Quandary Escape Rooms — Local services in Roseville

We visited for the first time after completing escape rooms from other companies in the area. We would’ve had nothing but great things to say if they provided the necessary tools. The first room in Sweet Revenge is very dark, and like the description says it has puzzles that rely heavily on color. They tell you that phones are not needed, but they do not provide any flashlights to be able to see the puzzles. We wasted about 10 minutes because we could not see the objects with clues, and ended up having to grab our phones so we could see. This really threw off the whole experience and left us annoyed from the start. No one wants to pay $37 a person for 60 minutes of allotted time when you have to waste part of that time trying to see clues that should be visible. Small things that wouldn’t have been a big deal if the experience didn’t start out so crappy are things like a sign hanging from one of the items saying “does not function but is used as a tool”…. Breaks the immersion a bit, and the fact that the game masters reply in long riddles so it takes even longer to get a helpful response. The candy creator machine is very clever but needed to be pressed multiple times to get it to start. The rooms were also very warm and by the last room we were sweating. We have been in worse rooms, but having time wasted because they don’t provide the necessary tools is really annoying and ruins the whole experience. We came for a birthday and wish we went to a...

This past weekend, my close friend and I decided to play 2 of Quandary's escape rooms: Factory Reset and the Dynaline Incident. Although we struggled with some puzzles in the rooms, it was completely on our part (overlooking details) and not to the fault of the puzzles themselves. Both of us have done a combined total of 100+ escape rooms and found the rooms to be well constructed and fun to complete as a duo.

We owe much of our great experience, however, to our 2-time game master: Mason! Mason met us with a lot of enthusiasm before entering the rooms on both days we visited Quandary and was very understanding of the concerns we had. My friend has a sensitivity to loud noises and general anxiety with certain spaces and Mason was accomodating with every detail of the room, making it much more enjoyable for the two of us to do the game with ease.

We're genuinely not sure if we would have enjoyed the rooms as much as we did if it were not for Mason. We have experienced horror stories with game masters from other escape rooms in the past, so we know how great Mason is at this job. Please give Mason a raise!

I would totally recommend that you check out this place if you have the chance. We will be returning to do their remaining room some day and hope Mason will be...

Update 5/9/19 The owner reached out and took the time to explain in detail what we had missed. This was very much appreciated.

----- Original Review ----- This was my 3rd escape room experience, and first failure. We did not make it out of the Sweet Revenge room. We were told that this room only has a 20-25% completion ratio, meaning 75-80% of the groups do not make it out. In my opinion, the room design alone is top notch (5 stars), but there were 3 major issues I had that detracted from the experience. Issue #1- While we could easily identify the clue locations and solution points, poor/filtered lighting in certain areas made it difficult both in determining the content of the clues and how to manipulate the solution points. Issue #2- We really only got hung up twice during our 60 minutes and immediately asked for assistance both times, but when our time ran out we were nowhere near escaping. All of the progression puzzles are good, but they are simply too time consuming. Issue #3- When our time ran out, our guide explained solutions for the 2 puzzles that our team was concurrently working, but she was unwilling to offer explanations for the last few side puzzles. It's disappointing to not know...