Trapped! Escape Room - Willoughby — Local services in Willoughby

The worst escape room I’ve ever been in. First off, we initially called looking to play a specific room but was told it wouldn’t be ready until either that night or the next day. Then after being told we’d get a 10% discount when that room opens (standard practice for escape rooms) and getting recommended a different room, the person we spoke to asked what time we are looking to arrive and we said 5-6pm. We got there shortly after 5 and to our surprise, the door was locked (even with the open sign being turned on). After knocking and looking around for a different door, we called to see what’s happening. The person we spoke with said that someone should be there soon, so we decided to wait. 40 MINUTES pass and finally someone shows up, and it’s the person we been speaking to on the phone. I instantly brought up the absurd wait time and asked about a discount and they just repeated the 10% discount previously discussed. You don’t waste someone’s time and then offer the same thing you already did! I asked again and he said we’d get a free game when we come back for the original room we wanted (which was promised to be done that night or the following day). One more thing to note is on the website, you see the price as $25, but that’s the kid price and you have to click more to finally see the adult price of $28… sketchy.

Finally we got into the escape room and start playing. It’s very dirty and has MANY props that serve no function at all, way more than an average room. A key part of the room was also very loose and seemed broken so we were hesitant to touch it because we don’t want to break anything, but it turns out you HAVE to slide it to progress (it clearly needs to be fixed and look better if SIX people thought it was broken). We eventually had to ask for hints and they were completely worthless, which really devalued the entire experience even more than it already has been. Finally the time runs out and the same person we spoke with comes in to explain what we missed. Well, explain is the wrong word because he basically just called us idiots for not understanding what to do. We laughed and played it off but it was incredible disrespectful, especially after what we’d already done through.

Now that we’re out of the room, he once again promises the room will be ready that night or the following day and we even mentioned our friends have to leave town the day after. Time passes and nothing is done and we barely get any responses. It’s time for everyone to leave the so we just decide to ask for a refund based on the terrible quality, experience, and broken promises, but we are refused a refund. Now it’s been two days and the person won’t even reply to us. Save your money & time and NEVER go to this...

What an incredibly frustrating experience. We arrived just a few minutes early for our 7:15 PM game and found the doors were locked. The lights were on, the open sign was flashing, but it seemed as if no one was in the building. We had to call the company twice to actually be let in. With the first call, they said they would send someone over. Which they must’ve forgotten because they needed a second phone reminder about five minutes later. Turns out someone was in the building but must’ve been occupied and distracted elsewhere. Although I’m confused as to why someone wouldn’t be up at the front desk if you’re expecting a group with a booked time slot.

I have played my fair share of escape rooms, probably just shy of ten with at least four different companies, and there was absolutely nothing intuitive about these puzzles. We played Race Against the Machine, which as I understand it, has you solve a sequence of puzzles before one big reveal happens (namely, a new room being unlocked). But there was no indication that we solved steps to the sequence, even though we were later told that we got some of them right. Just as constructive criticism, it might be helpful to add LEDs to each individual “mini” puzzle that lights up green when solved. We wasted a lot of time continuing to mess around with things we got right, just because we had no idea they were right.

Asking for clues almost made the room more confusing. I’m not convinced our game master was paying attention because it would often take minutes to get a response on the screen after repeatedly asking for a clue. We were later told that there were some computer difficulties that made projecting clues to the screen difficult, which I certainly can’t fault our game master for. But again, this would be where I would suggest adding two-way audio to the rooms as an alternative for communication (like other companies do).

When we did get clues, they were not helpful at all. Most of them were along the lines of “did you try figuring out how to open x locked cabinet/box/etc”. Sure, but we didn’t even know what puzzles to solve in order to do so. The game master was nice enough to give us ten extra minutes as well as additional “clues” when we were visibly frustrated, but we still didn’t even get halfway through.

When we were let out of the room, we tried asking the game master about some of the puzzles, and they couldn’t even give us answers on how they worked or how to do them.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. I’ve been to other locally owned escape rooms that were great, and I will say that the artistic design of this room was well done. But overall, I honestly just feel upset that I spent money on...

We did the clown room in willoughby. We are experienced escape room people, having done over 30 rooms across northeast Ohio. This is no shade to the individual worker at this location. She was likely untrained or just following protocol as she was told. Either way… whoever owns this location needs to make some changes. This place is a dump and I wish I could get my money back. Would give zero starts if I could.

1. this room splits your group up before the game begins. We’ve done this in other rooms at a different company where you get split up mid game for a few minutes, have to solve 1 puzzle, and then get reunited with your group. This clown room split us up and we were split up for a majority of the game. We essentially did 2 separate escape rooms without the rest of our party.

2. the decor at this location was so cheap, things were falling apart, props were broken, we felt like we were in someone’s basement.

3. the rooms were so poorly lit, we could not even read the clues or the key locks. If you are nocturnal, this room is for you. We ended up finding flashlights at the end of the game that were located literally on the ceiling. We obviously did not find these because they were impossible to see in a DARK room. At other escape room companies, they hand you a flashlight in the beginning. Or allow you to use your phone.

4. the clues were so nonsensical and made no sense. After the game, the worker couldn’t even tell us how to solve the puzzles or explain them to us.

5. when the game was reset prior to our time, the props were reset incorrectly. For example, the code to open a suitcase was located inside the suitcase. We physically could not continue the game without the clue…………..

6. when asking for clues… there is no clue button. In order to get a clue, you have to stand in front of the camera and wave your hands and/or yell. If the worker happens notice you yelling & asking for a clue… you might get one. Several times, we asked for a clue and the worker responded “no.” We wasted 20 mins during this room bc the worker would not give us the clue. The clue we needed was the code to unlock the suitcase…. We obviously could not figure out the clue bc the clue was inside the suitcase it. So are we supposed to stand around until time runs out if we can’t figure out the next clue??

7. the door to the business was locked when we arrived and I imagine locked while we were inside. This is a fire violation and unsafe

8. we were told to leave our purses/cell phones in the car or a provided locker. I am not going to leave my phone somewhere where I cannot reach it in case of...