I've gone to EDscapade at least 10 times over the past years and every experience has been superb. Tonight tho was another one and our game master was the main star of hostage. I've done hostage 80 percent of my trips here and this is the first time meeting the guy on the poster. He was definitely a great gm and funny too, and definitely catered to helping scare our group of friends that never been to an escape room before. Really hope to continue bringing more people here in the future and excited for the many other experiences that's soon to come. Best horror escape room in the Bay Area! read more

1 star. We did Studio420 on April 25, 2026 and it was easily the worst escape room either of us has done. For context, I normally only review individual rooms on the Morty app and keep my reviews on here for the venue as a whole, not any one specific room. I'm making an exception for Studio420 because it was that bad. I've done other rooms at this location and actually enjoyed them, and there were more I still wanted to try, but after this one I'm not going back at all. Right at the start we told our game master that our main goal was just to see the whole room and get through it, and she said no problem, she'd help us along. That is not what happened. As far as we could tell the whole thing is a single room. It feels like someone had a spare room lying around and threw an escape game into it to make a quick buck. There's barely any theme. There's even a fully working shower in there that has nothing to do with anything. No cool tech, no real set design, just a pile of cheap padlocks scattered around. The puzzles are where it really falls apart. Half the work is just figuring out which lock a code is even supposed to open, because there are several identical locks and nothing points you to the right one. At one point two things look like they're obviously meant to go together (they had matching stickers) and they turned out to be completely unrelated. Another puzzle has more than one answer that satisfies all the clues, but only one of them actually works, which is not okay when the game only accepts a single solution. When we got stuck we told her flat out that we weren't having fun and asked her to just move us past a puzzle so we could keep going and see the rest of the room. She wouldn't do it. She'd toss little hints, but when we straight up asked her to fast forward us through the parts we weren't enjoying, she refused. At one point she was basically making fun of us for not getting something ("Oh wow fam you don't know your ABC's"), when the clue itself was ambiguous and could be read two different ways. The last straw was leaving. My wife was struggling just to get out of their office on the way out, and instead of helping she stood there grinning like it was all part of the show, after we'd already made it very clear we did not enjoy ourselves. Skip Studio420. Save your money and your afternoon. read more

I find it absolutely wild that this place has nearly 5 stars on Yelp. The puzzle flow is confusing and/or non-existent, partially because it's not obvious what is a "main quest" puzzle and what is a "side quest" puzzle and therefore it's super easy to get sidetracked, and partially because the tech is so poorly maintained that it's not obvious if you actually solved something correctly or if the GM just felt sorry for you and let you progress forward. A lot of the parts of the room are just straight up broken (like missing hooks) or look broken with chipping paint or loose screws. Even GM-controlled devices like music volume and other tech don't work properly and caused us to have a frustrating experience. We did think it was kind of fun to do non-puzzle things to solve clues, but with everything else working as poorly as they did, that didn't make up for the rest of the room. read more

EDscapade was a fun experience. I went with a handful of coworkers and we looked at the chart they made on their website to help people select an experience based on what they are looking for. We selected hostage as it said it was perfect for 14 years and up and is optimal for 6 players. It has a difficulty rate of 4/5 and a 19% completion rate. We also selected the option for hints to be given as nudges (when it appeared that we were struggling) and when we explicitly asked for them. Ethan was our guide, and Jesse was responsible for escorting us into the escape room. The biggest issue my team had was that it appeared that the clues were not given in a linear fashion, they were happened upon. The music helped with the ambiance and feeling of rushing/needing to escape, but it made it difficult for some of our team members to hear one another as English was not some of their first languages. The entire experience was around $40 per person for 6 people as the room cost $120 for an hour. I would come back. read more

