I've done over 140 escape rooms in Seattle, LA, New Orleans, Houston, and the Bay Area. I actively travel and seek out the best escape rooms in the US, so this review is catered specifically to enthusiasts looking for unique, high quality rooms.
Strange Magic - High 4 / 5 (Rank 29 / 145, a room we will happily recommend to travelling enthusiasts, and our current favorite room in the Orlando area)
Strange Magic is a very solid room (especially for enthusiasts) that is extremely difficult to review because the less you know about the room, the more enjoyable it will be. The best thing for you to do is to look at my numerical rank for the room, compare it to other rooms I've done (hint - look at my profile), trust my judgment that the room probably isnt terrible, and then go in with low expectations expecting a standard escape room with some minor twists (which some people will definitely think - the room isnt for everyone!).
I know at this point that you're probably dying of curiosity and wondering why I'm being so cryptic, so I'm going to temper expectations by saying to not expect anything insane like a cutthroat caverns hidden in the basement. The best analogy I have for this is that mind masters evokes the feeling you get after seeing a good magic trick by a local magician - it's a delightful moment that makes you wonder how they could do that or how they thought of that, but not something that appeals to everyone since it doesn't have the grandeur of something like 13th gate. For a couple of jaded enthusiasts who have done a ton of rooms though, this was a breath of fresh air, and our favorite room played in our orlando trip. I don't expect most people to have this opinion since I assume most people value set and such more than we do (probably most people aren't going to like this room more than doldricks, which has the best conventional overall rooms in orlando), but if you're someone who has done a lot of rooms and really values novelty (and maybe enjoys magic tricks), you will really enjoy this room and should definitely prioritize doing this at the same level as you would doldricks. Beginners will also like the room, but maybe not be able to fully appreciate it compared to someone who has done a fair number of rooms as they have not seen what puzzles are standard in escape rooms quite yet. I'm pretty excited to see what the owners come up with next, and will definitely come back for their next room the next time I'm in town.
Player recs - standard recommendation of minimum if you're enthusiasts (2) and around the midpoint if you're a beginner (4) apply. The game is fairly linear and in a small space though so I dont know if I'd really want more than 4 in the room.
At this point I'm going to go start talking about some very very minor spoilers (which I discourage you from reading) for people who want a few more minor details and think the room might not be for them - I would suggest the rest of you just stop now and go do the room, but the information is likely on yelp already anyways so continue reading if you want.
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Set - the set is a pretty normal backstage circus tent, and it will not significantly change over the course of the game, though it does contain some small surprises.
Story - Not much story in the room besides the intro, though the safety video was pretty funny.
Puzzles - The puzzles are mostly making connections between objects in the room. They were surprisingly unique though, and felt a bit different from what youd normally expect. The room was mostly linear. read more