Escape Hour Austin — Local services in Pflugerville

Just what I was looking for on my trip to Austin! A private escape room experience with tantalizing puzzles, immersive ambience, many surprises and a great game master. The puzzles were of excellent variety and their solutions made sense once you arrived at the "aha!" moment. Escape Hour Austin has 70-min rooms to allow for the immersion but they are all doable in 60. They are not your basic escape rooms but spiced with aspects of non-linearity, design unpredictability and a very attentive game master who watches, hears (yes, they can hear everything) and follows every step of your progress (and frustrations!). There are unlimited hints (you can always impose a self-constraint). Additionally, the helpful nudges were much appreciated whenever we chased a red-herring. We successfully played The Crypt. Hands down, one of the best I've experienced! Full of "wooaahh" moments. It will surprise you till the end. Some crawling and climbing are required. It could get warm at times. Wearing something comfortable is recommended.  As of today, it is their most challenging room. Although with a max occupancy of 7, the room can also be solved with 2-3 people if everyone is contributing, in-sync and efficient. It is important to not get stuck on any one puzzle for too long. Use the hints at your disposal. Remember, the rooms are designed keeping everything (and everyone) in mind. If you're at a point where you are stumped, most likely you haven't looked around enough for a vital clue to solve the bigger puzzle. Your game master will let you know if you have the right solution but you've made a technical error (like improper reset of lock or not pushing something all the way through). Big shout out to Lindsey!! We appreciated her encouragement, effort and vigilance. There is no timer in the game-room but you can ask for time checks (or just check your watch if you're wearing one). Phones and personal items are to be locked away in storage before you enter the room. There is no payment accepted on location; all payment is done online when booking. You're paying for a private experience so the per-person cost gets adjusted the more people you have in your party. Refunds and rescheduling eligible before 48-hrs only. Guests can be added anytime (best to call). Anyway, this was great fun! Although we do not live in Austin, we will definitely return in the future to play the other rooms. The Manor is another challenging one (quite dark), the Cthulhu one will tickle Lovecraft fans, there is a Pirates of the Caribbean themed one and Lab Rats will split you into groups of three. If you're after a particular room on a particular time slot, better to book at least...

Escape Hour Austin is a great escape room venue. We were in Austin on vacation and decided to try Escape Hour Austin. We have done over 25 escape rooms and this ranks in the top 5 rooms. We did Dead Man’s Cove with Emily as our Game Master. It was excellent. Lots of different puzzles that were challenging but not impossible. We had so much fun we booked 2 more rooms. We next did Call of the Ancient which again had very imaginative puzzles and required you to remember everything you used or didn’t use in order to complete the room. The last room we did was The Crypt. This by far was the hardest room with the most puzzles. We were fortunate to have Emily as our Game Master for all 3 rooms and she was by far the best game master we have had. She made the game even more fun and was a big part of why we booked 2 more rooms. Again they do a great job with the puzzles because not everything was a key or combination lock so you had to think outside the box. As someone who loves escape rooms and has done quite a few, try Escape Hour Austin and you will be hooked! Back again a year later to do their limited time game, A Christmas Unremembered. It was an awesome game. Lots of great puzzles and locks. Kathy, our game master, was fantastic. Can't wait for more games. May have to plan a trip to Seattle area to go to their other locations! Back again 2 years later and played The Cabin chapter 1 great fun, exciting rooms and good puzzles. Our gamemaster, Miranda, was great!! I miss you Matty Immediately after played The Cabin Chapter 2 also good theming and great puzzles. Our gamemasters Leah and Lee were very good. Back the next day to play Hijacked on the Holiday Express. Cute game. Fun puzzles. Gamemaster Leah was very good. We will be back on our next visit to Austin. Back again a few months later. Just finished The Cabin Final Chapter. Another great experience. Good theming and a variety of puzzles. Kat and Miles were great game masters and made the experience so fun. This Escape Room venue has everything to make their rooms good for either an experienced or novice...

TL;DR: Scariest thing I’ve ever done. I laughed, screamed, questioned my intelligence, and left with a possible haunting—but 10/10, best escape room ever. Percy is amazing, even if they may or may not have been the “apparition” that traumatized me. Would absolutely do it again. Apologies to the demon lady helper for our dumb brains, but her reactions were comedy gold.

So, we arrive. Percy gives us the whole dramatic spiel about the cursed McCray family. But let me tell you—the McCrays were nowhere to be found. “Oh no, we lost our necklace!” No, you needed suckers to fetch it for you, and my friends and I were those suckers.

Then we get the warning: You may see an apparition, but don’t touch it. I’m thinking, cool, some spooky ghost stuff. No. It was not some spooky ghost stuff.

Picture this: You’re solving puzzles by candlelight, doors are slamming, creepy noises everywhere. Then, Sister of the Ring herself pops out, screaming bloody murder, handing you clues while still screaming. At first, I thought, “Oh, she’s just helping.” Big mistake.

Cut to me, walking alone down a hallway while my friends are in another room. I turn a dark corner, and BAM—there she is. She screams. I scream. She chases me. I run. I turn back to check if she’s still there. She is. I dive under my friends for cover like they’re a human shield. Congratulations to me—I have officially confirmed that I am a flighter, not a fighter.

The whole place is a maze of rooms, locks, stairs, hidden doors, and messages. Thank goodness for unlimited clues, because by the end, we were so on edge that our brains just shut down. The ghostly helper was practically begging us to get it together—“YES YES, TRY THAT, PLEASE!” And the sheer desperation in her voice when she said “HURRY!!” sent me. Like, girl, I would, but I no longer trust any dark corners.

Also, one star for the “scary is a personal preference” disclaimer. You know what you did.

But seriously, if you love escape rooms, horror, and possibly peeing yourself a...