Escape Oakland — Attraction in Oakland

After playing over 60 rooms around the US, my fiance and I along with a mutual friend paid Escape Oakland a visit to play "The Bunker." After hearing about how the company came under new management. With no experience with their older rooms the three of us walked into Bunker unsure of what to expect.

The Bunker is not going to win any "best looking" or "best narrative" rewards. The story is simple a scientist working on a secret project goes missing and its up to the team of players to investigate what happened. A bunker setting sit in the same area as prisons, classrooms and serial killer hideout where the visual tropes are so ubiquitous that its almost impossible to do something really different has been done before

On the puzzle front all classic escape room tropes are there, 4 digit locks, put objects in places to release automatic locks, find a password.

With that said why did I walk away from Escape Oakland with all smiles? It's because everything was executed very well. If "The Bunker" were a restaurant it would be like that comfy diner that's always open that makes its burgers the way you always like it with no fuss and no mess. The room was rather cozy, everything stayed in tip top condition and we still faced a fair amount of challenge that had us asking for a few hints.

Don't get me wrong there were some great surprises and fun really fun unique moments to be found. In fact I want to take a moment to really praise Escape Oakland for having a room that has a good "bang for your buck" while also having some neat physical elements that got us moving around. What's even more impressive was that they were able to fit all of this in a renovated office building.

If you need a quick fix for your escape room needs or just want to see a great game with some humble beginnings make sure you pay this...

The absolute best escape room setup and game masters! Our small group had a blast and successfully escaped their "Alchemist" challenge. I'd rate it a 6/10 on the difficulty scale – and can't wait to do each and every other room they offer. You'll get a gist of the amazing quality from all the other reviews, so here are some pointers as to what's not mentioned:

When you sign the waiver, you also are prompted for a team name – so think about that in advance! It's literally the only thing I would change about their onboarding experience as if you aren't with your group when signing up (high probability as the person who purchases the time slot gets an email to fill out the waiver in advance) – it doesn't make it clear if you can skip the team name change or just do it later.

Definitely not in the most footrafficked neighborhood – I'd never tell my friends to walk around this area if they were coming to visit Oakland and not go directly to this escape room. It is however directly across from the Oakland Police Department - so we felt super safe being their along with no fear of having our car broken into.

They have lockers where you can store your things... so no worries about any bulky pockets if you're thinking of walking there on a nice summer day.

No cellphones and for good reason of spoiling the experience. Don't forget to turn your watch off though or at least put it...

I have done multiple escape rooms throughout the United states and this one was my least favorite. We have even gone to the franchise in Orlando and had a much better experience. We played The Bunker, at this escape business. The storyline was good and the puzzles challenging which was great.We asked for clues but it took the person running the room over 5 minutes each time to gives us our hints. This in turn decreased our ability to move forward quickly enough. I wouldn't have minded losing if the attendant hadn't wasted at minimum 10 minutes of our 60 minutes waiting for their hints. It appeared there was only one person running all the rooms which most likely affected their ability to keep up with giving the rooms their hints. Generally I have seen no less than 3 staff members running a facility at other escape rooms. This allowed for one to check people in, one to clean up rooms and possibly one to do hints. Most likely the 2 staff cleaning and providing hints would share those responsibilities. Only one staff member doing all those tasks is impossible. I also saw paint cans in the check-in area and unfinished areas which also decreased our first...