Let me start by saying I have done over 12 escape rooms in Sacramento and the Bay area combined, as…read morewell as a few more in different places including out of state. This was my first escape room in Monterey and it is the first place that I have found that allows you to bring your dog. It is rare to find dog friendly locations and I am super appreciative of them when I do find them so I really wanted to be able to give it five stars. To start with, choosing the escape room we wanted to play to was more difficult than I have found at other locations because they do not have room difficulty levels here. Their website states that's because their "adventures are unique" but so are the rooms at other locations. This is a real challenge because it makes it difficult to decide which room might be best suited to you. Of all the rooms I have done in the past, I have never had more than five people in my group and the majority of the rooms were done with only two people. I have also only not finished one room prior to this location and I knew going in that it was going to be a challenge to do the room with only two people because that was explained to me beforehand. Personally, these kinds of things affect my level of enjoyment. We chose "The Gate" and the only thing that seemed to be unique to this room on the website was that it stated it was not recommended for children under 16. I assumed that was because there might be something scary or adult about the room. When we arrived, as many other reviewers have noted, parking was a little bit confusing. We ended up paying for parking because the area gets quite crowded and we were concerned we wouldn't be able to find anything close. However, as we approached on foot we saw that they had a few designated spots right next to the door for for customers of the escape room so if you are going to come here, drive through the parking areas to see if there is free parking available for you nearby. The employee that greeted us and the general vibes were also different from almost all of the other escape rooms I have been to. It was very low energy and matter of fact, which I don't have a problem with but again is quite a departure from the normal excited welcoming tone of escape rooms. We only had to wait a few minutes and were brought to our room and given a short introduction. We had multiple issues once we started playing. The first issue for us was that you are not given any kind of light source and it was an incredibly dark room. Most escape rooms give you a lantern or a flashlight but we had to pull out our phones and try to use the flashlight from our phone while we were playing. This also goes for a notepad or digital notepad to collect information which would have been useful on a number of occasions in this room. (Better AC would have been nice as well as they were both sweating quite a bit during this experience.) Secondly, we were supposed to listen to sounds coming from pipes during the game, which we did figure out and did try to do but no matter how hard we tried the sound just wasn't working well enough and the employee ended up having to tell us the answer. They later stated that it is very difficult to hear and a lot of people have a problem with that particular section. They also weren't clear about what part of the pipe we could remove and when we took it off to try to hear better they came over the intercom and, in my opinion, a little rudely, said to "put them back on". Then saying not to take the whole pipe off just to take the cap of the pipe, which again was difficult to discern in the dark. We would never actively pull something off or make things difficult for the employees, but we had been told we should "remove" those to hear better. It was very confusing and very unpleasant. Another issue for me was that the clues just weren't interesting or cohesive and I didn't really get how they connected to the story. At any rate, we realized after a short time that we just weren't having very much fun. We basically said let's just get through it and finish and get out of here, but this is actually only the second ever room that we haven't been able to finish. It was quite a sour ending to an already not super enjoyable afternoon and the cherry on that was when the employee told us afterwards that this n't is an incredibly difficult room to do with only two people. Now if I'm being honest, I don't know if they say that to try to make people feel better or if that's the truth, but things like that would be really great to know before going in. I am genuinely writing this review in the hope that it is helpful. Under different circumstances with better communication, I would actually consider returning to one of these franchise escape rooms in Monterey, but we really just didn't have a great experience and I think it's important to share the negative as well as the positive so that people can make improvements.

I clicked on this exact location and got the directions to the cannery row escape room. I kept…read moretrying to find the wave street one on google and Apple Maps, but it kept taking me to the cannery row location which is a block and a half away. When I called the place to help me, the woman( who I believe is the manager of the wave street location) was very rude. She had the worst tone out of any customer service person I've met, said I was stupid for not finding the right location and that I must be putting in the wrong address. I kept assuring her that I was going to the directions straight from the website, and she replied "never in my ten years working here have I seen someone not get to this location so you surely must be wrong and put in the other address". Mind you my team and I aren't from here and were trying our best to navigate. After eventually finding the location, no help from this woman, the man that greeted us and our experience doing the escape room was lovely.

We played the Mystical Manor - the quality of the decor and puzzles were great. It was not one of…read morethose escape rooms where you were constantly reading - you really needed to utilize somw critical thinking for this one. Would definitely return for other rooms. Our game-master was really nice too, although we didn't get her name. All in all, great time!

The Submergecy room requires some maintenance. Several switches and boxes needed the operator's…read moreassistance to open, after solving the puzzle.

Had my 7 year olds party here in October. Really reasonable and the staff was super friendly and…read morehelpful. Probably one of the easiest parties I have ever had. We did the earlier time slot and practically had the place to ourselves. Definitely gets busier later in the day but still not overwhelming. Large variety of game choices too

Great hidden gem . It's on 3rd floor…read more Nice little arcade to earn points and redeem rewards. Skiball . Basketball . Claw machines . Pinball machines . Sitting and laughing area . Food and snacks . Well maintained and clean . Good customer service . 4/5

This was my first time at this escape room and it was really fun! There are 3 rooms to choose from…read more I was in a group of 7 which makes it more fun because you can split off in teams to figure the puzzles out! It was unique in you really had to think outside your zone to understand how to the answers to some of the puzzles and listen to other people to figure it out together. You do get to ask a staff member for help if you get stuck on something too long, which is very helpful. This one was challenging but great fun with a team to figure it all out and get out before the hour is up! Definitely do this again in the future!

