Today we had a missed opportunity at an optimal experience with Breakout Games. Myself and my husband are seasoned escape room goers. We are familiar with how clues, locks, and in general- the rooms work.

We brought my daughter for her 15th birthday, along with 3 of her friends. We chose The Kidnapping at 11:30. To start, our game master did not ask if it was any of our first times, though they did hear me giving instructions to several of the kids, as though it was their first time. I feel as though this is a key component as to the experience we had. They gave us all rules of the room/game (no need to climb on things, rip things off the wall, etc), however they failed to mention the possibility to verify a proper code before entering it into a safe - that only allowed for a max of 3 attempts. This was also a key component to solving the room for these kids.

In the room, we made work of solving one clue to get to another, until we came to a code panel located near 3 pipes in the wall. We input the proper code and a sound indication movement of the pipes, a release/unlocking of sorts. We fumbled with the pipes for over 5 minutes, wondering how it would move us forward in our endeavor to escape. After several minutes passed, our game master finally piped in to ask if the middle pipe had “dropped” fully. We responded “no,” and they recommended typing in the code to the panel once again to fully release the pipe. This did the trick, and I mentioned, out loud, that that mishap cost us valuable time in the room.

Towards the end of the room, we were rushing to escape, an important factor in making my daughter’s birthday celebration grand. With minutes to spare, we improperly tried our 3rd and final attempt into the safe that would give us the final clue. We were locked out and therefore lost the game.

I feel as though it was important to mention 1) that we could ask for verification on the code before the final attempt, 2) further attention to the pipe mishap in the middle of the game, and 3) more time added to our clock to account for this delay.

Had we been given, at minimum 5 more minutes after that mistake, we may not have rushed to try the wrong code on our final attempt. Which also could’ve been avoided re: 1).

It was a disappointment to our daughter that we did not escape the room, especially given how close we were.

I hope in the future that your staff is able to fine-tune the features of the room to either make sure they are functioning at optimum levels and/or pay close attention to any mishaps happening in the room they are leading.

We will return to Breakout Games for future games, because we really do enjoy the themes, games, puzzles, etc it has to offer.. but at almost $200 for a party of 6 to do a room, we expected more attention to detail that we sadly did not receive today.