Escape Chambers

Good times! Make sure to go with a group of people bc u will get grouped with strangers. U never know how u may work with others. Its a great experience!

I really had a blast here!
I hosted a party in the «Party» room which I find out later is the hardest room to get out of! But we had a great group full of smart minds and we actually were like 5 seconds from getting out of the room, apparently our group was the closest ever!
I bet they say that to all the groups:)
Anyway it kinda exciting!
You sign a waver, that no one has ever read most likely (but it is online if you want to pre read it) and then you are lead as a group to your room!
You get instructions. The first being NO CELL PHONES… but if you like ESCAPE CHAMBERS facebook page before you go in you earn 1 clue from the game Masters who are watching your every move though cameras and can speak to you through a tiny speaker. (which is pretty quiet, so you need to act as a team and shhhhhush everyone so you can here!
At first glance the rooms are simple and not to exciting, but if you solve a few riddles and puzzles the next thing you know things will appear on the wall from black light, walls with move, and things will maybe start making a bit more sense!
I highly recommend doing this as group sometime, you can have up to 12 people and the more the merrier in a situation like this!
This place also has a little shop of games to buy, and lazor tag, so it’s fun for all ages!
I want to go back and try again already!

We had a great time even with strangers, it was fun to see others strength and weaknesses, some rooms are harder then others. Groups of all sizes would work. Nothing has to be physically demanding just brain power to solve problems learn the path to the next clue. Yea kinda like a human version of the game clue. Go try it at least once.

The boyfriend and I booked «The Cellar» for 12:30pm Saturday. First time being there we were grouped with a group of young college kids. The experience was ok but I recommend coming in with family or friends. Instead of working with a group that doesn’t seem to listen very well. Other then that I would try the event again because it is fun as long I bring people I know instead of strangers.
Around 3:30pm it was time for tactical laser tag. The best part of our day there was doing different types of objectives throughout the hour we were there playing laser tag. I would definitely recommend everyone to at least try this place once.

This was my second time at Escape Chambers. The first time it was with co-​workers, so we didn’t do one of the «scarier» themed ones. So this time we decided to do the «Cellar». There were 10 people in our group, which meant that we wouldn’t be paired up with random people. I won’t say much about this one since I’d rather have you experience it yourself :)
The gamemaster takes you down to the room and gives out instructions. Then you either all go into the room together or you might be brought in one by one with a blindfold. Then you have 1 hour to escape. Basically you have to use everything in the room but you can’t move things that have «do not move» signs on them and don’t set off the fire alarm cause that will be a $ 500 fine! Most of the time you will spend trying to figure out puzzles and getting clues to open locks and eventually the door. Let’s just say that I am 0 for 2 lol.
It ended costing about $ 30 per person, which is a little pricey but in the end it was fun. I think it’s really important that everyone doesn’t take it seriously (as in complaining) and just enjoy the hour with your friends. We had someone that was truly afraid of the dark which made the experience even better seeing him act like a baby. I don’t see myself going back anytime soon unless someone sets it up and it’s for one that I haven’t done yet.

Fun experience! We had a group of 8 do The Recruit. We were all first timers. Without giving anything away, it took us a few minutes to figure out what we were doing but we ended up working well as a team. If we had a few more minutes, I’m sure we would have made it out! This would be a good team building exercise too. Can’t wait to try it again with a different scenario.

Our group was in the Party Room and had an okay time. We did it as a team event and once it was over we took a vote and only 3 of the 11 would do it again.
I was part of the 8 that wouldn’t come back (and I paid the entire bill). It is 97% all mental puzzles to figure out. It’s not like «SURVIVOR» show fun puzzles, we where not clear almost the whole time (which doesn’t add to the fun).
Here are some ways they could improve.
1) Give some clear direction on how to get started. We feel at least 10 minutes were wasted on trying to understand how to start.
2) Make the process understandable. We had no idea many times what our next step was to be.
3) Make sure your black light flashlights are working. One was almost dead the whole time.
4) Tell us in the beginning our goal is to get a specific number of items (I won’t say what you are collecting).
5) Make more puzzles to use your hands (like the metal ones). That was the only part I liked.
6) Make it a 12 step mission and let people know what step they are on.
The long and short is that if people aren’t having fun or feeling like they understand it, they aren’t going to want to come back and do the other rooms. From my team of eleven you will probably never see any more business (which is unfortunate because we are a marketing and event company and when our clients ask for fun team building suggestions this won’t be one).

This place is definitely tucked secretly from sight just off the hotspots of downtown Des Moines. It is located in an office plaza basically, parking is available on the streets or the private lots of office buildings. I did not locate a private lot of this business, I’m not sure if they have one, but at least the street parking is free.
If you are wondering, yes, this is the same company and location that is CMP Tactical Laser Tag! I have not experienced the laser tag here, but I did come with a big party for Escape Chambers!
For those who do not know what this is about, here’s a very brief explanation. You and a group of people (person limit determined by the room you choose) are locked in a room for an hour and you must solve puzzles and find clues to find a way to escape the room. Before you freak out, you are not really «locked-​in», there’s a button you can press to leave whenever you want, but you don’t «win» until you solve the puzzles on how to officially «escape».
There are several different rooms which offer different scenarios and have a different person-​limit. We had a big group for a friend’s birthday so we went with the 12 person Party Room. I obviously won’t discuss what happened in the room since you need to experience that yourself, but I can say it was pretty fun.
One thing I will say is, there is a lot of using your brain to solve puzzles. I actually thought there was going to be more of using your hands to solve things, but it was still fun with a lot of people. Be sure to check this place out if you have not!

Escape chambers is a great way to spend your night, it’s fun and challenging and absolutely worth the price. Plus the employees there are great

Literally stop reading and make a reservation. Best $ 30 I’ve ever spent! The staff are polite and knowledgable, and the selection of rooms is excellent. They’d love to have a wider array of rooms, but they need your help! Stop by and put your brain to the test, you probably don’t have what it takes though…