Escapology Tempe Review!

 

My kids have both done at home Escape "rooms" with us in the past & have been wanting to do a in person Escape room for quite sometime, so I set out to look for one that is family friendly. I found a spot in Tempe that not only offers regular escape rooms, but if you are looking for a birthday party idea they also have rooms specifically designed for kids to escape together as a group. The room we selected isn't specifically geared towards children, however it was a moderate challenge room & our children who are ten and fifteen felt confident they would do just fine. Escapology Tempe was kind enough to have the four of us out to test out one of their escape rooms & write a review for them. Escapology Tempe offers seven different rooms, plus they have a kids mode as well. Rooms at Escapology are private so you will not need to worry about another party joining in with you. 

The room we selected was Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge.The theme for this room was is that you & your group are part of a training course who is sent out on a mission by Batman to stop a disaster from happening in Gotham. You have sixty minutes to find & solve clues that will help you complete your mission, save Gotham City & escape the room. If you get stuck your game master will be able to help provide some clues to help you progress. So, were we able to beat the clock and save Gotham City? Keep reading to find out. 

This challenge consisted of three rooms full of puzzles that need to be solved & completed before the clock runs out. You start off your adventure in the Batcave being given instructions by Batman, once he is finished giving you a run down of what your mission is the first step is to find your way out of the Batcave. I enjoyed how they had everything set up in the Batcave, you did feel like you are in a real room set up by Batman for briefings and training. This is also the area where you'll find a screen which will hold any clues you ask for along with a basket to hold any belongings you do not wish to carry the entire time. I honestly wasn't keeping a close eye on the clock so I can not say how long it took to get out of the first room.

The second room was well thought out as well with how everything was decorated and made to feel as though it was part of the Gotham City world & that you are actually in Arkham looking for clues as to how you will stop the disaster in the city. This room had a lot more physical things that were able to be found, moved and completed which was a lot of fun & I felt like we all did a great job contributing to certain aspects of different puzzles to figure it out as a team. 

Entering the last room we had just under sixteen minutes left to complete the final steps. We were able to do one of the puzzles & collect a piece we needed for the final puzzle however one of the puzzles that needed to be completed in this room stopped us in our tracks. I do not want to go into complete detail of what the puzzles was as that would ruin the fun for anyone else wanting to do this game. I will note though that when the screen dinged after we spent quite a while on the puzzle, the clue that was on the screen already matched what we had figured out & what was written down on our little notepad. We had tried the combination forwards, backwards and with a combination of signs as well but nothing seemed to work. We did sadly end up losing! When our host came in after, I asked her if she could show us what the answer was along with showing her on our notepad our list of the order + the different ways I tried to punch them in. She went to hit the same buttons I had & said it should have done something so I honestly have no clue if it was something we had done wrong or if this particular puzzle wasn't working properly. She had let us know she would tell her manager about it as she seemed slightly puzzled as well. My husband & kids felt slightly robbed with that puzzle, but it happens! 

Even without escaping we did have a lot of fun & it was great seeing the kids in action figuring out puzzles and helping with clues. My husband and I think they did a fantastic job and we are looking forward to taking them to do another escape room in the future. We went on Easter, so Escapology actually had some Easter eggs hidden around their lobby area which was a cute way to decorate for the holiday. I had thought it was just the lobby eggs were hidden, but during our escape game my son actually found an egg hidden in one of the rooms! It had candy and a little note to take it to a staff member to redeem for a free game in the future. I thought that was a nice touch to add for guests coming in on a holiday. Escape rooms are always fun to do with friends or with family! If you are looking for something exciting to do, why not try out an escape room? Stop by their website to see the different themes they offer and book a escape challenge today. Prices for the rooms range from $36 per player for the kids mode up to $44 per player for certain rooms. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer- The experience mentioned above was provided by  Escapology Tempe for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Escape Mail Episode 2 Review!

