First, My Background with Escape Games:
My wife and I have…read moreexperienced nearly thirty escape rooms, mostly near Orlando, Florida, and Virginia. Typically, we just do them just as a party of two. We favor story, theming, and scenery: we're looking for immersive adventures that are impossible to get at home. Fantasy, science fiction, and horror are the genres we tend to gravitate towards, and we prefer them all with a healthy dose of whimsy.
Tri-Cities Escape Game:
The two of us were making a trip through most of Tennessee and Virginia, and wanted to stay somewhere around halfway. I based location on escape room reviews! Tri-Cities Escape Game seemed to have the best ones, and also, a dinosaurs-themed room! Plus, their website is clean, informative, and easy to navigate, which was a nice introduction to their business. We experienced Leviathan Lab, and were not disappointed!
Leviathan Lab:
If you like Jurassic Park, or are a dinosaur fan in general, you'll probably like this room. It's not as much of a multi-room adventure as some of our very favorites, but the main room is bigger than many we've been to, so I think their listed max of eight people wouldn't feel cramped, and there's enough nonlinearity that everyone could be working usefully on something.
For the two of us, it was a good challenge: we did escape, but we used up all of our four clues. We were very close, though; the little nudges just ensured that we experienced everything, and I think we might have still just gotten out without help. The puzzles all made total sense, and were themed appropriately. I really liked being in the space: it's the first room we've been to with an aquarium!
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I'm sorry that I don't remember the name of our game master-we were in a rush due to unexpected bad traffic along the way-but she was friendly, professional, and gave good clues with fast response. If you're an escape room fan, and passing through Bristol, you should definitely book a room here. There's unfortunately nothing else I know to attract us to the area, other than route 81, but I'd go a little out of the way to come back. Tri-Cities Escape Game is impressive.