San Antonio Panic Room — Attraction in San Antonio

My family and I booked the lab experiment room for my brother's birthday. While we did have fun, unfortunately there were problems from the very beginning and it turned out to be quite frustrating and disappointing! It was all of our first times doing one of these panic rooms and the host didn't give adequate guidance or instruction before we started. He was very hurried and vague. In the first room, we figured out the code for the bookshelf/ door fairly quickly but the lock wouldn't open. We thought we must be wrong and kept trying other things until 10 to 15 mins later the host finally came in and said the lock was malfunctioning. There also seemed to be some clues that didn't belong in the room at all and it was entirely too dark to see other stuff. One particular clue that you were supposed to count marks on something was way too hard to see and count. It wasn't marked clearly and there were other markings from wear and tear or previous guests that made it impossible to count effectively. Also, it didn't seem like the host was paying close attention to us at all. When we called for our first clue he said he wasn't at the station to see where we were. And the communication device either wasn't working properly or the host just didn't answer us much of the time. It was like he chimed in when it was convenient for him rather than when we called or needed assistance. Halfway through in the second room, the host actually gave us a clue that was meant for another room/team. It was so confusing! We only found out when we asked him about the clue after the game was over. We made it to the last room but did not escape largely due to losing so much time because of faulty props and misleading/ damaged clues and an inattentive/careless host. I would love to visit another panic room where they have their act together but will not be returning to this place. The concept of these rooms is really neat and they have the potential to be so much fun. Unfortunately, the San Antonio Panic Room fails in the execution of this potentially...

This was my first time doing an escape room. There were 9 of us total (6 from our group + 3 who booked the same time slot) and we made it out with almost twenty minutes to spare. It was a fun little time, the puzzles weren't too tricky, and the attendant was pleasant.

The reason for the 3 stars is that several puzzles in the room didn't function as intended. From the very start one of the doors, which we were supposed to solve a puzzle to open, was already opened. Looking back I'm a bit annoyed the employee didn't do anything to close it, or maybe didn't even notice, even though she was in the starting room with us to show us the story video. Our group wasted time trying to solve that door and had to use one of our clues to figure out why nothing was happening, only to be told that it opens the door...that was already open when we got there.

Then another door puzzle was completely inoperable. We had to call the attendant to come in and open it for us because it was jammed. She still took a minute to wiggle it free after confirming that we'd been doing it correctly.

And the final objective, needed to actually escape the room, was in a cabinet that wasn't locked when we got to it. Upon realizing it accessed the exit we actually closed the door, locked the objective in the cabinet, and solved everything correctly.

As a first time through it was fun but at the price ($25/person) everything really ought to be completely operational. I think if they put their resources into fixing up the rooms (maybe it was just the one we did) it could be a really fun experience.

Side note: bigger groups increase your odds of escaping (more eyes, hopefully more brains) but as a result of the big group I missed out on about half of the puzzles because either too many people were crowded around one area or they were solved before I even reached them. I hardly even saw...

It was ok. I feel like 2.5 stars would be fair. We did cabin fever. I feel like the atmosphere didn’t give any type of panic/fear I feel like they could have done better making the cabin looking a little unstable. I wasn’t looking for anything crazy but it just felt like I was in a wooden box. The riddles were way too easy to solve. I feel like if they made the riddles a little harder, put a countdown timer where you could always see the time you had left, and maybe added some noises on speakers like trees cracking and breaking wind gusts that could perhaps boost the feeling of pressure to get the riddles done faster. Also, instead of having the guy who works there deliver the intro ( which did not instill any fear at all and was quite boring) maybe turn the lights of and play a short video to get people in the mood then turn the lights on. That would have been much better than having some guy who isn’t really into it repeating a short script. I did like that the riddles weren’t stupid and they tied in nicely to the theme and weren’t random. That is...