I went with a group of 5 friends and boy it was amazing!!! Not busy at all. We ever were like 5 minutes late and were still accommodated. The staff were amazing & told us they are all volunteers working for a non profit. All of their business goes back to charities It was actually a very challenging escape room (it was our FIRST time though). We made it through 2/4 rooms in 70 minutes! Special shoutout to Clark & Autumn. They were awesome, kind & funny! Cool theme throughout the venue as well (: read more

Freighthouse Station Escape room Challenge - Entry area with photo props! - Escape Games Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

Where to start? I have done multiple puzzle rooms in different cities, and this one was just BAD! Nothing is cohesive, nothing makes sense, just a bunch of numbers and dates. Nothing is in order leading to where the next challenge or the escape is, they simply let us in the next room after we looked at everything. Guide was bored and looked at their phone the whole time, while slumped in a chair. My daughter and I studied up on H.H. Holmes for this experience; but don't bother unless you want to remember a LOT of random dates and numbers that don't really mean anything. I mean, I could see one or two dates, for combination locks as an example, but not for every single clue, and nothing actually connects to anything else. Don't waste your time or money. read more

Clark and Autumn were fantastic and the room was well put together. There was a lot of detail and thoughtfulness that went into the experience and we really enjoyed our time trying to escape. We are already planning on going back there. read more

This was a fun activity for our adult family members (6 in all). Next time we'll try 4 people, since we felt a bit cramped. Finley was a great host who gave us hints along the way and made sure we stayed on track. We still only solved one room out of three, but we did the most challenging option, which was HH Holmes. Next time we'll try the Abe Lincoln one downstairs. read more

Great experience. Fun, challenging room (H.H. Holmes) and the puzzles made sense. Owner was interested in our feedback and seemed devoted to continuing to improve the rooms and build them up. We were a party of four with plenty of experience and a high clear rate - so we accidentally bypassed a clue or two in our path through. Great on the fly adapting by the host, and the staff were lovely. Plus, free water, which is always a plus. read more

I took 5 teen girls for a fun little adventure. We somehow picked the hardest one but we made it through all 3 rooms in the nick of time. The staff were friendly and funny and it was a great experience. read more

My group and I had a blast. The host was extremely kind and informative along with our "helper" who was in the room with us. We went not knowing what to expect(it was my wife and I first escape room)but in the end it was great. The room we chose was very thought out when it came to their clues very well put together. I must say we will def be going back in the near future. Also great to note that the workers there are all volunteers, and the proceeds all go towards the food bank, which is awesome. Def loved this place. Highly recommend it. read more

This was fun and challenging. I like that they give most of the proceeds to charity and can appreciate that all of the staff are volunteers. It was a little strange having someone in the room with us (the game host) but she started to get irritated with our lack of finding the clues and started to get a bit impatient in her commentary. Outside of that, the kids I went with enjoyed it so that's all that matters. read more

Absolutely wonderful staff. Explained everything super well, great story lines, very interactive with their guest. My party of 5 had a super good time, and two of them said for their first Escape room, it was amazing and they can't wait to come back. Currently planning on coming back up in a few weeks to try another room. Honestly this is hands down one of the best escape rooms we've ever done. Highly highly recommend. read more

This was the WORST escape room I've been to (underground railroad). The puzzles were erratic almost everything in the room was marked do not touch or do not move. There were many locks in the room that you didnt need to unlocked. Clues were really, really weird. Including clues youd have to unlock but then they didnt do anything and were totally pointless. Overall a total waste of money. Apparently all staff are volunteers and they donate 80% to local charity, which i like, but other than that, horrible! Staff are also awkwardly in the room with you at all times and reek like cigarette smoke. Awful!!! read more

1st time at an escape room. The idea of it was interesting and our family of 6 had fun. However....it was a bit dirty and the smell of ciggarettes was overwhelming and disgusting. The people at the front desk were polite and so was our guide hoever we felt like she gave us too many hints. It was also a bummer that the locks were messed up in one of the rooms so we didnt have to figure out as many clues. We liked the fact the 80% of the money goes to a good cause and for that I give it 2 stars Id like to try an escape room again but I won't be going back to that one as I can't stand the smell of second hand smoke read more

We've been to many escape rooms and this one just okay. Nice enough welcome by the front desk but our young hostess in the room was lacking a bit in the manners department: I understand that she's a volunteer, but still, her tone of voice and demeanor took away any fun in the already cramped and overly warm rooms. Even her clues were a bit on the obscure side and at times we felt like we were missing the obvious when in fact, it was far from it. Although we didn't have a great experience there, I understand and. appreciate that this is a lot of volunteer hours and contributions to the food bank in the building. For that, I appreciate what this business is doing and wish them well. read more

