School of Hard Locks

I had an awesome time with my friends. We did the escape from kindergarten and it was a blast from beginning to end! The staff was friendly and helpful. The puzzles and clues were challenging, but doable. Every step forward was extremely rewarding and we escaped with under a minute to spare. This was an amazing way to spend an hour with friends and I highly recommend it for families and coworkers as well.

We had a blast! Over Christmas 2015, we stayed in Carlsbad and stopped by to try the Principal’s office. Thank goodness there were a couple of teenagers in the room with us or we would’ve never gotten past half of it. ha! Both kids got to shine and be immediately rewarded with the opening of a lock and everybody’s «attaboys» to follow. It made for a great team experience with plenty of laughs and was later discussed as one of the best parts of our trip — by teenagers. The lady who runs the place was personable and genuine, which made it all the better. Highly recommend!

My daughter arranged this for my Mothers Day present and we had a great time. The host was welcoming and funny, and the room was challenging (the science lab.) I definitely recommend this, and would go again.

There’s a lot going on here and… Not a lot of it is great. There’s a ton of big, overarching puzzles and the tedium of having to save a bunch of different papers and keep track of things felt more like work than puzzle-​solving. The moderator was alternatively unhelpful and unavailable, and it didn’t seem like she had been given the tools to succeed. The rooms are expensive and the available groupons are specific to individual rooms, so be careful. $ 40/​person (no discounts for large groups) is not worth it.

My friend, his son, and I walked in on a weekend after having dinner nearby. When we found they didn’t have a phone number, we were skeptical of getting in without a reservation. We knocked on the door and Anthony answered to our surprise. He gave us a great deal and we had the room to ourselves. It was very difficult and had to get «rescued» but it was a lot of fun. A great team building experience too. Will definitely go back — with smarter people! Haha

Our experience was OK, it’s an interesting concept but I feel like the puzzles were a bit too hard and therefore makes it discouraging.
We had a group of 7 and so we registered for the principals office. Come to find out that it was the hardest one out of all the rooms. The Decour is very interesting but the room was kind of old and the carpets were very dirty. Being the clean germaphobic that I am that really made me very uncomfortable. We were in the room for quite some time and we work together to try to figure out the puzzle pieces but I felt like even after we couldn’t solve the puzzle and were told the answers to some of the puzzle questions, it was beyond the scope of our knowledge.
OK experience, it was interesting but didn’t hold my attention for more than 30 minutes.

We had a great time doing the Escape from Art Class session! We were 5, ranging in age from 16 to 50. The puzzles were challenging, but completely solvable. We did get a couple suggestions, and one hint with something we were stuck on. There were several different puzzles that all lead to solving the final escape code. Everyone participated and enjoyed it! We escaped with 45 seconds to spare! We were all so excited! And exhausted afterwards. Great fun!

We went to the Art Class escape and had a great time! It was our first experience like that with no expectations but to have fun, and we did! It was just my husband and I, which gave us the opportunity to work together as a team and not be distracted by meeting and solving puzzles with people we just met. I would recommend this to others.

Wow! Our Vista Chamber of Commerce staff went today for a team building exercise and we did NOT escape! The art room was so intricate and detailed. I really was impressed with the de-​brief session afterwards. Being able to see our communication pit falls was an eye opener. I cannot wait to go back with friends!

This was such a fun experience.
We did the Principal’s Office/​Detention room, which was chosen simply because there a groupon for it. Without a groupon, the rates for this can be quite pricey.
We were a group of 5, with each person being of at least average intelligence, and were still about 6 hours from getting out of the room when the 60min timer went off. What a humbling experience. I think we would do at least 50% better in a rematch because we’d have some idea of how these things are supposed to work, but as it was, the concept was new to us and we spent at least the first 30min trying to figure out what we were supposed to be trying to figure out. We also were handicapped by two women (myself included) who knew nothing about baseball and found the whole numbered positions thing very confusing.
I would love to go back and try again, perhaps in one of the easier rooms. But all in all, a very fun afternoon.
Social Event Note: this isn’t the kind of thing you want to drink before. But certainly after.

We didn’t «Escape from the Principal’s Office» (Detention, Level 9), but it was a fun experience nonetheless. We were one of the first groups to tackle this room as they had just released it last week. And we failed :(
Our work did a team-​building event at the School of Hard Locks one afternoon, followed by their Corporate debrief with Sandy and Tony. I booked our session through Tony and the process was easy. We had a group of 13 (which is larger than their typical group size) and no one had done an «escape room» before so we didn’t know what to expect. Our group size may have been to our disadvantage, and to add, we have many competitive and Type A personalities in our office. But enough with the excuses!
The room was well put together and I could see it was carefully thought out. At first glance, there is not much to the room, but once you get into the nooks and crannies, you uncover all the clues and puzzles that will consume your next 60 minutes (or less). Sandy is the Mastermind behind the rooms which is incredible! To tie every detail together in the end is amazing and I can’t wrap my head around it — which may also be another reason why we didn’t get out :) Sandy and Tony came into the room around the 40 minute marker to give us some a couple hints as they could se we were struggling. (Duh! We should’ve gotten that!) They watch us behind the scenes and take notes to offer suggestions during our debrief on how to apply our lessons learned in our workplace and everyday life. Great feedback and conversations to really get us thinking outside the box!
You are not allowed to bring in your phones, calculators, or smart watches to room, but they provide lockers (with locks of course) where you can store them during your exercise. They have a private parking lot and plenty of street parking.
We are still talking about our experience and are planning our next visit to the School of Hard Locks. Hope we’ll escape next time!!!

