Locked: A Rochester Escape Room — Local services in Town of Gates

My friends got me into escape rooms and since then we have been going to one almost every other weekend. Locked was my first experience with escape rooms and since then I have completed every room they have to offer. Overall I love this company and they offer rooms that are fun to complete but the last room I completed may be the last I do with them. On 2 previous occasions we had booked the gold rush room. Both times upon arrival we were told a prop in the room was broken and we were prompted to do another room, one time we even called beforehand to check if it was running and were told yes only to find it really wasn't. Mind you there were weeks in between. This was fine though because we enjoyed the other rooms instead. After running out of rooms to do we only had one left, many weeks had past so it had to have been fixed by now based on the timeline they told us. We tried calling multiple times the day we booked to see if it was finally up and running because we would have no other options if it was not. After multiple attempts no one answered, a little frustrated we booked anyways. A little later we finally got a response and were told we would be called back with a confirmation. We didn't receive that call back until like 20 minutes before our reservation and the main take away was basically to just get there early so we can start. We were already a little annoyed and rushed but we went none the less. Upon arrival we were rushed through the pre room talks and put into the room. The room was super easy as we were told after that it was a beginner room, we had already completed the harder ones. This was totally fine though because it just meant that we would really be able to solve it without any clues. We were so upset because not even 5 minutes would pass and we would be given clues like candy. We were basically walked through the whole entire room when not one of us ever asked for a clue to begin with, I didn't have to use my brain at all. After this we were all just in shock of our experience, I felt so robbed and that it was not worth the money. After all of the troubles just to get there and that be the outcome was a huge let down. I get that this experience might be very specific and not apply to everyone but I would suggest to not allow people to signup for rooms that aren't running and to not push people through rooms just because we were the last reservation for the night...it was only 7pm. Honestly in the moment I would have rated even lower than 3 starts but in general I still enjoyed the other rooms for the most part. Sadly the odds aren't high that we will be returning for any...

I took my 9 and 12 year old boys for my older one's 12th birthday. It was just the 3 of us. I had sent an email from their contact list on their website,just a few hours ahead of time, because I didn't know if there were age restrictions ... They responded almost immediately and answered my questions. Then, I went to book the tickets but I had to pay with two different cards. After I cashed out the first 2 tickets, I attempted to use another card to get the 3rd one, but it said that the room was closed and I'd need to choose a different room. I called the number on their website and left a message, and got a text reply again, almost immediately, and they let me know that it was just a default thing that their system does, and that I could pay for any additional people once we arrived at the location. Then I got a phone call from another employee suggesting that we try a different "quest", as they had seen that we were going to do their "Disease X" room, and that was actually the most difficult one they have, and seeing as how I was just bringing the two boys and myself, and none of us had done an escape room before, we might want to try a different one that was a little less challenging. I agreed and they took care of all the details. We arrived about 5 minutes late and were greeted at the door by our host Dan (?) He was awesome and super helpful. We were the only ones there (we picked a late night time slot) and we had so much fun. I will be coming back and I will recommend this place to any adult friends, and parents who have kids age 9 and up. It really was a nice little quality time adventure with my boys. The staff was phenomenal and I couldn't have had a better experience!! If I could give more...

We went to Locked while visiting the area and did the White Lady's Castle escape room. The staff was nice, but honestly, the room we did was quite sub-par. I've done probably 30+ escape rooms over the years, and this room was well below average. I won't go into any specific details in case one wants to do that room, though.

I found it kind of silly that we had to just talk out loud to try to get the staff's attention for a clue. A vast majority of escape rooms use walkie-talkies or touchscreens, and I feel that method is superior. There was also no video that told the story of what was going on and simply had the staff member telling us approximately what was going on. We definitely weren't entirely sure what the story was based on the staff member's description, and although that isn't like a huge deal, it kind of took away from the experience.

The big problem with this room and the main reason for such a poor review was the clues. There were very few clues in our room, and it was entirely linear, i.e., people weren't able to really fan out and hit up a bunch of clues and lines of thought. They also weren't terribly well broken up. For example, in many rooms, you have to gather multiple parts of a clue from a variety of other clues to aggregate them into enough info to progress. In this room, it was all pretty much linear, and a clue was found in whole each time. Honestly, one can't even argue this is a beginner's room because some of the puzzles were just bizarre. So, there was a lot of time just pacing the room and being stumped.

Maybe the other...