The Escape Game DC (formerly Escape Room Live) - "A Pirate's Adventure"

Updated: Apr 8

LOCATION:  Washington, DC, USA

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: A Pirate's Adventure
📅 DATE PLAYED: July 6, 2019
🎬 GENRE: Pirate, Adventure
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 8/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: Up to 8 PPL
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 45 Mins
💰 PRICE: $28.00/ pp
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Public
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: No

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

Escape Room Live is our first ever Washington DC location escape room that we are visiting. They also have another branch in Alexandria, Virginia. Since it was early Saturday morning, it was quite easy to find parking on the street (although you still have to pay the meter). On weekdays, it may be a bit more difficult as they are on a very busy street. You can read more about parking in Georgetown HERE. The décor of the lobby is top notch. You can easily have a fun party here with the fully operational bar and tons of space to mingle. All of their escape rooms are located in the basement level so when the time comes, your game master will escort you downstairs for your debriefing. As we descended down the stairs into their escape room hallway, it was really amazing to see how large the space was and how they were able to freely utilize it and divide it anyway they wanted (I felt like I was a kid again and visiting Disney World)! For more information on the rooms, check out their 3D tour HERE.

We are excited to be the FIRST ONES to review their newest room “A Pirate's Curse”. As we sailed away on this forever cursed ship, we must find the lost gold of the Aztec Sun God to free ourselves. The game master was dressed as a ship crew member and started his role play as he debriefed us on the game rules. We were then led to what looked like a cabin inside the ship and the timer started right away. We really felt the immersive set design with this pirate-themed room (we’ve played many at this point) and with the visuals of the outside sea and the music, it definitely kept us engaged! The puzzles felt linear as we were pretty much working on them together throughout. The props used for the puzzles correlated with the theme very well! As we moved forward, we did feel that one of the puzzles was going to be challenging for me due to the height (5-feet), but good thing Agent #1 was there for the rescue. There was also a final puzzle in there that was quite difficult to understand, and the clues that were provided were also not as clear. It would be great if they can either figure out a way to clear up the hint system or make the puzzle less confusing to complete. We did hear from the game master say that there were a few other test groups that experienced similar scenarios and was a bit frustrated at the end. We had plenty of time with just the two of us when we got to the last room. However, it was on that last puzzle that we pretty much used all that’s left and was unable to escape. It is not necessarily a difficult puzzle, but we just think that the clues needed to be clearer. Other than that, this room was amazing and definitely worth trying out.

Currently, Escape Room Live in DC offers three other rooms: “Curse of the Mummy”, “Titanic” and “The Cabin”. We had the privilege to peek at all of them and included a quick tour in our video. They all looked really immersive and the quality of the finishes are "theme park" level. We can’t wait to go back and give their other rooms a try to redeem our defeat! Arrrrrgh!

* Check out our YouTube video above for a sneak peek of the location, interview with the owner, the room and more!

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank The Escape Game DC for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.