Escapology Escape Rooms Destin — Local services in Miramar Beach

This was the 2nd time I've been to an Escape room in as many days and it was a bit underwhelming compared to the 1st at a different location in Destin. For those looking for the gist - yes, it was fun, I might go back, but there were a few things that just bothered me to no end. I'm a stickler for details, i.e., things should be clear and working properly, and I didn't get that here.

The 1st room has a single recessed light bulb, so if you're older and don't see real well like myself, it's not fun squinting. They use an intercom to communicate between you and the gamemaster, but it's harder to understand what the gamemaster is saying than a fast food drive-thru. Not impossible, but it's not clear.

We solve several things and open the last room. However, we needed a hint to get something solved - call the gamemaster, get something on the tv screen - which, by the way, is in the first room behind a door - if they had put it against the opposite wall, you could take less steps to go back and view it (and your remaining time) saving you precious time. Unfortunately, the clue doesn't stay on the screen long and my teammates saw it, not me, and they don't remember what it said. I'd be nice if the clue was left on the screen until you asked for help again.

The two things that irked me the most and the primary reason for the 3-star review is this: 1) there is a card showing you how scores are calculated on a dartboard, but it only goes over certain circular areas. One of the darts was outside these areas so I had no idea what multiplier to use. Additionally, this same dart is located on the horizontal axis at what appeared to be a nine. We didn't get the number right of course - there's no multiplier on the card, so do we guess the multiplier or assume it is zero and not count it? I asked the 2nd gamemaster who took over after our time was up and she said it was a six because the opposite side was an eleven (yeah, didn't make sense to me either). It was also clear, according to her, that the multiplier was one. Sorry, no, I don't play darts and you could easily make or simply download a better visual chart showing what areas of the board are multiplied by what. Also, why not get a dart board where the numbers are all facing upright so you know exactly what the darn the number is instead of guessing? The one they used has the numbers facing the center of the board, but the ten (directly below the "six" ) is flipped in one orientation and the thirteen (above the six) is flipped another, so you'll get confused fast if you try to logic it out. If you decide to play this room, be ready to look up a picture of a dartboard on your phone unless you want to waste precious time guessing.

Now, while this was frustrating and the 2nd gamemaster was nice if unapologetic, what really frustrated me to the core was you needed to figure out the darts to get to the last locked item. However, I figured out all but the last digit and determined it had to be one of three numbers. I tried them all to no avail several times along with all ten digits. The gamemaster times it several times before getting it open with one of the codes I determined. "Ah, the button just has to be pressed really hard." she says. We would have beat the clock with time to spare if the darn lock worked properly. While my group left happy, I was upset because of unclear instructions and faulty equipment. No wait, I can understand that a bit, but having those two things combined with a staff that tells you these things are obvious, that is what make me upset.

Update 8-9-20 (added a star): Went a second time and tried the Budapest Express. This was a five star experience. Didn't quite make it and not sure we would have figured out the last thing on our own, but everything worked and the game host was attentive, helpful and clear. Still not happy about the first experience here, but I guess it depends on the game you select, how well the equipment is maintained in said room and the game host you...

Came in with a group of 15 and the booking process was smooth and easy over the phone. We split between 3 rooms and they blocked the rooms so no one else outside of our group could join. Loved the vibe and aesthetic the moment I walked into the building. I’m very appreciative they tolerated our rowdy post-margarita crew. I took a star off just because our “game host” wasn’t really personable and didn’t really make it an immersive experience for my first-time group. The other girl for group 2 seemed very shy and had closed off body language as if she was new and not comfortable with the job yet. I also did not like how the Cuban Crisis room ended as I saw in another review. We escaped with 13 minutes left and we were very underwhelmed about the end. The clues we asked for were very direct and essentially told us the answer sometimes without making us work for it. The other two groups did not escape but they were nice and gave them both an extra 15 minutes since we were the last groups of the night. Despite my criticism, I will and still plan on returning and bringing more business in the future to try out the other rooms.

Update: 2nd Visit and we did Lost City and had a wonderful experience. Everything I criticized from my first visit was improved! Very cool thought out room with detailed theme, cool mechanisms and Olivia was very nice. Changed review back to 5 Stars. I’ll be back soon!

Update: 3rd Visit Ethan & Thomas took care of us and had a blast at Murder Mansion! The phone mechanism didn’t work which was frustrating but we...

Our group read negative reviews before booking at this escape room. But as most of the negative reviews dealt with the staff we figured it would not have a large impact on the actual game. We were wrong. The room was decorated cleverly, the theme was well thought out, and the puzzles were engaging. The challenge was with the game clues. If you have never done a game before - you are given three clues to help guide you when you get stuck. While most escape room staff will help you solve the issue or puzzle you are on, our clue giver seemed unaware of what was going on in the room and where we were struggling. He defaulted to preset clues, which at one point was a clue we already solved and at another point a clue that was a step ahead of the information we had. This led to a significant amount of time being spent trying to solve a clue we did not have all the info for because the previous clue had not been solved. It took the clue giver a significant portion of our 60 min to back track and get us to complete the first clue. While I would recommend the actual escape game, any attempt to make forward progress was thwarted by unattentive staff. I would highly recommend taking the advice of the many previous comments - the staff can and will make a significant impact on your...