Back in December we received & reviewed the first episode of Escape Mail. If you didn't have the chance to catch that review, Escape Mail is an escape room in an envelope. There are twelve different episodes to complete, you are able to sign up to get one a month or they have an option where you can get several or even all of them in one go instead of waiting for the next episode to arrive. This month we received the second episode & I will be sharing a short review on it. The subscription is $14.75 per episode or you can bundle and buy them at once for $12.50 each. 

In the first episode it had a map included & had mentioned that there was a missing piece. I wasn't sure if that meant to hold onto the game pieces or not, but I did hold onto them. However, we didn't need them for the second episode. Aside from a pair of scissors, a phone with Wi-Fi & a pen/paper everything you need can be found in the envelope. The amount of time this takes will depend on how well your detective skills are. If you end up getting stuck, they do have some small hints that can get you back on track & if you want music playing while you are figuring everything out, they have a QR code for a customized play list that fits with the episode. We do not really pay attention to anything other than figuring out the clues, so we do not have anything playing during our sessions. 

Each episode is engaging & really pushes you to think about each piece included in the envelope and how they might connect. The piece you need to start will have a small riddle included on it that will give you the clue to where to start next. During this episode there was only one puzzle we got a little stuck on, so we peeked at the clue & realized we had done the puzzle correctly we were just looking at the answer in the wrong way. Otherwise, we just needed to take a moment to think about how the clues intertwine with each other & how they could be used to solve a puzzle. 

As this is something that is meant to be completed by yourself or with a group of friends/family, I won't go into detail about any specific puzzle, so I won't accidently giveaway the answer or how to complete it. I will say that some of these puzzles make you think outside of the box & they are a lot of fun to complete. My family and I have really enjoyed both episodes so far & think this would make a fun monthly game night if you do the twelve-month subscription. Age wise it is recommended for ages 10+ and I think that is pretty accurate, due to the complexity level of some of the clues. Younger children might find it too difficult or too boring as they can't really participate in helping solve the puzzles. My son is right at the age limit of ten, he enjoys helping out with the puzzles and thinking of ways they need to be solved. We are looking forward to seeing what the other episodes have in store! I think they did a fantastic job at putting these envelopes together & hope they come out with some other story lines in the future as well. 

✉ Does this sound like a Mystery Escape you'd enjoy subscribing to? What stands out to you the most about this subscription?

Disclaimer- Escape Mail provided Episode one for this review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Escape Mail Episode 1 Review!

 

If you enjoy solving mysteries & completing puzzles then Escape Mail may be just the thing you are looking for. Escape Mail is a fun escape room in an envelope! Season one of the series currently has twelve different envelopes to complete, you can buy them one at a time or subscribe to them all at once. They are $14.75 per episode or you can bundle and buy them at once for $12.50 each. If you aren't a big mystery solver yourself, but know someone who is, I think this would make a wonderful holiday gift. 

I received episode one to complete with my family & we had a good time trying to solve everything in this episode. Each episode will take you one to two hours to complete & can be played with one to four players ages ten and older. You'll have everything you need in the envelope aside from one or two things that you should have around your house. We needed to grab a pair of scissors, a roll of tape & our cell phone in order to get started on solving clues. I like that they had a little card that included a play list with songs that went with this episode, it was nice to have in the background. 

There will be a QR code to scan which will bring up a short introduction video on their website. This video will go over the basics of what you will need (the items mentioned above) & give you a small clue of where to start your adventure. If you ever get stuck & need a small hint there is another QR code which will allow you to take a small peek at any spot you feel like you can't get past. However you may not need that QR code depending on your detective skills. 

We have done escape room boxes in the past that were kind of meh, they lead to a little bickering and seemed to just drag along. That wasn't the case with Escape Mail, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit & everything seemed to move along at a steady pace. Some of the clues took a little bit to figure out however we eventually managed to combine our ideas & thoughts and figure out the clues. The only thing that bugged us slightly was that the all the S's on one of the papers all looked like plus signs which threw us off a little when it came to that particular part of the game. I think this episode was set up wonderfully, I liked the different assortment of puzzles types. It was fun brainstorming with my family to work on one puzzle to lead us to the next clue. I also like that this doesn't have to be completely at home, you can take it with on a trip to complete in your hotel in your down time or even have a picnic at the park on a nice day while completing these puzzles. 

