Secrets Escape Rooms - Tallahassee — Local services in Tallahassee

I've done about 30 escape rooms and would recommend Hourglass Escape for an escape room adventure in Tallahassee. Our group of 7 included players of varying experience, including 2 who have never been to an escape room before. We traveled back in time to solve the Murder in London case and had a fun time. Especially for folks who had little to no experience with escape rooms, there were many magical moments.

The first thing that I was impressed with was before we even got inside the room. Our host did a great job with the info session while staying in character with a slight accent. Although we were told "modern day technology, such as cell phones, will not work during time travel so no need to try", it could have been a little more explicit for our group as there was confusion about whether cell phone lights could be used. The second thing I was impressed by was the quality of the set. You really felt like you were walking down a sketchy alleyway.

Murder in London is an especially great room for players with little experience because implements a lot of the classic escape room features well, giving you the sense of discovery when proceeding through the puzzles.

The maximum number of players is 8, which is reasonable considering the size of the room-- unlike the start of many escape rooms, you do not start in a cramped room that later expands. There is plenty of room from the start. However, I think the capacity follows my general philosophy-- if going for efficiency, the ideal number is around half the maximum capacity.

As for critiques-- there were lots of fun puzzles and ways of interacting with the set, but some puzzles did not fit the mood and flow of the storyline. A couple of puzzles in the second half felt out-of-place and very much only solvable by trying solutions with "escape room logic" without suggestive riddles. One of the final puzzles was also a bit finicky, as it didn't activate exactly when we solved the puzzle. The game master paid attention to our attempts and made sure we didn't waste too much time after getting the right answer, but better execution would have made the final moments feel more special. The price also feels slightly high at $35/person for a 60-min escape room (compared to $40/person for 90-min escape rooms at other places).

Although there were definitely some puzzles that could have been implemented better (happy to discuss with staff if they would like our opinions), this was a good room overall with an excellent set deserving of 5-stars. I plan on returning next time I'm in town to tackle the other two rooms!

Pros: Excellent set and game master; beginner-friendly (unlimited hints, when requested); private bookings Cons: Few finicky/out-of-theme...

Update: Changing our review from a 1 to a 5 in one night. We decide to give this place another shot, as our review gained attention from the manager. This time was just like our first, wonderful. Our time keeper was on it this time! His hints were perfect and he was very respectful of our time with how quickly he responded when help was needed (I want to say his name was Ethan)? Although, I was not a fan of our previous time keeper coming in and stating that “things happen”, I’m still going to leave this place with five stars, as the rooms are simply so much fun. With a great time keeper, you will have the time of your life! I totally understand things happen that out of their control- people call out, it gets busy, etc., but when people are paying almost $100 for an hour experience, a sorry would have sufficed that night, as we were visibly frustrated upon leaving. Either way, I’m thankful they had us back and wanted to make things right.

Initial review: My boyfriend and I just got done doing the MYSTERY AT THE MAUSOLEUM. We were very disappointed with our experience tonight. We came about a month ago and did the murder in London and our Tyme keeper was amazing, super helpful, and gave great hints in a very timely manner! Tonight, our girl maybe responded to our hands up 5 out of the 30 times we raised them. The first 20 minutes we had our hands up and got no help and no acknowledgement of our existence. Definitely seemed like she was not watching or paying attention and/or helping other people. We even thought about knocking on the door to make sure she was aware we were in there. We also verbally stated that we need help and nobody responded for about 20 minutes. Then when we finally received our hints, they were not even able to be completed yet.. due to another step needing to be done prior. Very disappointed in our experience tonight. Sucks because we were so excited to go back for date night after our wonderful experience with the murder in London and our Tyme keeper...

Just can't miss! Finished the BEST Escape Room on all Tallahassee off tonight. Mosaleum held it down even better than thw alleys of London that blew our socks off last night, but then coming off a win, took 2nd stab after a year and last times upsetting defeat at Wizards keep, but Gigantor Mike represented with half a team short and still found redemption and with lil time to spare, but still Ws all week! Kate and Hanna were showed us an amazing experience as rockin' Time/Puzzle Masters. Would come back just for them, they were a pleasure and a joy. Keepsake was magical touch and again can not stress, in capital city and not many options, those 2 and Secret Escape (brought to you by steller job from Art-FX Studios) just really not only out shined but eclipsed and are the best of all and THE escape room queens of the realm. Would come back with whole team just to share experience and outstanding hospitality. Something about that accent and positive vibe truly made it special. 6 out 5 DO...