The Escape Key — Attraction in Provo

Loved the experience. This is in the upstairs of an older office building across from the 7-11 on University ave and by the library. Great location. They have converted multiple offices into escape rooms. I think they have 3 available. We did the CSI one. I really liked it as did my wife. We've done 5 now and have gotten out of all them except one that they misdirected us on because our group was getting out way too fast according to the facilitator... We also had done the Alcatraz Chernobyl room in Lindon earlier today. This was way better. The clues were engaging. The process and tools used to find clues and solve puzzles was new to us and done in a way that continually engaged us. They use a TV with text prompts which was great. The beginning went too fast. I had a hard time reading all the words before the screen switched to new text. I loved the use of cell phones in the room however it's not clear that you can AND SHOULD use them in this room. In the end, I found it clever and well priced. They even started us out at 10pm on a Wednesday when most other places are already closed. We'll be back for the other two rooms. We'll bring friends too :D

Update: We went back and did the Infiltrated room with two of our friends. We had a group 4 in total. This is one of the best escape rooms we've ever done. The clues were great. The logic required was great. They have some fantastic new ideas for how to give you more information. Again, I love the use of the TV to deliver news/notes/hints as needed because communication over speakers is often a terrible experience unless it is "part" of the experience and bad audio is on purpose. Seriously, one of the most creatively done rooms I have ever seen and they followed the story line that created which was awesome. I thought they invested a good amount of money and time into the props, puzzles, and feel of that room. We've done 2 rooms in Mystery Escape, 1 in Get out games, 1 in Alcatraz and 2 in Escape key and this one was the best. I would recommend 3-4 people for this room if you have solid players. 4 helped us but sometimes (rarely) we got in each others way. I can't imagine doing this with more than 4 unless someone literally just sat for most of it. This is a must complete room for escape room lovers. We'll be back soon to complete the Lair of Lunacy room.

(As a side note to the owners, please make sure your team cleans the room and resets all clues properly. We would have fully completed the room and not only escaped but completed all objectives if someone had not written something on one of the clues that confused us. Our fault for taking it as truth really, but it threw off the room for us in finding the...

I have been to dozens of escape rooms, so I generally know the drill. I’ll try to be as specific as I can without giving any spoilers!

First, it’s difficult to find the place. I didn’t see any signs from University Ave where we parked, and we wandered about for a few minutes before we called and they directed us to a side alley. Please get a bigger sign!!

Second, this was a tiny room that only had one tiny closet that opened to make it bigger (which was obvious from the beginning). Our team of six was pretty cramped in there, I can’t imagine a team of eight. I kept expecting other rooms to open up, but no.

Third, the staff was courteous and kind, but I think we got a new guy. We were doing a room that was a spy’s office. When I asked him if the room was the missing spy’s office, he was confused and said he didn’t think so, but the briefing video immediately after he left said it was. It seemed obvious fairly quickly that he had never done the room we were in. The camera was only visual for him and didn’t seem to have audio, which made it hard for the guy over our room to monitor us (or he wasn’t paying attention, I’m not sure). He repeatedly gave us clues to find items or solve puzzles that we’d already uncovered, causing us to be confused and go back over info we already had.

Fourth, the props were so dirty and used that it was absolutely disgusting at times. I’m not fastidious, really…but the layer of grime and grease that made the white coffee cups in the office dark gray in most places was just gross. The puzzle they were using was literally falling apart it was so worn, the image they’d glued to it was peeling off so badly it was difficult to use. The envelopes we found were also falling apart. At one point a puzzle we had just started on fell apart and gave us the key. It wouldn’t take too much money or time to replace these elements or clean them. It made it more difficult in most places, but not in a fun way.

Lastly, the room’s main puzzle is a logic puzzle that requires process of elimination. Because one or two of the clues were worded vaguely, we were stuck on figuring out the last main clue for a long time (10 min) until time ran out. This could definitely be our fault, but I’ve done dozens of escape rooms in record time and never had this problem. They just needed to have some more specific wording for the logic puzzle.

Overall I was extremely underwhelmed with this room. I assume the price point is pretty low - I think they have to bump it up a few dollars and make some improvements, or have the staff work on renewing and cleaning props when they...

Let me start by saying that the group we have is very experienced with escape rooms and have done several across the state. Escape Key is certainly not the worst, but overall I'd say they are below average. The location is not ideal, being right on University Ave it can be difficult to find and get parking. The space seems like an old office space, and it seems little was done to spruce things up. The staff were friendly enough, but not in the least bit engaging or even very knowledgeable about the rooms themselves. We did Lair of Lunacy, which was as difficult as I'd expect for the rating they've given it. That was not the issue. The room itself is quite small, and with 5 adults we were practically on top of each other. As well, the props and set pieces were crowded on top of each other. The room is pitch black, which can really enhance the experience, but it did not. The flashlights we were provided throughout the room were utterly useless so that we ended up using the light from the black TV to read things more often than not. Far more frustrating than interesting. The puzzles themselves were as challenging as you'd expect, though we did have issues. There was absolutely no flow to the puzzles, no solutions leading into the next puzzle at all. There were a startling number of red herrings and we were able to skip over several steps or puzzles entirely by accident, both of which are the hallmarks of poor design. The production quality was what I'd describe as "halloween store quality" with everything feeling and looking cheap. Overall the experience was frustrating to those of us who were experienced, though our 1 person who had never done an escape room enjoyed it overall. I think there is a LOT of room for improvement on aesthetic and production quality, as well as the puzzle and...