I want to provide you with a more in-depth details about some of the fun activities in this game, but I also do not want to give away any game clues. We had a great time solving this first mission & we are excited and want to know what happens next. If you are a little impatient & do not want to wait for a monthly envelope to arrive you can purchase one of the bundles that sends all of them at once. 

✉ Does this sound like a Mystery Escape you'd enjoy subscribing to? What stands out to you the most about this subscription?

Disclaimer- Escape Mail provided Episode one for this review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Escape the Crate Review + Giveaway!

Escape rooms can be a lot of fun, but you might not have a full team of players to go with or you simply don't want to leave your house and that is okay! There is a fun alternative of doing an escape game all from the comfort of your own home. I recently received the wonderful chance to work with Escape the Crate on a review (plus a giveaway below!). What sets their escape games apart? Instead of being a escape game company that sells only one or two escapes for you to complete this is a subscription based escape crate that will send you a new crate every other month, it starts at $29.99 a crate but goes down in price if you buy a longer subscription. They put a lot of work into each crate and it shows when you are playing the game.

To play this game thoroughly and completely you will need a fully charge electronic device that can hook up to the internet. Why? Instead of this being a paper/item only escape game it has an interactive website that helps you along on your journey. If you don't feel like reading everything out loud to your group they have audio buttons you can hit and it will read everything out for you. Along with having someone read the directions and story to you, they also have youtube videos intertwined that have vital information for your escape.

For our crate we are spies who work for an agency that is able to travel through time to help stop a villain from destroying the timeline. One of the things that I like most about this isn't just that it comes with an app, but you'll also get an assortment of documents, real props and the box that it comes in itself is part of the game as well so it really is the whole package. 

The app does provide some hints at the bottom of the page in case you get stuck, just like how a game master would help you out in a Escape room. You are not punished nor do you have to remove anytime from your count down for using a clue, they are meant to be helpful so that you can enjoy your game experience without feeling overwhelmed or upset. If you prefer to play this alone instead of with a group they have "solo" options for certain aspects that would normally require at least two people.

The first half of the game is set up a little easier than the second half so that first timers can get a hang of how to play, then once you move onto the second half it becomes a bit harder. Both parts have their own set amount of time to complete them in or you can choose just to do it for fun and not set a timer at all. I liked the fact that we were not stuck doing both portions at once, each one takes an hour to an hour and a half which is a decent amount of time so we finished the first half then did the second half a few days later when we weren't busy.

We all had a lot of fun working together trying to figure out clues, the kids even pointed out things their dad and I didn't spot when first looking at everything that ended up being a big help for solving different aspects of the codes we needed to progress further in the game. The second half of the game was indeed harder than the first half and didn't have as much direction as the first so we were stuck on the first riddle for a little longer than we'd like to admit until it finally clicked as it was something you wouldn't think of right away. 

They do provide information on how to "reset" the game and also offer a way to print off any sheets that get ruined during the game so you can re-start everything, therefore you could re-gift this crate to a friend or a family member to try out. I think the Escape the Crate team did a great job putting everything together and making it user friendly. If you love Escape games or have been wanting to try one out, I suggest taking a look at their website to see what they offer. If you missed a crate that you really want to try out they offer you the chance to purchase a retired crate.

Want to try out a crate of your own or subscribe for a set amount of time? Use code MOONLIT20 to get 20% OFF of your purchase.

PRIZE ALERT: One lucky winner is going to win a crate of their own to try out. 