EDscapade Games - Escape Games Near Me - San Jose, California

Played the HOPE room but it did not give us any :( at least it was pretty cheap at $27 pp for 3 people. I understand the theme is supposed to be more loose and creative, but most of the puzzles were pretty arbitrary (not actually solving anything) and a lot of stuff was broken or old, and I feel that there should have been better ventilation (super cramped and stuffy). I've heard this is a beta room so maybe it could improve? 3 stars pending just maybe for next time, since I'll most likely come back to update once we try other rooms, which I've heard are good: hostage or box. read more

Went here twice and both experiences were really different from each other so do not compare rooms. Rooms have less tech compared to other places, but still fun and challenging. First one we did was hostage and that one was fun and our GM Ernesto was funny and knew when to help us! Second time we did nursery with Ahn and Ernesto and they told us to think of it more like a video game. Only do this one if you're up for a challenge and is okay with getting scared and isolated. Very unique and fun experiences that are not like other escape rooms. Would recommend checking them out! read more

PRODUCTION VALUE. PRODUCTION VALUE. PRODUCTION VALUE. EDscape is truly unlike any other escape room we've ever played. Their themes, puzzles, and stories are original and really fun! The staff is so friendly and theatrical, which only adds to the fun. Every single detail is carefully thought out and you honestly have to go to experience yourself. Anything else I say will be a spoiler. We've played Hostage and Nursery. Warning!! Nursery is not for the faint of heart. We did not escape the nursery or save our dear, dear Molly but it was still so much fun. read more

EDscapade Games - YES. 100% PLAY THIS. - Escape Games Near Me - San Jose, California

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Review #937 Posted on 9.22.25 We came to EDscapade Games on Saturday the 20th to try this place out. We got there and were greeted right away, we used the bathroom, and went back to head into the escape game. Ernesto helped us through the beginning explanation of how everything worked. He did a good job preparing us. Man the game was hard, even with hints, but that's ok. You for sure don't want it to be easy. You want it to be a good challenge. This was challenging, fun, and the interaction feature they provide you was great. read more

I beg of the owners to please take a day or two to revamp the rooms. I've only done B.O.X. (Did it twice cause I couldn't remember the solutions from the first time about 3-4 years apart). I think that the employees definitely have the gusto and passion for escape rooms. They were funny and engaging to talk to as both introductions and as GMs. However, some puzzles need to be hot glued again and painted again. These are small things that heavily impacted the flow. I was a bit frustrated that I couldn't use the restroom because one of the items spilled over my hand. I had to ask for a paper towel instead. Another thing is that they don't reveal anything about the mini games (I understand that) but we simply asked for the definition of a word and couldn't get that. That was extremely aggravating. Overall, I think avid escape room people wouldn't enjoy this room. A lot of the puzzles we solved through brute force. Also it seems like things were triggered by the GM seeing you solved it. Some of the mini games I'm not even sure if I could get it if I had a whole day. I also think that it's a shame the owners don't care enough to do simple repairs when the complaint is littered throughout the reviews of this place. They seem more focused on creating new rooms rather than improving on the rooms they already have. read more

A big shoutout to ERNESTO ‼for being the best game master. For my son's 11th bday. I highly recommend him for the first timers. In the hostage situation. Playing in a haunted room. read more