We've done all three rooms and loved them all! The riddles are witty and the storylines flow well…read more Rooms are mix of old school locks and high tech. The Secret Experiment was my favorite!

Great place to bring kids. They have everything. Games, rides, mini golf, snacks. You can't go…read morewrong. For the adults the restaurants surrounding have some good option. Cool spot! Parking can be crazy! Great place to bring kids. They have everything. Games, rides, mini golf, snacks. You can't go wrong. For the adults the restaurants surrounding have some good option. Cool spot! Parking can be crazy!

We had a great day here, but you definitely have to go in with a plan. If you're doing more than…read more3-4 rides, the all-day wristband is the only way to go, as individual points add up fast. It's a mix of a beach day and a carnival feel here - You can jump from the sand to a roller coaster in thirty seconds. As for the food, it's fairly standard prices. The garlic fries are a solid bet, but there are also great spots just a short walk away on the wharf if you want a "real" seafood meal. Parking: Get there early. The main lots fill up by noon, and street parking is a game of luck. You can't beat the atmosphere. The ocean breeze, the sound of the arcade, and the smell of kettle corn make this one of the best spots in NorCal. It's nostalgic without feeling dated. Whether you're here for the rides or just the boardwalk walk. Not I need to go home and put on The Lost Boys movie and watch it again!!

Always a fun experience with friends. Recommend the Special Ops game at Valley Fair…read more Cosmic Crisis recently joined the lineup and is a fun game too. Might need more than 5-6 ppl for that one though.

The Escape Game is a fun, well run escape room right in the Vale Fair mall…read more It is a bit more expensive than others, but it feels polished and it's relatively new. We did a Western themed room, and everything was designed well enough to keep you engaged without overcomplicating things. We ended up with the fastest time of the week. It did not feel especially hard, so either we were way smarter than we thought or the room was a bit easier. Either way, it was a good time. The staff was friendly and kept things running smoothly. They stay on schedule, which helps the whole experience feel organized. Overall, a fun stop if you are already at the mall and want to do something a little different. One star less cuz it was easy and therefore short.

My friends and I were lucky to experience both of their new rooms in Morgan Hill as beta testers…read moreand they were wonderful! A great addition to the Bay Area escape room scene. I love that they built one murder mystery and one scary room so there is something for everyone.

Booked scarlet haunting for 2 on a weekday night. We called to let them know we were going to be a…read morefew minutes late. Parking at the park was free after 6pm and only took like 3 minutes to walk to the escape room. The GM was waiting to let us into the building and up the stairs. Long was our GM who explained the types of locks you might encounter, shouldn't take more than 2 fingers of touch to open, don't stand on furniture, etc. They had two bathrooms to use and also offered us hand sanitizer and gloves to use. Long did explain there may or may not be a live actor - part of the thrill factor in not knowing. We thought the room flowed well and we escaped with 6 mins left and only used one hint. I'm not a fan of spooky but this was fine since I had a friend with me. I actually thought this element was a nice touch to the whole pressure of escaping within the hour. The room wasn't lock heavy which is nice and had some unique puzzles. Atmosphere of the room added to the spookiness, especially the very dim lighting. One thing my friend and I did mention to the GM was their waiver form had the old name of the room still. Also unless we missed it but we felt like we didn't get an ending to the storyline. Hope they open another room so we can play that one too !

I've done a few rooms with friends and kids, and we all loved the experiences. The rooms are very…read morehigh quality with lots of unique puzzles and fun things to look at in general. It's like being at Disneyland. Every room we've been in had three rooms to solve. The stories to the rooms were creative and weren't strictly about escaping. My favorite was the baby kraken. I wish they sold a plushie version of it!

We were looking to do an escape room for the kids and we found availability this Sunday and booked…read moreour reservations!! Staff was very friendly and friendly and receptive. Just a minus star on the reservations - we were expecting to have the room to be just our family but we received a text before our time so indicating that another party was joining us. I guess my feel is that if it says 5 spots free - it meant that we had the room to ourselves but we were grouped with another family (mom and two young kids). No issues with the other family joining in the experience but you never know who you would be paired up!! We did the cosmic event. The room was clean and functional. It was hard to hear Hermes in the space ship but outside of it. We had a wonderful time and escaped!!

The Big Game Show at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall is a blast and unique experience that lets you…read morelive out the game shows you see on TV. It is a fantastic way to build communication skills while everyone has a great time. Our host was good and kept the energy high. She tended to slant the game slightly to help the losing team catch up, which kept it competitive and fun for everyone; especially the losing team. Haha. We chose our final game based on a "luck-based" one which worked perfectly for my team since we "bet-it-all"! Pro Tip: Since the venue is located within the Valley Fair Mall, take advantage of the ample mall parking and use the garages near the newer expansion wing for the shortest walk.

Immensely fun!!…read more Came here for a Birthday and we had a blast! The games were fun, a good mix of mental and physical, and the game host brought great energy. The games were pretty diverse and each activity was easy to pick up. One point of improvement would be the booking system. We tried calling someone to get clarification but we weren't able to reach anyone. Other than that, it's super fun and I'd highly recommend giving it a try!