This is the worst escape room I've ever done. Don't do it. Give your money to the food bank directly. In the third room, our group was forced to shock each other in an electric chair multiple times, once for each time the participant had been known to break the rules. Said rules included not looking at anything in the room before the countdown clock started, and we all got docked for that multiple times -- even when we were looking directly at the actor. One of us was pulled aside and given the option to add more shocks to everyone or to themselves-- and was really glad they didn't add to everyone. The first person cooperated with being strapped into the chair, because we thought it would be something like a joker gun. Eg, We'd pull the trigger but the gun would spit out a bang flag. Nope. The chair provided a steady shock which was enough to make all of us scream and come out feeling extremely shaky. The actor in the room made it seem completely non optional even as we tried to delay by not administering successive shocks and in one case by finding and turning off the power switch. This is the worst escape room I've ever done. Don't give them a dime. The puzzles themselves are really simplistic and feel like clues designed by someone who's never actually been to a real escape room before. On this alone I would not recommend the room. Instead of symbols matching clues to locks like you'll experience in almost every other room, you get random clues and have to try every possible lock. Many of the clues have to be converted to fit the lock or refer to a long story the actor tells you outside the room which has no references inside. Good luck fitting Lucille on the 5 character lock. Turns out it was lucy1. The clue is white? Go for wh!te and then step back as the actor has to take over because the code was changed and the clue doesn't match anymore. You don't need any of the clues, anyway. The actor will be constantly mumbling to himself in the corner and miming things. He'll solve everything for you that way. Don't do this room. Give your money directly to the food bank. read more

We had a great time as a family doing this escape room. We did the H.H. Holmes Challenge and it was a lot of fun. We'll definitely return to try the other challenges. There is a "host" in the rooms with you, which is different, but it didn't bother us. read more

We are veteran Escape Room enthusiasts and were so eager to try out this new escape room. Lobby: The location is great, the lobby was nicely decorated and the lady at the desk was friendly and helpful-we were so excited! Host: Our young game host lacked enthusiasm and gave distracting hints and mumbled answers that were hard to follow. Puzzles:The clues given were either boring or too vague, so there was no excitement or sense of accomplishment when a combination was found. The clues given by the host sometimes solved the puzzle for you instead of leading you in the right direction. Atmosphere: The decorations were cheesy and trashy-looking (rubber ducks glued to the wall, cheap thrift-store toys everywhere and no real sense of theme). Overall:The final room was anti-climactic, the puzzle solved in 3 minutes and was a boring way to end the experience. There was no sort of backstory given other than a list of facts and clues you were expected to memorize as she read them and when you entered the room, you didnt know what the point of the room even was. I think the makers of this business need to go visit several other escape rooms to get ideas for improving their puzzle rooms. Unless you are really excited about donating to charity, I would skip this. For an awesome escape room, check out Escape Hour Gig Harbor. They have done a great job at crafting an experience well worth the time and money!! read more

Escape rooms are the new craze and for good reason. They are entertaining and mind boggling. We were part of a 6-person group and we went through the most complicated escape room the Freight House Station has. We were with seasoned vets of escape rooms so we were fairly confident we'd get out. We didn't..... but only missed the mark by about 5 mins. We had a fun experience. The waiting area has coffee, candy, and brownies to nibble on while you wait your turn. The rooms we were in were challenging but not impossible - with a little help. The volunteer staff were super friendly and personable. If you get out before the time limit you could earn a free gift card!! And the proceeds of this escape room go to a food bank.... so go, have fun, and help out those in need. read more

I will start off by saying the employees were pleasant and nothing against them. IF YOU REAS NOTHING ELSE OF THIS REVIEW: save your money, go to a better rated room When you first enter it smells like smoke and looks like someone emptied a dumpster into a room searching for decorations.. the rooms were no different as every single lock (and there were PLENTY) was old, worn out, letters rubbed off and had to YANK on them in order for them to work. The rooms are only locks, nothing original AND answers were the wrong amount of letters/number meaning that if the answer was meant to be f-r-e-d-d-y but the lock only had 5 letters you had to condense the answer in a strange way that had nothing to do with the actual answer. So instead of the answer being Freddy you would try fredy/ fredi etc.. This is common throughout each room and in my opinion just boils down to poor room design and lack of originality when making clues. To make things better, you do not obtain clues on your own. A LONG story is read to you with 5,000 dates, names, nonsense, the works. And of course you don't get a copy of this story so you are expected to remember everything; impossible. The funny part is that they know it's impossible so their solution is to dress up an employee to "give you vague clues" and follow you around in the rooms. Literally this is just an annoying additional member to your group who you didn't ask for yet has somehow memorized all of the answers. Last but not least... the employee/unwanted member of our group followed us around and when he was done completing the lock for us he immediately put all components of that puzzle back together as if we hadn't done it. This was only confusing and didn't help when we were trying to figure out which locks we had already done. Conclusion: don't do it read more