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A group of 4 of us went here to do the "Hostage" game. We didn't make it out, but we counted about 2-3 locks/puzzles we had to solve before completing the room. The rooms were decorated well and definitely spooked my group and I. I felt really immersed and they had puzzles that I haven't seen in any other escape rooms, so that was a nice challenge. The lighting was dim which added to the mood and spookiness. The live actor was really funny (and scary) at first, and I really liked that it kept my adrenaline up. Despite the overall good experience -- I just don't think I would give this a high rating. I first felt uneasy when the game master had told us that we might be isolated in this game, even though the website disclaimer did not disclose that. The other games, such as the Nursery, discloses that "you may be isolated from your teammates." I had expressed my fear of isolation before we began the game, and I'm not sure if the game master was trying to continue to spooky vibes, but he did not make me feel any better or comfort about that. He also made the no refund policy clear. In the end I was never isolated-- it turns out that you would only be isolated if your group was 2-3 people, I think. I don't want to give any spoilers but that's just a note for those doing the "Hostage" game and don't want to be isolated. Another thing that happened which was unfortunate, was that my group got stuck on one puzzle for about 10-15 minutes. Because some puzzles of this escape room were linear (you have to solve one before moving on to the next, & cannot solve multiple at one time), we were really frustrated that we could not make any process. We had asked the game master for several hints regarding the same puzzle, but he was giving us hints to a puzzle we had already solved. We felt that our time was wasted. There was another time where we were struggling with another puzzle and asked for a hint, but they hadn't realized we had accidentally tampered with it that prevented us from solving it, which also set us back. When they realized that we shouldn't have "opened one of the bags," they told us to fix it and then we were able to solve the puzzle. I think that the game master either couldn't see what we were doing, or weren't paying attention. Overall, my group was upset (or maybe just me) that we felt like we wasted 15-20 minutes on puzzles that we knew how to solve. We feel like the game master had impacted our success and ability to fully engage with all of the puzzles. 15-20 minutes doesn't seem like a long time, but the time limit is 60 minutes which is about 1/4-1/3 of our time. I would recommend this place if you're looking for a spook. It's definitely a one of a kind place. I'm really hoping that the game master was having a bad day, but I wouldn't come back just because the amount of time wasted inside the game itself because it made me so so sad . I'm definitely a bit disappointed though, because my group wanted to try the Nursery next, as they had advertised that it was one of the scariest escape rooms. read more

I had a wonderful time with the "Hostage" escape room! Our group was made up of 6 people, fairly experienced with escape rooms. We arrived on time for our 8:30 reservation and were welcomed in fairly quickly. Our host was Heather, who was super! She was clear, enthusiastic, and informative. As for the escape room itself, it was a very interesting experience! With a couple of unique mechanics I've never seen in other escape rooms. The puzzles were solid and it took us a couple hints and butting heads to finish with 7 minutes left! Would definitely recommend giving Edscapade a try! read more

EDscapade Games - Escape Games Near Me - San Jose, California

Today we chose to play hostage, it kept us on our toes, and had a great experience. Leo gave us a good time and good scare. I would recommend this to my family and friends. I will definitely come back and try the other rooms. read more

We played the BoX escape room, which was a bit disappointing. I do not recommend this room. Pros: The room was well decorated and there were plenty of props to interact with. The ambiance was excellent. The hosts were very helpful. Cons: The props and decorations need maintenance because some things were falling apart. There was often a delay between puzzles being solved and a sealed door / cupboard opening up because it depends on the hosts (great sage) watching us through a camera to see if we solved it and then they push a button to unlock things. One time, we didn't quite get it right, yet the great sage still unlocked the next part likely because they couldn't see well. Sounds need to be balanced - we often could not hear the great sage over the music. The jankiest part was towards the later half that required the great sage telling us that we had to do a specific action - no clues lying around to guide us towards the answer. read more

It's definitely a lower budget escape room. I would recommend Omescape instead, because they offer more time for similar prices. I went here as a date activity, and even though the website mentioned that we could have 2-6 players, I truly think that more than 2 players were needed. It's pretty difficult to beat with just 2 players. Overall, still had fun. We didn't get the chance to try the Nursery, but the host told us that it was extremely scary so maybe we'll try that next time. read more

Low budget escape room, pieces of a puzzle that were either faded or falling apart, clues written in pencil. It was very disappointing and some puzzles were missing pieces and wasted time that we could have used to solve other puzzles. read more

