Some Things About Her is a blog documenting an unapologetic journey of self-discovery. We were so excited when Toya B. agreed to play a Lockdown Scottsdale in exchange for a review of her experience! This is how it all went down in her own words:

Have you heard of LockDown Rooms? I’ve heard of escape rooms but never had the opportunity to visit one. Thank you Lockdown Rooms for this opportunity because I was able to cross this experience off my bucket list. I was also allowed to share the experience with my family. My brother and daughter have heard of lock rooms but it was their first-time entering an escape room as well. I tried to walk into this experience with zero expectations, but that quickly failed. Because I’m a horror buff, I kept thinking that it was similar to the movie Saw. I also thought that it was going to have this creepy element to it, but of course, I was quickly informed that my expectations were wrong. While I was asking a million and one questions, my brother was laughing at me because I was really excited about entering the escape room.

Story Behind Lockdown Rooms

Upon conducting research for the story behind lock rooms, there were some inconsistencies about its origin. However, there is a recurring theme across the Internet landscape that lock rooms originated from video games. On Lockdown Rooms website they stated that lock rooms were “born in ruined basements of pre-war buildings in Budapest, Hungary, The Game conquered the entirety of Western Europe in a few years. Escape rooms also originated in the form of online games and apps, they came to life first in Japan but became increasingly popular in Europe and South Asia.”

Lockdown rooms is an entertainment facility that has a few locations in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and of course Phoenix (Scottsdale). The purpose of the themed rooms is to provide 3-8 players a unique and exciting experience for solving puzzles, clues, and riddles with the ultimate goal of escaping the room. The Scottsdale location has three themed escape rooms; Chemical Lab, Samurai, and The Theft. There are two levels, medium and advanced. Chemical Lab is the only advanced escape room at the Scottsdale location. The cost for each player is $28. The escape rooms are fun for all ages and are appropriate for preteens (10 and up).

Escape Room Etiquette (Things You Should Know)

Once we arrived, Chad had us sign a waiver, walked us through the rules, and showed us a video about the room we were about to enter. The first rule of business pertained to phone usage.  Escape room participants are not allowed to use their phone to take selfies or group poses with the contents in the room. I know it’s tough but you can do it. It’s crazy that the second rule exists, but don’t take anything from the room. I was surprised when they told me people have walked away with items before.  People we have to do better. And lastly, have fun! By this time I was super stoked about entering the room.

Our Room

We went with the Samurai room because it’s family-friendly and an acceptable level for newbies. Both Samurai and The Theft are excellent escape rooms for first-timers. The only reason I did not select The Theft escape room is that it implied that it was good for a date night. Well if you’re anything like me and single, you tend to stay away from escape rooms that have anything to do with a date. I later found out that all rooms are good for date nights, team building, and an overall good time. Come to think of it, I need to find out if they have a single’s night. It would be great opportunity to meet other singles in this mysterious setting.

Our Experience

When we first walked into the room, I was blown away by the setup and the level of details. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought that majority of the props were authentic. They keep the rooms in immaculate shape.

Once I finished drooling over the room we immediately started looking for clues.

All groups are given 60 minutes to solve the puzzles, answer the riddles, and escape the room. After the first 20 minutes, we realized that we needed help. We picked up the walkie-talkie and asked for assistance. You’re allowed to request three clues from the moderators of the escape room. After our initial clue, we realized that we were overthinking it. Everyone in the room has a corporate role where critical thinking is part of our job. So, of course, we over thought all of the clues. We’re lucky that my 17-year-old daughter was in the room because she reeled us in a few times. Once we started putting two and two together, everything began to fall into place.

One word of advice, follow the order of the clues and do not over think it. We also tried to do several things at once which added confusion to the process. Reflecting on the events, we probably shouldn’t have used this approach for our first-time escaping a room.

On a humorous note, we kept giggling about the experience because we thought the moderators were laughing at us the entire time. We were completely clueless for at least 20 minutes. Once everything began to flowing smoothly we ran out of time. We were so close to finishing (one clue left) but we misread one of the clues. Oh well… better luck next time, right?

Final Thoughts

Although I walked into Lockdown Rooms with preconceived notions, my family and I enjoyed the entire experience and we’re looking forward to doing it again. It was a great bonding opportunity that we laughed about at dinner. I’m certain that we will continue to laugh and think about it in the future. And last but not least, thank you, Melissa, Chad, and team for being extremely friendly, answering all of our (my) questions and for making the entire experience pleasurable.

On a side Let me know if you decide to pay Lockdown Rooms a visit. I would love to hear about your experience and if you were able to escape one of the themed rooms.  What are you waiting for? You should grab a date, group of family, friends or co-workers and have a good time at Lockdown Rooms. You never know, I may see you there.