The Escape Game NYC (Midtown Manhattan) — Attraction in New York

Took my 3 kids (2 teens and a tween) on a Friday afternoon in the summer. We booked it about 90 minutes ahead of time, and there were still a lot of room options and times to choose from. We did Gold Rush and had a lot of fun. We escaped with about 45 seconds to spare.

Pros:

Fun room (3 sub-rooms inside, each one had to be unlocked before progressing to the next). Lots of varied activities to complete which kept most of engaged most of the time.

Hints, while unlimited, were posted on a screen once requested, rather than having a conversation with the game master. The hints were a little cryptic, but helpful enough to keep us going. I was not used to this style of hint but I think it kept the game more challenging as opposed to a game master just telling you what to do next. Though in one case when we had been struggling for 10 minutes on one activity, the hint was solely a 4-digit number which was the code to the remaining lock in that sub-room, which was very helpful all things considered.

Great location, about 5 minute walk from Grand Central.

Pricing for this room was $47pp ($205 all-in for the 4 of us). More than our non-NYC escape room experiences but fairly reasonable pricing for midtown Manhattan.

Many room options and time slots to choose from, even on same-day bookings

Cons:

Many of the rooms allow 8-12 people, so booking a group of 4 allows another group to be booked with you. The other 4 people in our room were friendly and we all ended up working together well, but some people may not like being assigned random strangers to do...

Our experience here was great! My husband and I booked early online with our Sightseeing Pass, and ended up doing our Prison Break room with another couple instead of the several people we were expecting. It was honestly SUCH a fun experience. The setting was cool, the items and clues were good, the knowledge they expected us to have was exactly reasonable, and it wasn't too scary or spooky. No jump scares or that type of thing. I also noticed all of their items were in fine working order so as not to be distracting, and the hints were reasonable without giving everything away. We did make it out, but with enough struggle that it felt like a real accomplishment. I'm a fan!

The escape we did wasn't particularly accessible, but we didn't have special accessibility needs. The staff was also incredibly kind, so I feel confident they would make every effort to accommodate specific needs in some way if you made them aware in advance.

Also, side note that right now there's construction on the street, and scaffolding almost entirely obscures the sign above the door here. We walked right past it and were almost too late for our time slot!

Over all, our experience here was fantastic. If we were local, we'd...

I recently played The Depths at The Escape Game NYC with a group of four, and while the room itself was well-designed and immersive, I found the experience challenging due to the shared format. With eight people in the room, it felt overcrowded — I struggled to participate meaningfully and often found myself stepping back so others could engage. While everyone in the group was perfectly nice, the physical space just didn’t feel suited for that many players. In my opinion, the room would be much more enjoyable with a group of five or fewer.

That said, I want to highlight how responsive and professional the team at The Escape Game has been. Alec, the General Manager, personally reached out after my review to offer a full refund and even invited us back for a private game — which I declined, as the refund already felt more than generous. His response was sincere, thoughtful, and showed a true commitment to creating great experiences for guests.

While the shared format isn’t for me, I truly appreciate the way the team handled my feedback. If you’re booking, just be sure to double-check whether you’re joining a private or shared game so you know...