Recently I played the room "Nursery" as a team of 2. We both have 20ish rooms completed but we went in expecting the room to be a challenge due to word of mouth. However, our experience was worse than anticipated. Though "Nursery" seems like a great concept we noted the puzzles to be very convoluted and disconnected. Additionally, the concept of sanity seems to be weird as you would expect only the person in darkness to lose sanity. Anyways, the main gripe we both had with the room was our gm. We noted many props to be out of place and suspect that one of the props was missing, which resulted in a block of a puzzle and eventual game loss. We spent around 50 minutes scouring the room for this one puzzle. Around 30 minutes remaining the gm insinuated that we had dropped it in the room which we both fully checked, then said it was in the starting area. After fully sweeping each area he eventually said that he would check the spot to verify the object. We were then allowed back in yet we could still not find it. Eventually it devovled into us doing pushups where my teammate got hit in the head by one of the live actors. After getting out of the room the gm told us that we had dropped it and that many teams do. Though we aren't sure of what actually happened it seems weird that our gm would have us go in circles for 50 minutes instead of just replacing the object back in its correct location. read more

Super fun spot! My friend booked the place for her birthday and we had about 30+ people across 4-5 different escape games. There's several different themes to choose from, and the storylines are GREAT! My group did the "BoX" game. This was fantasy themed and super fun. Our host, Leo, was great! We were able to solve all the puzzles in the main game and escape with 4 minutes to spare, but there were a few side quests you can do as well. Unfortunately, the group doing the horror theme room did not manage to escape, but they said it was a ton of fun and very scary/thrilling if that's your vibe. read more

Heather and Johnny were our game masters for Battle of Xu Qua and they were awesome!! The escape room is pretty fun with a lot of things to find and side quests. Ethan and Leo were great for The Nursery. Leo was a great host and thank you to Ethan for being "gentle". Pro tip - Don't do the Nursery if you aren't into scary stuff..like it isn't something you can just "power through"! Overall rooms were really fun, well thought out, and the Nursery was crazy suspenseful. Can't give too much again for the games cuz it'll mess with the surprises, but definitely worth checking out if you're in the area! read more

No storyline or plot was given. One of our members could not see very well in the dark and dimly lit and we were told there would be a light inside which wasn't true which made it very difficult for her to see. The WORST part was that the puzzles WERENT EVEN SOLVABLE. We had the correct answer and even confirmed with the game master after the game ended, but the code to the lock never worked, and the game master was left as confused as we were. Admittedly, we are grateful that they let us start the games after coming in late. This might've been the worst escape room experience I've ever experienced. The puzzles had zero relation to each other and were overall very ambiguous. I'd like to emphasize that this place is terrible. Would've been nice if they offered to cover the cost of the game because of the poor experience, but of course, they didn't. read more

Koya Ernesto was the funniest GM weve had to date LMAO. He made the whole experience extra fun and memorable for our team and was kind enough to answer all of our silly questions at the end of the game. We've successfully conquered Lockdown! Very excited to see what other games we'll end up doing and hopefully we get Ernesto again as GM! read more

Spoiler free summary: I do not recommend H.O.P.E if you want a typical escape room experience or if your group isn't one couple or if you have bad knees. The instructions are few and unclear, and the puzzles are unintuitive. In addition, my group was left outside for 10 minutes past the start time of our booking. There will be some spoilers past this paragraph because I cannot explain my full negative experience completely spoiler free. Don't continue reading this if you do not want any spoilers. . . . . . . . . . . . . H.O.P.E is not an escape room. It is a relationship test where your actions are judged by the game master, so there is no "right" answer. The door just happens to be locked while they do it. This is not obvious from the online booking website. The game master also does not explain there are no right answers in their initial brief before starting the experience, nor do they hint about it during the escape room. They do have a post on their blog hinting at what this experience is, but the post doesn't explain it completely. My experience: I went with 2 friends. We waited outside for 20 minutes (10 minutes past the start time) before being let in to start the initial brief. The first two rooms were standard. The last room, where we could not make any sound, was the room where the puzzles have no correct answers, nor indications when we have done a puzzle correctly. Again, this was not explained to us. We got stuck on the last puzzle, trying to figure out if we were doing it correctly. Because this was a silent room, we couldn't communicate with each other, nor with our game master. We were stuck for at least 15 minutes before the game master told us to indicate to him when we think we've finished the puzzle. We were then let out and told that we reached one of the many endings to the experience, and therefore could not experience the last puzzle. In addition, the game master gave us a "Love Scale", which rated our compatibility as a couple. Just a reminder, we were a group of 3 friends. Close friends, yes, but not that close. Overall, I H.O.P.E. the builders of this experience will give more warning to future players about what exactly this experience is. They need to be clear in the booking website that this experience is a relationship test meant for couples, and is not a typical escape room. I also hope they will consider clearer instructions for their players. P.S. I don't think the puzzles would have been fun to do as a couple anyways. read more

