Escape Hour

So my husband and I found ourselves sitting in the back of a brewery playing cards on Valentine’s Day. Definitely not a bad scene, but we both realized we were looking for something more exciting… then, my mind jumped to an escape room.
We immediately started researching escape room places in the area and found availability that day at Escape Hour. First off, those that aren’t familiar with escape rooms, basically, you are locked in a room and have to use your intellect (or in my case, plain luck!) to solve clues to get out of the room within an hour. Sometimes, one room turns into multiple rooms before you can get yourself out.
Escape Room had a handful of different type of rooms to choose from. The space is laid out nicely with ample parking.
We signed up for the Granny Room. There were 5 others in our group. We made friends with them quickly, as we were going to be locked in a room with them for an hour!
I thought the room was fairly challenging with many types of clues. We did manage to complete and unlock the door before time ran out, though! I know that my husband and I couldn’t have finished that room alone just cause of the mass number of clues to solve!
My only small complaint is that you don’t exactly know who you are going to be in a room with prior to arriving. The family we were with had 2 very young (like under 5 years old or so) kids with them, which was definitely challenging. While I enjoyed explaining to the kids what a cassette tape was so they could help me look for it, it definitely hindered the experience some. Though, the kids were cute and had a blast, so I guess that’s never a bad thing.

A group of 5 of my friends and I went to celebrate my 31^st birthday and had so much fun doing the Dollhouse room. It was challenging, interactive, and exciting. Would definitely recommend for anyone looking to have a good time!!!

This was absolutely the best team building activity I have ever done. We were in the detectives room. Took the full hour for 13 adults to solve all of the puzzles, find the keys, etc and get out. It was exciting and challenging and I absolutely recommend! Thanks to the escape hour Charlotte team for helping us along and making this a great experience!

GREAT Team building — we went with our company team and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. I would heartily recommend this as a team building event. Ryan (the owner) was great. We did the Detective’s Office and for a team of ~15 of us it still took us approximately 40 minutes to escape.

Visited with 3 teenage girls on a birthday weekend (17 yo) and had a blast. We did the detectives office first. It was just the right level of challenge. We were seconds from finishing. The girls liked it so much we decided to do Grandma’s house next. We finished it! Very fun.

Played Again and we had a great time! Rooms were well put together and the clues were very clever! Played the dollhouse a while ago and granny’s houses this time, highly recommend both. Will return for the detective’s office!!!

I’ve rather quickly become obsessed with the escape room concept. Funnily enough, even though I live in Atlanta, all my Escape room experiences have been in Charlotte my wife’s hometown. During the Christmas holiday, we thought it would be fun to do another room with friends. Having completed a few rooms in Charlotte at another establishment, we wanted to try something different so we searched on Unilocal and found Escape Hour.
When we got there, the place was buzzing and very busy. One of the owners, Lindsey, greeted us warmly and directed us to the back of the building and explained that they were in the process of filming so they were running a few minutes behind schedule. We were happy to hear that because our friends had texted and let us know that they would be late so the extra minutes came in handy. Lindsey didn’t say what they were filming so we could only guess, a commercial? a reality show? footage for their website? Hmmm…
We were the first to arrive for our room but a minute or two later, the rest of the participants came in and were placed in the back next to us. Our friends were still not there yet so while we waited the other owner, Ryan, was kind enough to go over the rules for us and told us to just fill our friends in once they arrived.
The rules for Escape Hour were standard in terms of how escape rooms go except that :
1) There were red stickers on things in the room that we weren’t supposed to touch or take apart.
2) We had to FIND our three hint cards during our quest to escape as opposed just being handed a certain number of hints.
They handed us a walkie-​talkie to communicate with the staff and also gave us a basket for used clues and a notepad to write things down. I thought the basket was a simple but great idea, it really helped us stay organized and I was the official note-​taker in our group. When our friends arrived we all entered «The Dollhouse». There were ten of us total (four from my party and six people we didn’t know).
In the Dollhouse, you accidentally enter the cottage of a serial killer who is obsessed with dolls and you must find your way out before he returns to make you his next victim. I thought the concept of the room was great, very original and sufficiently creepy. It was lots of fun trying to crack the clues to advance to the next step. There are many twists and turns to keep you on your feet so must pay attention.
Anyone who has done an escape room will tell that COMMUNICATION and TEAMWORK are two of the biggest keys to being successful. I’ve participated in other rooms where we worked together and we able to make it out and I’ve participated in rooms where the groups wanted to remain segregated and didn’t work together thus resulting in failing the challenge. The team we had an Escape Hour though worked very well together. We shared our findings and really worked as a team utilizing everyone’s strengths.
In the end, we made it out with 19minutes to spare – coming so close to beating the record for fastest breakout for that room! We were thrilled! However, I felt that the room could’ve been a tad bit harder or perhaps limit the number of people allowed in the room in order to increase the challenge. Apparently, Dollhouse has a 60% success rate, the highest of all three rooms currently at Escape Hour. I think 60% is a little too high. I think all rooms should have between a 20−40% success rate to REALLY make us sweat.
Otherwise though, we really enjoyed the experience. Escape room was GREAT fun and I was thrilled that the owners were African Americans venturing into the ever-​growing escape room craze – that’s awesome! Not only were Ryan and Lindsey professional, they were also extremely friendly, warm and enthusiastic! I’m sure they have to go over the same rules and walk people through the same rooms 1000 times a week but they still act as if they’re excited about it. Even one of the employees came out and spoke with us for a while making us feel very welcomed. That is what you call customer service!
I cannot wait until we are in Charlotte again, we’ll definitely be checking out another room at Escape Hour. I have my eye on «Grandma’s Kitchen» next.
Thanks again Ryan, Lindsey and the team at Escape Hour!

