The Gate Escape — Local services in Leominster

My husband and I just completed all 3 rooms at The Gate Escape in Leominster, MA. We consider ourselves enthusiasts, having completed ~35 rooms in the past 3 years. First, I will start off the review by saying that Rene is one of the most passionate and friendly escape room owners and Game Masters that we have ever met. He clearly puts his blood, sweat, and tears into every inch of these rooms. Next, let me go through a brief pro/con for each room in the order we played them in:

DJ Death

Pros: This room is just a great time. Between the soft ball puzzles and the amazing soundtrack, I can’t imagine anyone not having a great time in this room. There was enough of a mix of mental and physical that it really made the time fly.

Cons: as a team of 2, we completed this whole room in about 34 minutes. Not too bad for a 45 minute room, but had we come with a larger group it may have fallen a bit short.

The Assistant

Pros: A nice, vanilla escape room. I can see this being an amazing time for a big group for a night out. Nothing was too crazy difficult and several of the puzzles were nonlinear so everyone could be working in different parts of the room instead of all clustered up waiting.

Cons: Probably our own bias, but not ideally suited for just a pair. There was a lot of searching that ate up tons of time, and there wasn’t a strong sense of flow from one puzzle to the next. There were also a few solutions that felt like a bit of a stretch.

The Observatory

Pros: we came specifically for this room because it was hyped to have a unique reveal and it definitely did. We did this one with a larger group (6) and it kept everyone busy for almost the full 90 minutes. It really forced teamwork but also allowed everyone to have individual moments to shine.

Cons: could use a bit of refinement. One puzzle in particular had way too many elements involved in the solution, in our opinion, and people were getting frustrated. With a couple simple tweaks it easily could have been one of the best puzzles (and rooms) that we have done.

Overall, I would highly recommend that you give The Gate Escape a try if you’re ever in the area. It’s definitely a good time and a great way to spend an hour or two with family and friends. If you only could choose 1, I’d recommend DJ Death for smaller groups and The Assistant for larger. I would save The Observatory for those escapers who have a few rooms...

Wow this is escape room is amazing we did around 40 escapes rooms all over the place and we are really picky but this place you have to try it’s really unique and different,puzzles interesting and it’s have amazing flow feels so smooth from puzzle to puzzle. For the beginners or to worm up start with Dj Death then you should do The Assistant 2.0 and finish with Observatory. We did all of the in one day and have so much fun. Dj Death you probably can do with 2people but better 3+ we have 4 people and we escape 10min before but we also have experience. The Assistant for sure 3+ people comfortable 4 people we escape 2min before. And Observatory 4+ 6 probably best because a lot of puzzles and team work we did with 4 people and escape 1 min before. Stuff members really good and the owner really nice and friendly. Also there have some games to play and you can check in the website will do next time. Recommended for people who like escape rooms and want...

Our group visited The Gate Escape for the first time last week. We are not new to playing escape rooms, as we consider ourselves enthusiasts and have played most of the rooms in the area, but we were impressed by our experience here, and even consider this our favorite room played thus far! "The First Assistant" was a pleasure to meet, and our time in the room went quickly and smoothly. The room was creatively done with submersion elements, and there was a good mix of quality puzzles. We had a lot of fun, and were happy that we "escaped" before our time was up (even though we were stumped at one point and were doubting our success!). We had a little time to chat with the owner afterwards and talk about the room and process, and we left happy about our experience here. It's very easy to see that the owner has put a lot of effort and care into designing the room and entire experience! We will gladly return to play again when the second...