Articles by Brian Gondek

Marietta, GA: ZEscape – The Cells

June 30, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

June 9, 2019 – We visited ZEscape as a last minute stop on the way back to Atlanta after visiting family in North Carolina.  Though I didn’t have much time to read up on the place, their website showed a few clever details that suggested the overall quality of the business.  ZEscape had both a 75 minute room and an asymmetrical versus room in which a British room and a Pirates room compete against each other to be the first out, with different but complementary puzzles in both rooms.  Both of these details suggested ZEscape didn’t follow a typical formula, […]

Aquatic Atlanta Adventure

June 24, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

Christina and I had a brutal time getting to Atlanta and arrived late on Friday, June 7.  We left straight from work and came dangerously close to missing our plane due to an already-late Uber driver stopping for Starbucks on the way.  So of course our reaction was to seek out an escape room immediately upon landing.

Puzzle #47: Accidental Creation

June 22, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

I’ve had a busy few weeks. The last two weekends involved a trip to Georgia and North Carolina as well as significant wedding planning. I feel remiss to not have even mentioned my trip to Atlanta yet, which had some pretty neat escape room experiences despite a relatively short trip.

The Advent of VR (No Escape)

June 10, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

Originally conceived as video games, escape rooms only came into mainstream awareness when designers started making real-life versions.  Now the activity is coming full circle, with advances in virtual reality opening the door to new types of video games that work to combine the best of what both real world and video games do best.  It’s a really interesting space to explore, and the people at No Escape in Buffalo Grove & Aurora IL are at the forefront of testing these new digital frontiers. I visited both locations and tried multiple experiences with their different VR rigs, and I was […]

Missoula, MT: Big Sky Breakout – Through the Looking Glass

June 2, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

November 3, 2018 – Whenever Christina and I talk about unique room designs that are immediately eye-catching and memorable, Big Sky Breakout’s Through the Looking Glass room is one of the first that comes into the discussion.  The experience takes players through the disorienting world of Wonderland, and from the very start players are thrown into an otherworldly space and have to find their bearings.

Game Masters Make a Huge Difference

May 30, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

Here’s a potentially controversial statement – an average escape room with a great game master provides a better experience than a remarkable escape room with an average game master.  Christina posed this to me as a hypothesis, and thinking back to the most memorably bad experiences I’ve had, I have to agree. The top four or five experiences that came to mind all had issues with the game master.

Louisville, CO: Rabbit Hole Recreation Services – Paradox

May 20, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

May 11, 2019 – When it comes to escape rooms, I really dislike using the words “favorite” and “best.”  Trying to rate rooms against each other is harder than comparing apples and oranges (apples are objectively better, by the way).  But actions sometimes speak louder than words, and I will say this- Christina and I planned our trip to Denver around Rabbit Hole Recreation Services’ room #2, with literally nothing else planned on our trip.  That should say something about what we thought of the first room, Ruins of the Mystic Temple.

And… Home Again

May 14, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

The trip to Denver was wonderful, start to finish. Rabbit Hole’s second room did not disappoint, and in addition to three other escape rooms, Christina and I also managed to do some hiking, visit an interactive art exhibit, and stop at some of our favorite pit stops.

Back to Denver

May 10, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

On the verge of returning to Denver for the first time since early November 2018, I noticed a strange quirk on my escape room tracker- I haven’t commented on any escape room experiences I completed since then! Since November I’ve been writing about experiences from earlier in 2018, of which I still have plenty more to document.

Engaged!

May 4, 2019 Brian Gondek 0

I know I’m a bit delinquent in posting a new puzzle this week, but this time around, I have a good reason- Christina and I are engaged! And before you ask, no, I did not propose in an escape room. 🙂