The Escape Artist by Sure Lock Escapes — Attraction in Seattle

Did the Trapped in Space room for a friend's birthday. We were 7 people, so our total was $266. I haven't felt so bad for spending this much money in 30 minutes in a long time.

Don't get me wrong, it's not just that it's a lot of money for 30 minutes of entertainment. I've done many other escape rooms that charged similar fees per person and had a blast. Those escape rooms often had elaborate puzzles with cool gadgets, decorations, props and effects. There were often many clues at once that different people can work on at the same time. In addition to figuring out codes to unlock combination locks, they would sometimes involve slight physical challenges, or teamwork requiring constant communication.

There's none of that here. The puzzles were way too easy. I have done ~20 escape rooms so far and this was by far the easiest one. In addition, there was sometimes only one clue at a time that only 2-3 people can work on at once, and the rest of us were twirling our thumbs. Almost all locks were 4-number combination locks, and props were very low-tech (eg. a whiteboard, a towel, transparency films, tin foil, and plastic dinosaur toys). That is all fine if this place was meant to be a low-budget escape room that would charge less than other ones and be more accessible, but $38-60 per person is definitely on the higher end for an escape room. The profit margin at this business must be humongous.

One more thing that was annoying was that we had a walkie-talkie that was supposed to be meant to be used if we needed hints (which we didn't at all). However, the game master was watching us on the camera and kept talking to us to ask us where we are at and sometimes even gave us unprompted hints. It just completely destroys the atmosphere. Maybe they were rushing us out because they overbooked this room or something.

I'm only giving it two stars because the staff was pretty nice. Given the good reviews, maybe I just tried the wrong room. But I would not spend so much money again to give this place...

UPDATE: The owner reached out to me privately, and it was the most earnest and gracious reply. She took genuine action to address the items I mentioned and also learn more about the feedback. I wasn't expecting a reply, especially not one like that! I'm changing my rating to 5 stars because it's so obvious the owner cares to make this a great experience. I WILL be back to try another room.

I'm sorry to only give three stars when this place has such a high rating. My partner and I do a lot of escape rooms. Some puzzles in the room didn't seem to work well, such as something falling over when it is meant to stay in place.

The game master seemed like a really nice person but she micromanaged us throughout the game. We'd so much as look in a wrong spot and she'd come on the intercom and essentially say "no, don't look there." A couple times, she also gave us clues we didn't ask for. I have seen this method done well in other rooms, but, in this case, it was just off putting. We weren't given enough time to stumble, redirect, or figure things out on our own without being fed the answer. We finished with plenty of time, so it would have been okay to just let us play the game.

In addition, the introduction from the game master was extremely long. I appreciate trying to set the scene, but it was excessive.

I liked the idea behind the room that we played (Spell Struck). However, because of the things I mentioned, we won't be back...

To be fair, I haven't been to this escape room company since 2019. But we went to a different one today that made me realize just how special The Escape Artist is.

For me, the benchmark for a great escape room is that it should make me feel like I'm playing one of my favorite video games. The rooms at this place nail that to a tee. You won't need to, for example, pull out your phone and look up the Fibonacci sequence (which is incredibly immersion-breaking) to move through an escape room here. Everything you need is THERE in the room with you. I didn't realize how beautifully crafted these rooms are until going to an extremely lackluster escape room in Redmond today.

Our group was me, my spouse, one of our best friends, and my spouse's parents. They aren't particularly well-versed in puzzle solving or video games, unlike my spouse and I, but we all had a great time.

Another amazing thing about these rooms is there's something for EVERYONE to do at any given time. You're constantly working together, instead of, for example, 3 of you standing around while 1 person works on the only interactable in the room.

Basically, I know this location is a bit of a drive for many people, but it is SO WORTH IT! We will be making the trip from Kirkland to The Escape Artist for ALL of our escape room adventures in the future! Incredibly immersive, group-oriented, well-crafted escape rooms-- and it's located near some great food...