Grand Detectives Society - Santa Ana, California

Da Vinci's Lost Workshop: We entered Da Vinci's secret workshop seeking the truth about his mysterious final invention. 

Pros: The owners and game masters here really go above and beyond to make your experience fun and memorable from the moment you walk in the door. They remain largely in character throughout the experience and help generate enthusiasm even before the game officially begins. Once we entered the room we found ourselves surrounded by a neat, orderly, and well-designed set that included no unnecessary props or red herrings to distract us from our task. We quickly discovered the game was multilinear and our team of five split up to begin working on different puzzles. The mix of mechanical, word, and symbol puzzles kept us busy down to the very last seconds of the game. In the final pinch, the game master intervened to provide us with a crucial hint that helped us cross the finish line with less than a minute to spare. It was a close call, but we were ecstatic to finish this very challenging room.

Cons: We honestly loved every minute of our experience at the Grand Detectives Society. We applaud the owners and employees for the effort and love they have devoted to their business. Our only advice to future players is to assemble your finest puzzle-solving team and bring your A-game because this room poses quite the challenge!

http://www.detectivessociety.com