One way out: Experiences at San Mateo’s escape rooms

Escape rooms pit you and your friends against various challenges of wit, with a titular end goal of escaping the room you are trapped in. They nearly always carry a theme, with the puzzles and setting, which adds an extra layer of immersion and excitement to the tense environment.

I’ve been to three escape rooms: Ryptic’s “Escape from the Asylum,” “Escape the Aliens” and “Sherlock Inc,” all of which are in San Mateo. Although I only escaped from the Asylum and solved the mystery of Sherlock Inc, they were all a thrill to participate in. The feeling of triumph when you figure out a puzzle and direct all your friends to the right spot is unmatched, and the sense of teamwork gained with your companions is thrilling, even if you don’t finish.

“It didn’t really feel like we were trapped … I felt it detracted slightly from the experience”

Escape from the Asylum is themed after what it sounds — a cryptic insane asylum run by a mad doctor, where you’re a patient who must escape or be forever trapped. Its main puzzle gimmick revolves around the unique layout of having four different equally sized rooms, each with their own puzzle to solve. You spend five minutes in one room, then move on and spend five minutes in the next and so on, until you run out of time or solve all the puzzles.

I found that between my friends and me, the puzzles were just the right difficulty to where they were solvable — some easier than others — but still difficult. Because we were the only group using the escape room, we were able to allocate time from rooms we finished early to rooms that we hadn’t yet completed. This was a nice feature, and I don’t think we would’ve won without it, because if there was another group present in the room we hadn’t finished, we may not have escaped.

However, Escape the Asylum wasn’t quite as an immersive of an experience. The setting and props weren’t bad, but there were huge windows open in the room and the sections were separated by a low wall, creating a much more light-hearted atmosphere. It didn’t really feel like we were trapped, which may be preferable for some, but I felt it detracted slightly from the experience.

Escape the Aliens was almost the opposite: The atmosphere was amazing. It was on the second story of an old looking building in Downtown San Mateo; the room was small and cluttered with writing on the walls, some invisible, and it started out dark. It ended in a secret room with (fake) blood everywhere and an operating table in the middle. Part of the puzzle included calling a number and hearing a cryptic voicemail. It was a very ominous and exciting experience, which was something that Escape from the Asylum lacked.

On the other hand, it felt as though the Escape the Aliens puzzles were harder to solve. Although it could have been due to my friends (who were different than my group for Escape the Asylum) and me being disorganized or not up to par to solve the puzzles, it felt as though after our time was up there was still a lot we hadn’t done. If you want a more challenging escape room, Escape the Aliens is probably the right pick for you.

The third escape room in San Mateo is called Sherlock Inc, and it’s not so much a room you have to escape, but a mystery you have to solve. But the premise is similar: everyone sits around a table with notepads and a few other tools, as well a screen upon which the story is displayed. It’s up to you to solve a murder within the time limit, and then you “escape.”

What’s unique about Sherlock Inc is that there are multiple ways that a group can solve the mystery. Unlike most escape rooms, there isn’t a clear progression of events. Instead, a group can follow what clues stand out to them the most, their theories or even their hunches, using their minds, their tools or both to find the culprit.

Sherlock Inc. may have been my favorite escape room because of this freedom. It’s a unique challenge, even amongst escape rooms, that may be more appealing to some attendees. It certainly was for me.