Came here on date night with som friends. Luckily there was a groupon! Omg we had so much fun! The lady was super friendly personable and nice! We did the Einstein room and almost won but was short by seconds! Would definitely come back and do the other rooms… great escape room

The School of Hard Locks takes illogical puzzles to a new level.
My husband and I loved the Halloween room so much that we booked the The Principal’s Office and Art Class back to back today. Apparently I set my expectations too high based on the prior game.
I do think these folks do the best they can with the space they have, their backstory of the school is one of the strongest I’ve seen in the 80+ escape rooms I’ve played and the owner that I met last time (Sandy) is incredibly nice and passionate about escape rooms. I really liked her.
To be fair, Principal is closing today to be replaced by Detention (that’s why we rushed down to play it before it was gone), so Art Class is the only one left that I’ve played. For that reason I won’t go into my problems with Principal except to say that at one point the game master came in to help and told us that several pieces of a puzzle that we thought we were missing and couldn’t find in the room, weren’t actually in the room and we should force (guess) 4 digits of a lock!!! What!!! That’s not how puzzles work.
ART CLASS — Art Class contained one of the worst puzzles I have ever seen in a room. Neither of the 2 game masters could confidently explain the answer and one of them couldn’t even get the lock open with the answer key in hand. How were we supposed to figure it out? Other than that, some of the puzzles were really creative, some were time consuming and some were rather obscure. We kept getting prompted by the game master throughout the game to do things we had already done, then when we asked for help she came into the room and couldn’t quite decipher her own notes to give us hints. She did mention she wasn’t that familiar with the Art Room.
It’s so important that staff understand the games. I was extremely disappointed that both game masters seemed untrained.

Came here for my birthday party, did the principal’s office. Tony and Sandy were really great with getting my reservations set. They even accommodated my group of 14 people. We all had a blast even though we couldn’t escape in time. Can’t wait to try it again!
Perk: there are plenty of parking spots in a private lot!

Coordinated with Tony and he was incredibly accommodating while planning an off-​site work event for my department. Every single person had an amazing time and we had a lot to talk about when we were finished. An experience like this resonates for a long time! We will for sure look to have other departments within our organization plan a trip here.
I highly recommend doing this with your friends, family, or coworkers as you will walk out of that room closer than when you went in.

Our group escaped — twice! Great fun, perfect for parties or company events. Dust off a few brain cells and see if you can solve the puzzles to escape.

We had such a great time here! We were able to solve the Halloween room as well as Science Lab, both were a ton of fun. Just the right amount of difficulty to make it challenging but not impossible. Try it out!

I was able to check this Escape room out this weekend and boy am I glad.
It’s located very close to the beach in what looks from the outside like an old house, but there’s actually different offices on the second floor including School of Hard Locks. I love that name and the rooms tie into the theme nicely.
Upon walking in, we were greeted warmly by Tony and Zooey. They both seem to truly enjoy what they do. Tony is very hands on and quick to explain details of each room as well as offer clues if you get stuck. It’s always a joy to meet someone who seems to be doing what they love.
There’s a Principle room, Science lab, and a seasonal room which right now is Halloween. I had to go with the Halloween room of course. It was cool. It was challenging without making me feel dumb and had some features that I hadn’t seen before in other Escape rooms.
I’m excited to come back here and explore the other rooms. Thanks for the wonderful treatment Tony and Zooey.

My first Escape the Room experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Lots of clues to figure out to get keys etc to Escape the Room in 60 minutes. I believe it’s up to 12 people per group. I highly recommend it. I will be searching for more and look forward to other rooms and themes in the future! I found a Groupon deal for our group of 4 and it was so worth it!

Highly recommend this!
It’s an escape room immersive experience. You get locked in a room, and have 60 minutes to find clues and solve riddles in order to escape. This particular escape room has a «school» theme, and I did the «Escape from the Principal’s Office» challenge.
I did it with two of my friends, and we got tickets for Sunday morning at 10:30am. Tickets are $ 28/​person. I thought it was so worth it! It was funny, entertaining and challenging, while still doable.
It’s sort of like a treasure hunt, in that you’re trying to solve clues that will lead you to another clue… except you’re doing it in one room instead of going to different locations.