Heather was an amazing game host! She provided really clear instructions and created an unforgettable time for us. Besides that, the sets and puzzles are well-designed, and the overall experience is enthralling. Would definitely come back again!! read more

Nice game master, his name was Patrick. We did lockdown, it was slightly difficult. However, one lock wasn't able to be work. Overall, fun experience, they let us play even though we were late!! read more

We played the hostage, Jesse was our game master and we had a great experience! The puzzles were challenging but everything made sense, sadly we did not finish but we had a lot of fun read more

We went recently with family and it was super fun and immersive! I've only been to an escape room once before. The staff are students in theatre and do a really good job at hosting. We had Diego, he was awesome and very patient with us amateurs. We played the murder story which was a medium level. There were definitely LOTS of puzzles. We were close to finishing. Rooms looked really cool and the intro to the game was the best part! read more

Me and one other friend played the nursery. Set design was cool but very obviously not well maintained. We found actual tools inside the room that didn't belong there or weren't part of the game and during a live actor portion our actor accidentally hit me hard in the face, they immediately apologized but it definitely added to my personal frustration. During one of our puzzles a prop was either missing or we dropped it while leaving the room. I understand that we may have dropped it but the frustration came from the fact the GM was pointing us in the wrong direction using hints insisting we had just missed the item at first, then insinuating we had brought the item with us and that it was close by even though it wasn't. Spent well over 50 min on one puzzle and even after the game ended the best info the GM could give us was that we must have dropped it and they would "look for it after we left" but they insisted they reset the room correctly. I don't wanna ever assume they didn't reset properly but it would have been nice to either show us where we dropped it or at the very least don't lead us in random directions when you don't even know where the item is???? It also didn't help when our GM said we completed "45% of the game" when we had only done a total of 4 puzzles??? Our experience may have been a 1 off thing but at the same time I cannot lie when I say we left very upset. read more

This review is dedicated to the Hostage! It was my boyfriend's and my first escape room, so we did not know what to expect. From my experience... I spent at least 30m being scared, so even after completing my task I wanted to stay in my room and wait for my boyfriend to come get me. When I finally grew some balls to leave, it was a lot better. Keep in mind, I hate the darkness, so with that mindset I already failed LOL Quang was our Game Master and he was incredible from beginning to end. He didn't seem to have a lot of personality when he first helped us with the waiver and explained the game, but once we started the game, his comments, hints, personality, character, and voice heightened all types of my emotions. Despite screaming and hiding for most of the game, this was so much! Thank you Quang for easing us with into our first experience :) read more

EDscapade Games - Hostage - Escape Games Near Me - San Jose, California

Great escape room experience! Super interactive and pretty challenging. We escaped but had to use multiple hints Paige H. was great at explaining the rules and was very patient with our group! We did Hostage and didn't get to do any of the optional mini puzzles so it was definitely challenging! read more

had a great time escaping from BoX with the Great Sage Heather :) she was super helpful, nudged at the right times, and the room overall was really cool and well designed. all the other rooms that we've tried have also been super intricate and we can't stop coming back for all the newly developed rooms! would highly recommend! read more

Edscapade was a good time! We tried the BOX escape room, battle of xu'qua. I think it is a perfect room for beginners to try out an escape room. It is well-decorated/pretty immersive, which I enjoyed a lot. Our sage, Heather, was kind and fun, and communicated with us during the game. I would recommend this room for people to get into escape games. I think the difficulty of this room is rated 2/5, so it may be too easy for seasoned escapers. read more

