We had such a wonderful time the last escape room we played in a Salt Lake City community (previously reviewed), we decided to try another adventure while visiting Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point, this one very appropriately called The Escape Date in (the also appropriately named!) Pleasant Grove. Many of their rooms are designed for two people in mind, and the themes all looked so good, it was hard for us to decide on which game we wanted our first to be.
Eventually, we settled for The Sweet Escape, and it proved to be a great choice. The Escape Date is located within different clusters of shopping malls - it is itself set up like many of the escape rooms in Orange County - not really good for showroom shopping, but easy parking, easy to find (go down the stairs!), and great for letting your imagination run wild when designing a quest! There is no café right next door, but plenty of nourishment establishments are located a short drive away.
We stopped off at Beans and Brews right before our game, so we were properly caffeinated and ready when we met up with Elizabeth, our game host, in the small but nicely-decorated parlour. Elizabeth could have walked right off the set of The Good Shop Lollipop or Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. As it turned out, we were not trying to escape from anything. In fact, we were competing for a chance of a lifetime: to take over sweet magnate Louis VonSweet candy empire!
Happily, we did not have to sit through an entire pre-filmed game rules video, and after a short introduction delivered by VonSweet himself, we were left to get started on our task. The video also served as a timer during our game, but clues were slipped to us under the door. Like other what we have come to call "First Generation" games, this fun hour had us solving riddles and linear puzzles, adding up numbers and being not just hands-on, but nose, eyes, ears and tastebuds on as well. The conventional locks and magnets all worked, and we did not think twice about it being a single room because we were fully engaged the entire time we were there. We loved how strictly they kept to the theme, and, even though I was a little reluctant to try one of the puzzles, that puzzle turned out to be my favourite challenge in the game. The maze, challenging our hand-eye coordination, was another memorable obstacle to our inheritance ...
The Sweet Escape is the perfect date adventure, with a most delicious (ha!) price-point. It is also a full 60-minute game, and because we had just completed a 20-minute game, we outpaced ourselves and managed to become candy millionaires in 43:44! We loved the very flattering victory photos Matthew (also dressed in deference to theme) took of us on our phone, and when we used the restroom after our game, we found ourselves kept busy there, too!
The Escape Date was a marvellous find, and we're thrilled to find even more games available that are built for a 2-person team. We can't wait to check them out again - it won't be long! read more