We were really excited to try this place out tonight. We paid $ 80 total for 3 of us to do a room. The people running the place were very professional and nice. Did a great job of explaining how it worked as well.
We worked on the «Granny’s House» room with 5 other people. Room was great, had some interesting clues that we figured out on our own and some that they provided help via walkie talkie. We struggled hard with two of the locks on a box that were labeled for their corresponding challenge for a solid 20 – 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it out in the allotted time. When they explained what we missed, we realized and explained that we solved the puzzles correctly as they showed us. However, in their setup of the room, THEY put the WRONG locks on the box. It was a simple mistake, but a mistake that gave us a lot of frustration.
In an attempt to make up for this, they offered us two options 1.) a cheap tshirt to advertise for them or 2) the opportunity to do the SAME room again the next day. The room we had mostly solved if it wasn’t for their lock screw up. Why would we want to do that again?
We asked for an opportunity to do a different room the next day or a significant discount and were denied.
While it started out as a great experience, paying $ 80 to be frustrated for 20 minutes because of their mistake will not have us coming back. There are other «escape room» businesses in the Charlotte area and they’ll get our business next time.

Gave this as a birthday gift for a group of six outing. We managed to escape Granny’s House with a few minutes to spare.
I can only speak to this room so far, but we had an outstanding experience from start to finish! There were so many puzzles in this room and a total of ten of us, that while a few of them that I solved are memorable, I could probably go back and do this room and not get out. Speaking of, when I learned there were four «strangers» playing with us I was a little concerned how that was going to work out, it’s a very good thing we were grouped up — my group would never have solved this alone. :)
It’s my understanding this is a fairly new business (4 months or so old), and I think they are doing a fantastic job. We were made to feel welcome, the common areas and restrooms are super clean and neat /​tastefully and appropriately decorated. This room and clues were well thought out, although admittedly we used all of our hints (and we needed them). I know we had a fantastic time, and I for one look forward to going back and trying one of the other two rooms soon.

This was my favorite escape ever! The staff is absolutely amazing The want welcome you get as you enter gets you happy and excited to escape! The room itself was challenging but not full of red herrings that some other places have that lead you down rabbit holes. Great clues great challenges great rooms! We did it as a family and had an absolute blast. Recommend to anyone!

After seeing the write up of different escape games in the Charlotte agenda I was dying to go. It was definitely a blast. Owner Lindsey was incredibly welcoming and upbeat and although my boyfriend and I did not escape, it was still a ton of fun and I can’t wait to try another one. Highly recommend.

We ended up here when family was in town for Thanksgiving. We had a blast (and we got out in under the hour) Ryan and Lindsey had a lot of fun and will be back soon.

We escaped the detectives office. We broke the record!!! LOTS OF FUN!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! The owners, Ryan and Lindsey, are great! The experience was awesome! We will definitely be back!!!

This place is so much fun! It’s challenging and entertaining. It’s a great place for couples, families and friends. Highly recommended.

We had a blast! I’d do it again in a heartbeat! The owner is so nice, helpful and so welcoming! Thank you for a fabulous time!

Had a blast! It was so fun and great to do something a little different from the norm. We’ll be back!

I went here to celebrate my birthday along with my husband and 3 friends. We all had such an amazing time!!! The hosts were very friendly and made the experience very memorable!!! We were able to make it out with just over a minute to spare! The clues were well thought out and really made you think. It was an awesome group bonding experience! We chose to do the doll room and loved every minute! We are all looking forward to trying Granny’s Kitchen when it opens next month :) You won’t leave disappointed!!!

I’m a huge fan of online room escape games and Escape Hour didn’t disappoint. I’d never been to a live escape experience, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was really impressed both with the varying levels of difficulty in the puzzles and the unique way the pieces in the room contributed. I’ll definitely be going back and high recommend it!