Wizards and Wires — Local services in Riverside

This was my 149th escape room. I chose to give this location a shot based on positive reviews from other experienced players, however the experience fell short. The puzzles were very "hide-and-go-seek" in nature and flowed linearly. It was get a clue,find the corresponding item, get another clue, find the next item, then rinse and repeat again. Out of all of the peculiar props and items in the "curiosity shop" you only actually use 5% of them. There were no logic puzzles that illicit that "AHA!" moment when the lightbulb goes off in your head, but rather "Oh another piece of paper to read" moments You should be able to go into an escape room and interact with everything immediately, but we were warned to only touch things when it lead us there otherwise it could ruin the flow of the game. In my opinion those instructions always mean poor puzzle design. It was an entertaining experience but there are much other better options for a true escape/puzzle room experience. This one left a lot...

For a first timer in escape rooms, this was a great experience. The people in charge of the escape room wants you to get there 15 minutes before your reservation time. Once you're there, don't open the door because three might be a game in progress. Just wait there and they'll come and get you. The maximum limit of players is 6. If there aren't any other players that booked at the same time as you did then it'll be just your party, so there's a chance to play with just the people you came with. Overall, the experience was great. If you get stuck, they give you hints along the way. The difficulty level is about easy to medium. This location is slightly hidden, but it's right next to the smoke shop on University and near...

This was my first room a few years back and i've done a lot since then. Really, i've done a lot of rooms, and this one is pretty great. The GM even did some voice acting to keep the theme going! It was really a great time.

The only reason i'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because we were warned upon entrance not to move things unless it was a clue, because it could ruin the flow of the game. That seems like poor design to me, but despite it, it was still a great time and really, linear vs non-linear puzzles are a matter of taste. ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT.

Most other rooms I find are worse or on-par with this one. Very few are actually better. It just takes A LOT for me to get 5 stars...