I've been to a couple escape rooms before and this was by far the worst. The staff is horribly rude. The room is set up poorly. Most stuff is labeled as "do not touch" which is fine but it makes it very non interactive. Everything is fragile and if you bump into something in the dark the staff will get mad. The staff member with us was horrid and made me want to leave. Very condescending and got pissed off if you tried touching something even if it wasn't labeled "do not touch". The clues are very bad with no thinking required, just finding numbers and putting them in combination locks. Don't come here read more

Very fun! We had a blast, there were three different rooms for one theme, so expect to be entrained the whole time! The volunteer was very, very helpful and pleasant. We're definitely coming back again. read more

It was fun and exciting!! The staff and owner are friendly. We did the Civil War room and escaped with 90 seconds left!! I absolutely love the Houdini Locks!! It will really give your brain an ache :) read more

Worst escape room I have ever been to. The puzzles are unoriginal and it is just an unending pile of locks which left me with an actual headache by the end of the first room. The host who walked through with us was verbally condescending making it an uncomfortable experience that I could not wait to escape from. It is nice that the proceeds go to a food bank. Hopefully they upgrade both the rooms to have more different types of puzzles and a host/hostess that doesn't walk around criticizing the groups communication constantly. read more

Go to Escape Freight House Station instead of Brainy Actz!!! My experience was so much better than the latter. The Escape Freight House Station is full of genuine antiques and the hosts are unique and original. We had a great time! read more

We had a good time! It was kindda weird to have the game master standing and watching is the whole time. But for beginners we enjoyed the theme and challenge! We really liked to hear that the money paid went to charity! We'd go again and do a different challenge! read more

We went here for my bachelorette party this last weekend and it was so fun! We did the harder serial killer option and it was great! For first timers it took us a bit to catch on, but once we did it was so awesome! We had Voo "the riddle master" and he fit the part so well! Everyone who worked there that we encountered was so nice and helpful. Such a fun experience and I would recommend it to everyone! Definitely will be back! read more

This was mine and my husbands first Escape Room. The kids have been to others so had something to compare. Everyone are volunteers and proceeds go to a good cause. Front staff was welcoming and engaging. Our 1st room master stayed in character but was covering multiple rooms. The 2nd one was a young lady and could be described as rude at times. I loved spending time with the family doing something different. read more

1 Star only because part of the proceeds go to charity. Our group of 8 (6 adults and 2 children) had Miranda aka "Firefly" as our game master. Right off the bat we all knew that she was a unique individual (putting it nicely) and a self-proclaimed starving artist. While in room 1 she was working on an etching of some sort. As we were trying to decipher clues, she would be humming to herself and saying weird things like, "I'm just casually sitting here repeatedly stabbing my art." Ummmmm... ok. But she continued making weird remarks. I understand that they are playing a role and playing up the whole murder mystery thing. But she was a little much. Things got worse in room 2 when she locked the 2 kids in the cage and began to try to scare them (running something up and down the cage to make noise, laughing and singing in a creepy tone, etc.) It's ok to do this to an older patron, but not a child who she knew was 6 years old! They were trying to get out and open the cage door when she said to the children, "You better not break that or we'll make your parents pay us $600 and if they don't pay we'll sue them." Things became unacceptable in room 3 at the very end. The weirdness we could get past. But when she got herself locked on the trunk that goes into a backstage area she began to pound on the door saying let me out. At first we thought she was playing things up again. But after it kept going we tried to get it open ourselves. She was screaming, "Not cool. Unlock it now!" As my brother and husband were trying to get it opened, they were letting her know that it wasn't locked and it was jammed. When we finally got her out, another employee entered the room to see what the commotion was about. Miranda then said that she was locked in and that she was going to let the manager know what we did. She pointed at us saying, "They locked me in there." That's when I couldn't hold my tongue anymore. I yelled back at her letting her know that it was not locked, just stuck. The other employee then explained to Miranda that if you close the door a certain way it has been known to get stuck. Other than the weird, socially inept game master, we found the rooms to be sub-par. I've never seen an escape room were everything is a combination lock. The clues were not cohesive and weren't intuitive. Also, you have other employees coming in and out of your game while your trying to focus. I've seen much better escape rooms. read more

I brought my 11 year old grandson and 6 of his friends for his birthday. They all loved it! The staff were all very accommodating to the excited, active and full of energy kids! They made this a great adventure for them. They are already saying they want to go back and try the other challenges. I will most definately be raving about this place to my friends and the best part is .....its in TACOMA!!!!Yeah!!!! read more

