Escape Out Escape Room: Spoiler-Free Review

As of April, we have finished every (current) room this venue offers! Most were good fun with thoughtful puzzles, and we'll likely come back in the future as they mentioned replacing one of the rooms with a new one later this year. 

Escape Out - Folsom

  • Time Machine: 2–6 players, Easy/Moderate
    • Single room where you have to self-destruct a faulty time machine. Rated as one of their easiest rooms, but wound up being difficult and unintuitive because of the busy/overwhelming setting and how multiple puzzles/objects did not work as they should. Had potential, but sadly disappointed.
      • Solved with 5 minutes to spare, 3 hints!
  • Heist Society: 2–12 players, Moderate/Challenging
    • Multi-room where you need to break into a secret spy headquarters to retrieve a treasured artifact. Fun theme, good, immersive settings and thoughtful, doable puzzles. We enjoyed the variety of puzzles and clues, and a few clever surprises along the way (no spoilers!).
      • Solved with 6 minutes to spare, 2 hints!
  • Da Vinci’s Workshop: 2–12 players, Moderate
    • Single (very spacious) room where you must solve Da Vinci's puzzles to find his last invention. Fantastic setting with a variety of thematic and clever hints/tasks as well as more manual puzzles. My favorite so far at this venue!
      • Solved with 12 minutes to spare, 0 hints!
  • Alien Zoo: 2–10 players, Easy/Moderate
    • Multi-room where you must escape your human exhibit in an alien zoo and make it back to Earth. A good mix of fun, simple and unique puzzles that didn't feel too easy, though I do wish there were more of them.
      • Solved with 32 minutes to spare, 0 hints!
        • P.S. They said this room is getting replaced soon, so if you're a completionist, make sure to try it before it goes away!
  • Malice Manor: 2–12 players, Moderate/Challenging 
    • Spooky multi-room (eerie but not terrifying) haunted by spirits and secrets alike. Some very clever puzzles and few less intuitive ones. This room also has a neat twist partway through and a mysterious visitor...
      • Solved with 13 seconds to spare, 3 hints!

Rooms: Most of the rooms we tried were great. One, honestly, had some issues. It was the first one we tried and had we not pre-paid for our second one, we might not have come back. Luckily the other rooms were much better.


Cost: $80 for 2 people on weekdays, $115 on weekends, and they have a loyalty card: play 4 rooms, get 1 free!


Gamemasters: Very helpful and dressed in costume/in character to present each room to you.


Puzzles: For the most part, puzzles were fun, thought-provoking and challenging yet doable. In our first room though, multiple things malfunctioned (something didn't open when it should have, something was out of batteries, etc.). The OTHER rooms' puzzles though were great. 


Timer: Each room has a digital countdown clock tracking your progress, complete with a countdown from 10 when the docent leaves you to get started. Final times are inexact as the docent comes to fetch you when you complete the room.


Hints: Hints are unlimited and requested/delivered through a phone in each room. In our first room (the faulty one), the hints weren't too helpful because things weren't working right and we were doing things out of order. In the other rooms, the hints we requested were helpful and timely.


Leaderboard: No leaderboard that I was aware of.


Lobby: Cool set-up inside with a mural wall, a corner filled with old clock and phones, some seating if you need to wait and lockers for your things, complete with nifty objects attached to the key to make sure you don't lose/forget them. Also has a chalkboard full of word puzzles to keep you occupied/warm up your thinking skills.


Photo Ops: They have a backsplash or you can stand in front of the room doors. You can hold hand-painted signs or a prop from some rooms in the photo.  


Overall Fun: We have now officially cleaned out this venue and overall, the value was good for all but the one room, but since they have the loyalty card where you play one free, it all works out.


TLDR: 4/5 - will likely try their new room when it eventually comes out


Looking for more escape room fun? Check out my full list of NorCal Escape Rooms with links!

Article originally published February 23, 2024 and updated whenever we complete another escape room.

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