process was straightforward. Took us no time to get to the room and start playing.

Pros: Props and design were pretty fun. We got a laugh out of some of the keys. Staff hints did help and eventually became intuitive as they monitored us to know when we would want one. Variety of puzzles and mechanics was great. It's not just a bunch of padlocks.

Cons This room is apparently the first that was built for the business. Some of the puzzles and switches can show some age. After a solution, what "popped" wasn't immediately apparent, and we had to be prompted on what to look at. We were pretty confident with our math skills, but a number we needed didn't quite add up to us. We were very close but didn't see an error. A hint kept us on track to move past it. Portions of the room, especially when colors start to matter, aren't very well-lit.

Overall, I would go back to try another and think 3 people would be a nice team size, so you get a variety on brainpower, but no one is bumping into anyone. The price may seem high but I wouldn't say it's drastically different than any other place, considering you are getting the room to yourself when you book (no randoms).

Thanks...

Interesting. I had no idea that anything like this existed in Alabama (until today). Met up with a friend here and we did the "COD3" story - which involved finding clues to stop a [fictional] hacker from releasing sensitive material to the public... Within an hour. No videos or photos are allowed to be taken during the event, but once the timer runs out, or you've solved the "puzzle", you can take group pictures in the designated area. There, they have a few props and costumes that players can wear (for the picture, anyways... You obviously can't take them home). It "forces" people to work together in order to find a solution. As for the building and area: It's a really nice, clean area in downtown Montgomery... Honestly pretty romantic. There's a few different food choices and upper class bars within walking distance, so it's perfect for dates! Free parking is available in a parking deck only a couple blocks away. The building itself is really modern and cozy with interesting architecture and plenty of seating available in the lobby (so you can sit comfortably while waiting on other teams to arrive). The staff seemed nice and coordinated. I'll probably go again. Definitely an interesting and...