This is open to US & Canadian Residents! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! This giveaway is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 3/14/2022

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment answering this question > If you could have your crate set in any time period/era, which would you choose?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer-  Escape the Crate provided the products mentioned above for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Terminator 2 Escape with Escape Westgate!

Have you ever wondered about what would happen in the case of an emergency situation such as the end of the world or a zombie apocalypse? Out of your friends and family, who do you think would be the best to have with in your survival group for the best chance of survival? We may never find out the answer for the two scenarios mentioned above, But you are able to find out who is the best at solving puzzles to help you escape being locked in a room together. Every year Escape rooms are becoming more popular and for good reason, not only are they exciting,but they are a great team building exercise and you can push yourself to your limits as well. If you aren't familiar with what an escape room is, it is a immersive clue finding game where you and a team of your choice are locked inside of a room for one hour. In order to escape and beat the room you have to search for clues, figure out puzzles and complete missions to get out. If you don't complete it within the hour time frame, you lose!

Earlier this week my husband, four of our friends and myself were able to check out Escape Westgate, which is located at 6751 N Sunset Blvd Suite E-108, Glendale, AZ 85305. They offer three themed rooms: The Hidden Tomb, Bill & Ted's Excellent Escape room and Terminator 2 Escape. Their website allows you to book the room ahead of time or you can walk in and see what the wait time is for one of the rooms. Each room allows up to ten people, you can all go as a group or you are able to join other small groups. Although they allow ten people in a room, we thought a group of six was the best size otherwise it may have been slightly cramped inside of the room. Tickets are $30.99 per person for the one hour game room. Don't completely rely on google maps to get you to their location, it will give you a general area but it doesn't lead you right to it. You will need to park and walk into the shopping center, Escape Westgate is located next to the Yard House. We all decided to go with the Terminator 2 room. The room really made us feel as though we had stepped into the Terminator movies with how they decorated the room and how they placed clues for getting out.

Before heading into the room you get to meet your game master who is watching you on camera for the hour you are in the room, our game master was named Jacob. Jacob did a wonderful job explaining the rules, letting us know a bit of what to expect and let us know if we needed help he could give us a clue on the screen in the room. Once inside we set to work figuring out the clues of how to beat the room before the hours is complete. You would think an hour is plenty of time to find clues and figure everything out, however you'd be surprised at how intricate everything actually is. Some escape rooms have it set up to where you have to work on one clue at a time in order to compete the room but then what is the rest of the group doing? This room allowed all of us to be working on various puzzles both together and separate to try to figure everything out, so it really was a team effort. Get stuck and need a hint? You do not get points or time removed if you ask for a hint from the game master, and the hint/clues don't give anything away they just point you to the general direction of where you need to go. We thought everything was extremely well done with how they provided clues/hints.

I can't give away any of the puzzles that were in the room, however I can let you know that they did a wonderful job setting up the room with ample amounts of details both in how they hid clues, set out puzzles and included references from the movie into the room. I was amazed at a few of the things that seemed to be right in front of our faces yet we didn't realize it right away. Each of us contributed towards the room as a whole and none of us felt is if the others weren't doing anything to help out. We had a lot of fun doing the room and the hour went by extremely quick! The hour was up before we knew it. I do not think that a solo player would be able to complete the room as at least one puzzle needed two people, so you would need at least two people to complete the room. So how did we do?

We completed the room with milliseconds left! Our game master told us it was one of the closest games he had seen. The entire car ride back we all were talking about the various details in the room and how impressed we were with the room as whole. All of the staff members we interacted with were friendly, happy and quite helpful with any questions we had about the facility. After our room was completed Jacob came back in and let us ask some questions about the rooms, and puzzles. We learned that two of the puzzles we managed to complete without even needing any clues! Prior to leaving we were able to pick out some signs to take a photo with including a sign to show off our game time. Do I suggest checking out Escape Westgate? Yes, I think you'd have a lot of fun whether you lose or not. Do you need to know about/be a fan of the Terminator movies to do this room? No, you don't.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Escape Westgate for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.