Since I can't do horror / crisis situations (at least for an escape room theme), the only room my husband and I could do here was BOX. Located in an office space above the best sandwich shop in South Bay (California Sourdough), it's quite the operation they have here for an escape room. Without spoiling too much... BOX is an easy room if you're an enthusiast, probably a good room if you're still a beginner. Our host was very enthusiastic and kept to the dialogue theme from the beginning to the end. That said, since our Game Host was assigned to us they seemed to be paying close attention - if we were pondering for too long they would try to drop a hint and triggering certain events that didn't appear to have a "mechanical trigger". This seems to be the case with escape rooms now, where hosts offer hints rather than waiting for the ask or limiting the number of asks. The main puzzle is linear with "one key per lock", there was a "dexterity" challenge that was pretty fun but also took up a bit of time. We also had the late night slot so one of the riddles was particularly hard... make sure your mind is thinking out if the box (but not too extreme). Keep in mind - my husband and I are escape room enthusiasts and we enjoyed doing this room as a couple. With just the two of us it was easy to keep ourselves busy and engaged with the puzzles. Though the room is linear, there are side quests / bonus puzzles that I suppose if you had more people you could work on (I think they grant extra time if solved?), but we were able to escape the room without need to. Overall, a good beginner / family friendly escape room that I would recommend if you are in the area. read more

EDscapade Games - Records for B.O.X. - Escape Games Near Me - San Jose, California

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Was super fun i went with my mother and was super intrigued the whole game great place and games

Next level good! We did outbreak and the game was very immersive. Thanks for a great experience. We will escape next time!

This might've been the best escape room my family and I have played! Ethan, our gamemaster and host, was hilarious and very accommodating. He cracked us up and answered all our questions. This escape room had features that I haven't experienced from other escape rooms in the Bay Area (ex. possible isolation, live actors, chains). Although we didn't escape, it was fun and the puzzles were interesting! read more

I took my friend and his two daughters to do B.o.x. It was their first time and B.o.x. is a good G-rated 'first time' Escape Room for family and kids 8+. Overall the puzzles were good for first timers and 'fairly' intuitive. The main problem is that the escape room picture / icon and description don't really match at all what you are doing. You are never in any kind of 'battle' per se and the ending is kind of anticlimactic. Also the audio quality was not good and in each room it was a bit of a struggle to understand the game master. However a shout out to game master Heather who was super cheerful and fun. She also knew how to pace the hints so that we never got too stuck but also she never gave us the answer. She turned this from a 3-star 'good' experience into a 4-star 'very good' on her own. Cheers to her! Overall, I would come back. The others are pretty adult as I understand. I just wish the escape room story and description better matched the actual puzzles and gameplay action. read more

My friend and I completed BOX with our hostess Paige Hutchinson. She was great and the enthusiasm made the experience all the more better and believable . Although my friend and I never done an escape room together we were able to team build to completing the room. Paige was great as far as letting us experience good, bads and our failures as any real game should. I can't rant how great this experience was and I'm curious to try the more challenge and scary escape rooms. I would come back forsure and hopefully get Paige again to help us with our journey, but I'm open to new workers as well. Paige just set the bar pretty high for our first time read more

Came here with my boyfriend we've done all of the rooms with the Escape Game and wanted to try something new. We decided to go with lockdown it was super fun Jesse was our game host and a really amazing, and extremely helpful with hints that didn't give everything away. Would 100% recommend coming fun for beginners and for those experienced with escape rooms . read more

We did Hostage and had so much fun! Perfect level of difficulty and thrill. We didn't pass but Heather helped us get as far as we could, thanks girl ;) Second time doing a puzzle here and we'll definitely go again read more

Such a cool experience! We had Nello and he was the best! He made the experience so much more memorable and fun, next time we go again we'll make sure to have him again :) read more