This was not the worst but definitely not the best escape room. I really liked that the proceedings go to charity and its only volunteers working there. Before starting the lady that helped us was awesome and really got into character telling us the back story. We went through three rooms. Most of the puzzles you got out of boxes did not make sense what so ever. Then there was a clue to find someone's name and the host realized there was a frame behind a dresser that was suppose to be up and it had all the info we were looking for. I was frustrated leaving knowing we couldn't figure it out because their clues were sooooooo vague. I wouldn't come here again. And I wouldn't recommend having a child be a host of the tour either. The kid doesn't speak up. Wouldn't recommend this escape room At all! Instead of fining people or doing possible jail time for my review you should improve your escape room. And have things actually make sense. read more

So much fun!! This was our first time to experience an escape room challenge. The owner is a retired Marine and WOW...what a gentleman!! So nice and very accommodating. We were made comfortable while waiting to start the challenge with coffee & cocoa located on a sideboard and loads of candy on the coffee table. These folks are fantastic! The challenge itself was just that! Challenging!! (We died btw! Lol) We will definitely return to try again!! THANKS GUYS, FOR SUCH A GREAT EXPERIENCE!! read more

This was my first experience doing an Escape Room. Freight House Station did not disappoint. My friends and I did a group of 6 for H.H. Holmes and man was it fun. Riddles, locks, creepy artifacts, and awesome volunteers. Everyone who works there is a volunteer, which is amazing. They look like they are having a great time. I'm not sure if it was because it was Halloween time, but they had some "gory" and creepy things all around. The staff was so friendly and not afraid to tell jokes. I'd love to go again. H.H. Holmes is the hardest escape room, but they have two other escape rooms to choose from. Definitely check them out and go if you can. read more

I did the fairy tale themed room here about a month ago. It was fun but the puzzles were not very well done. They weren't clever and some didn't even make much sense. For example (without giving away any spoilers), there could be a puzzle of a field with flowers and they'd expect you to know that the little butterfly in the background is the thing you're supposed to zero in on and not only that, the answer to the puzzle overall is just butter. Why would I put half of a word into the lock? No other escape room I've done has had part of a word be the answer so I didn't expect it at all. I may have enjoyed the room more if I knew to expect this kind of thing? read more

We had a great time at our first escape room. The hosts were very welcoming, and the escape rooms were tough, but not entirely unsolvable. The only frustrating thing was our second leader was hard to understand, requiring us to ask him to repeat his clues. Additionally, it was confusing when we had the right answer to the clue, and he just kept repeating the clue over and over. We ended up spending way too long on that question because we became confused thinking we didn't have the right answer. In any case, it was a great experience, and we will be back. I love that 80% of the profits go back to the food bank. read more

This place was fun and the staff was awesome. Love that all the benefits go to a good bank and the volunteers are so amazing the work there for free to build up benefit to food bank gets. Definitely worth it for a fun night out. read more

If you do any escape rooms the Freight house escape room in Tacoma is the one to do.. 80% of the proceeds go to the food bank. The volunteers that work there are great. Its very fun and enjoyable.. read more

My Grandson and I had a terrific time. It really FUN for the detective in all of us, We had plenty to talk about and tell our family members and friends. It's worth the 1 hour + depending on you skill level. read more

We had a fun time there today. They offer a great military discount, which is always welcomed and appreciated. The volunteers who checked us in were friendly, but quirky and a bit odd -- harmless overall. The gal that walked through our rooms with us was helpful when we needed it, which was often! Go in with proper expectations and have a fun hour and a half! read more

After reading all the yelp reviews I was a bit concerned and hesitant about going, but after getting there me and my fiancé Loved loved loved it! Go in with an open mind and enjoy yourself! The staff is friendly and super helpful and it's challenging with a twist of different things. We went through 3 rooms for the fairytale and it was challenging! But we made and was glad we did! We definitely will be coming again! read more

Great family fun! The staff was helpful, and nice. We did the fairy tale adventure, but look forward to coming back for the others! Very much reccomend read more

We had a good experience here for our first escape room. The volunteers are friendly and your can tell they really enjoy what they're doing and are passionate about the food bank charity. We did the HH Holmes room as a group of 4 adults and got through there whole thing, but just barely ran out of time on one of the rooms. It's not scary in there at all, but the story itself is about a real serial killer. The staff was friendly but quite chatty. They didn't really have a "character" that they stayed in and were very liberal with hints. I think it would have been nice for the staff to be in character to keep you immersed in the experience, but it was still really fun. They never forced use to shock ourselves in the electric chair and they didn't take our phones. They also had free lockers for your purses and things. Overall, a great experience! We want to take kids back with us and do the Brothers Grimm! read more

First and foremost, this place supports a great charity AND the staff are volunteers! The front desk staff are fun and personable. The actor who was our guide was, perhaps, overly helpful at times, as she could see we were struggling in places and wanted to ensure we had fun. She was also very personable, the staff as a whole hung out with us for a moment and seemed genuinely interested in our experience, and passionate about providing a good first escape room memory to my wife and I. read more