Captivating Worlds — Local services in Columbus

What an amazing and aesthetically beautiful experience!!! My daughter and I visited for our first room, The Sins of Dr. Faustus, today. We were greeted by the front staff, who happened to be one of the owners. She made sure to give us all of the details we needed, some helpful hints, and a brief rundown of Captivating Worlds itself. We were very impressed to learn that this was an independent business and that the rooms were designed and built by the other owner, her husband. When it was time to play, we met our game master. We were fortunate to have the owner and designer himself! He gave us the last bits of info and led us down a hallway to our room. Even the outside of the rooms have been considered and decorated to theme. We watched a brief video that gave the backstory of Dr. Faustus and then entered to begin the challenge. WOW!!! We were blown away by the room!!! Every element brought us into the 1800's for a fully immersive experience. I don't want to give any details as to avoid spoilers, but the room was awesome from the start and kept getting cooler as the game progressed. The level of detail involved was very impressive. Foreshadowing, nods to great literature, theater, symbols and allegory, this place had it all. We found ourselves fully involved immediately and then preceded to run the full gambit of emotions as we played. The experience is 75 minutes, but seems to go quickly as you are so entertained and busy solving puzzles. Our experience ended in a climatic moment that left us reeling with excitement. Complete with a soundtrack, our hearts were racing as we worked through the final steps. Afterwards we were given a short briefing on what we experienced that clued us in on some fascinating tidbits that we missed in our excitement. The owner explained the inspiration behind the theme and some of the elements. The attention to detail and "easter eggs" was so cool. We left with giant smiles, recounting some of the challenges, and talking about a return ASAP.

This was our second escape room experience. Our first was the night before at a different facility. We had so much fun the first night that we sought out another the very next day. We wanted to check out Captivating Worlds to see the variety that Columbus has to offer. We were absolutely blown away by the experience, facility, and staff. Even though our first experience was so awesome that it inspired us to go to a second room within 24 hours, this place left us in awe with its clear superiority. Independently owned, you can really see the love put into the details of the room, the cleanliness and efficiency of the facility, and the amazing staff/owners. We will definitely be back to do ALL of the rooms. I will be telling everybody to go to Captivating Worlds!!! Thank you for an awesome experience and a great memory with my daughter who was in from...

Dang, this place was amazing, I can’t say enough good things. My husband and I have done many escape rooms - to the point where we’ve pretty much done all the good rooms in Columbus, so when we first heard about Captivating Worlds we were super excited to find a new place that sounded like it was well liked.

The location isn’t close to us, so it took some time before we finally made it out and we will definitely make the trip to do the remaining rooms as well.

The price was almost a deterrent, but after going there, I have to say I can completely understand why this is a little pricier than some other escape rooms, and it’s well worth it (and honestly it’s not bad if you’re going with a group, my husband and I just go the two of us a lot of the time).

I was also a little worried seeing that the rooms are “tech-heavy.” When we’ve done other escape rooms that have a lot of tech, sometimes it either a) takes away from the room b) makes something that should be simple overcomplicated, or c) just downright doesn’t work. This place is NOT like that AT ALL! The tech is truly amazing - I love that the owner, David, has a background in technology - you can definitely tell. Everything worked exactly as it should, we had no issues with anything and it all really worked with the theme, or went so far as to immerse us even further in to the room (to the point I was slightly terrified at how “real” it seemed a few times!)

I also really loved that at the end of it all, our Game Master Tate took the time to kind of walk through the tech with us and sort of gave us a rundown of what we flew through really well and what we overlooked or struggled to get right away.

AND… if all that isn’t enough, the owner was just sweet as can be. I feel bad, I don’t remember her name, but she was so kind when we came in, very friendly, chatted with us about the escape rooms we’ve done in the past, and was just so welcoming. The phone charging lockers are also a really nice touch!

All in all, you really have to try this place. If you’ve done escape rooms elsewhere, you’ll love this one. If you’ve never done an escape room before, this will be a truly amazing first experience (though everything after this might be a bit of a letdown!) There is definitely a good reason they have all 5...

Im editing my review only to add that we went back to do another room. Four 15 yr olds and one adult to do Welcome to the Machine. This is their most difficult room. We didnt make it out of this one but were close. Everyone still had an absolutely great time. This room was also so authentic and the teens loved every moment. This husband and wife duo just knocks it out of the park. We will def do all of their rooms. And they’re building 2 more so that’s exciting. The easiest bday party for teens too! As long as its a small group. They LOVE IT, follow up with dinner and DONE. And they have so much fun that your kids bday party is the one everyone wants to go to. ;) There’s always a card hidden away in the clues for the bday kid too. Thats always so awesome to the teens. Again, these owners are just at the top of their escape room game! Im not surprised to hear that people travel from other states to do their rooms. -July 2021 We took our daughter and 2 friends for her 13th bday. We did the Sins of Dr Faustus room. It was beautifully decorated- I mean this room looked like an actual den/library. The puzzles were fun and we accomplished the task (“escaped”) with only 33 seconds to spare. The room was challenging for 2 adults and 3 young teens but not overly so that it was still fun. The game is set up so that you can all be working on different puzzles at the same time. And that is necessary if you want to beat the game. The girls had a blast and just loved every minute. But what really impressed me was that we mentioned this was for my daughters bday when we arrived. During the game, after we unlocked a drawer, inside was our next piece of the puzzle and a card for my daughter. Thats a special touch that is the “above and beyond” you rarely get anymore and was evidence how much this husband and wife team is dedicated to your experience. Highly highly recommend...