The Lodge of Lazarus Crowe — Attraction in Saint Paul

Did this today. It was fun and I wish the place well, but some constructive criticism for the owners (as there's no shortage of well-deserved praise):

1. The hardest room was too easy. This isn't a nerd-flex or anything like that :). But we finished with a less-than-full team with 20 minutes to spare. Having done half-a-dozen other escape rooms, I've never had close to that much time left even on moderately-difficult rooms. The levels exist for a reason. People want different experiences. One person can play a video game on easy, another on hard, and both can have a great time, but only if the difficulty they picked MEANS something and maps to what they're looking to get out of the game. Speaking of which:
2. Several unprompted hints were given. This shouldn't happen. It's perfectly clear that you can ask for hints anytime you want. But again, different experiences for different personalities, right? To me the frustration is part of that happy dopamine hit from solving a complex puzzle. If you just give me the answer, when I don't even ask for it, you take away the entire point of what I'm there looking to get. If other people don't want that, and I wouldn't blame them, then at least let that be a choice. Make this a choice the teams can make on the way to their rooms; would you like some unprompted hints if we think you're getting too stuck, or would you only like hints if you ask for them?
3. The common-area mechanic is criminally under-used, at least in the room I did. Keeping this spoiler-free, the playable common-area thing is what's truly unique about this place vs. others I've been to. That should be leaned into as a differentiator. Walking in it was completely unexpected and I was pumped to interact with it, but left ultimately disappointed in how thin that part of the experience was. It's like playing GTA and early on I find a wand in a trash can and I'm like 'wait I can CAST SPELLS in this game??!! OMFG' and being super-excited for that, and then the wand breaks after five minutes of playing, and I never find another wand and can never cast spells again. IMO I'd modify things to make a ton more use that playable common area and a back-and-forth between than and the selected escape room. 3b) Get that basement playable ASAP. Sounds like there's some challenging logistics around that, but you've got an old mortuary and the basement is the LAST place where you get a playable escape room? That's a huge lost opportunity for, again, a unique experience that other places won't give you.

Keep up the...

Ok, folks, I just have to share about the Lodge of Lazarus Crowe, which is Trapped Puzzle Room's newest endeavor here in St. Paul, MN. Simply put, this is one of the most ambitious and awesome escape experiences I've been to.

Before you even enter the front door, you know you're in for something special. The building originally served as a mortuary, and even though the Lodge isn't scary (at least not the room I played), the grand, Gothic archtiecture just oozes arcane atmosphere.

I played "The Apothecary" which is one of only a few of the experiences they have open right now. From what I've gathered, there will be eight experiences available in the near-ish future, and twelve once the building is fully up and running.

One of the many things that sets these experiences apart from a standard escape room is that the Lodge itself is designed to be explored before you actually get to the room you do the majority of your puzzle-solving in. There are so many curious and strange exhibits in its halls that simply getting to your own private room is an absolute delight. Think a building-sized cabinet of curioisities and you'll have an idea of the unique ambience of this place.

The "Apothecary" experience was beautifully designed itself, with a seamles integration of lavish set design and tech. The story were unique and fun, with a variety of satisfying puzzles. Trapped has done an excellent job combining physical puzzles and spaces with high-tech wizardry.

To top all of this off, there's a full restaurant and cocktail lounge in the Lodge too! The Hourglass Cafe and Bar has diverse offerings of unique twists on bar food: I had jerk shrimp tacos, and my friends had mac & cheese with a beet salad. The drink menus is also full of magical options: I had the "Eureka!", which was a gin-based cocktail served in a glowing lightbulb!

With the Lodge of Lazarus Crowe, Trapped has really expanded on the possibilities of what escape rooms can be, and it is poised to be a destination for escape room enthusiasts, puzzle lovers, and anyone...

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the best escape room and immersive experience in the Twin Cities, and was a huge highlight of my trip. In fact, the Lodge of Lazarus Crowe might be the most innovative escape room location in the United States right now. The Founder’s Secret was absolutely a highlight, and while all of the individual escape rooms we did were great - featuring high quality sets, unique puzzles, and excellent flow - it was the "overworld" at the Lodge that truly drew me in.

Each of the traditional escape rooms (“investigations”) starts in the corridors of the lodge, which are filled with artwork (probably cursed), artifacts (almost certainly cursed), and other tools and elements you can interact with (might be cursed). You use these corridors to determine how to get into the actual room, which from then on is usually a more traditional escape room experience. These corridors offer layers of content, and the longer you spend in the Lodge the more you learn that nothing is there by accident.

My very strong recommendation if you visit is to give yourself extra time to explore their “fieldwork” experiences - especially The Initiation and The Alchemy Lab - as a way to see the complete picture of what the Lodge has to offer.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out all of the staff at the Lodge. In spite of what was surely a very chaotic day (I visited as part of a 24-person contingent attending a conference), they were all...