Escape Room 831 — Local services in Monterey

5 stars for the staff. I went to the Oscar's Playground location and ended up running a few minutes late because of traffic and trying to find parking at Cannery Row. I'm a local but I don't go to Cannery Row often and was having a hard time finding the place. The staff was very kind, helping me to find the place, and were courteous and professional the entire time.

This was my first experience in an escape room. I thought it would be a fun activity to do with my two teen kids since we all like logic puzzles and an escape room sounded exciting. However, overall, it was an underwhelming experience. We did the Christmas Story room, as it was the only option that fit the limited time I had with my kids that day. The room was rather small and quite bare. In my mind, I thought it would be decked out and more homey (again, this was a first experience, so I have nothing to compare this against). There were enough puzzles to keep us occupied pretty much the whole time (and a couple of them were creative), but it was all kind of the same in that it was mostly decoding or trying different places to enter a combination. I had hoped there were be a variety of types of puzzles that would be more stimulating and varied as opposed to mostly numbers (I e. items that fit together, logic word puzzles, sequences that don't involve numbers necessarily, etc.). It might be that I'm just not the type of person that enjoys escape rooms and now I know that. However, I think a significant aspect of my lack of enjoyment of the experience is that it was not immersive (which is what I had been looking forward to the most). The walls do not go up to the ceiling (it seemed outside of their control because of the the type of ceiling in the building) and I could hear all the chatter from the lounge/arcade. We always had to get real close and strain to hear the anything played over the speaker. The ambient music couldn't mask all the chatter and arcade sounds and hearing all the activity outside was super distracting and irritating.

To summarize, for me, I was really looking forward to doing an escape room, but was visually underwhelmed as soon as I walked in. The puzzles were not really interesting to me and the outside chatter made me feel distracted and annoyed. I was not into it by about minute 15 and dreaded having to be there for the remaining time (but tried to keep a positive attitude and make the best of it). For my teen son (high schooler), he didn't think it was fun, either. My daughter (the youngest - middle schooler), however, thought it was enjoyable. After this, I don't think I would return to an escape room. It's too much money for what I got out of it, which was only learning that I guess I don't like escape rooms. Great...

Okay wow! Went about two weeks ago and it was even more awesome because it was like 9pm and something about the night adds to the experience. I went with my friend and our game master, Birdie was amazing to have as our guide. She was very intrigal and extremely helpful to what was an AMAZING escape room experience. Escape Room 831 doesn’t hold back with their state of the art escape rooms. Chimes, and sounds to help with clues, fantastic puzzles (which I’ll get into more in a second). Automated locks and stuff that opens through magnetic interfacing. Having Birdie help us navigate was great as well. Even though it was the end of the day and she was probably wiped out, she didn’t seem to show it all. We weren’t rushed, she would help us only when we needed/wanted it. The game felt like we were really in an actual Escape Room. I love a great puzzle; I find them addictive. We chose the Alice in Wonderland puzzle and it was more than I could of expected. Very intricate but not “too hard” to get frustrating. From the decor down to the keys, was very well setup and the length of the game and puzzles is well worth the price. I commend Escape Room 831 and our Game Master Birdie, for giving me and my friend an experience we will never forget. (We also plan on returning to try a different room!) So, if you’re a fan of escape rooms, do NOT pass up this place, it’s insanely state of the art! If you are looking for something fun to do? Again… you will not be...

We did the Spellbound room. Overall a good room for a small group (we had 2). The price is average for most escape rooms ($30) and I felt it was worth it. I was afraid they would be very strict based on the email I got before coming regarding important information. When we got there, there was plenty of parking behind the building. When we entered, we were greeted by a man who was very nice. I noticed our room was fully booked (for 4 people) and the person explained that he had closed the booking so it would only be us two, which I greatly appreciated. He professionally explained the rules and backstory for the room, then led us to the room. The reason I give this escape room 4 stars instead of 5 is because of various aspects of the room. My girlfriend is short, and there were parts that I felt short people would have difficulty with. The puzzles were good, although some were not very intuitive. In addition, some actions didn't seem necessary (but maybe my memory is poor). We enjoyed the room and staff very much. It was nice how tips/hints were given out during the escape. The fun picture at the end was...