The Laboratory
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Negatives
Bottom Line
The Laboratory is one of Los Angeles’ newest escape rooms and potentially one of the hardest you’ll ever play. But don’t worry, the challenge just makes it that much more fun.
Posted
August 9, 2017 by KC
Full Article
The Laboratory is one of Los Angeles’ newest escape rooms and potentially one of the hardest you’ll ever play. But don’t worry, the challenge just makes it that much more fun.
“Dr Crowl is a brilliant geneticist, who is the best in his field. In the course of his studies he discovered a way to perfect the human genome. He had discovered the Holy Grail; a way to rid the human population of disease, old age, and all genetic imperfection. However, to create this utopia he needs human subjects for his experiments. These experiments are extremely dangerous and always end in the death of his subjects.Dr Crowl is a compassionate man and never wanted to hurt anyone. However, the temptation of a perfect society was too great. How could it not be? Thousands of people die every day. By sacrificing a few more he could save billions. All it takes is the courage to do what must be done.In order to choose who is sacrificed, he created The Laboratory. Disguised as an Escape Room, he had the perfect cover to trap his victims. Once locked inside, everyone is given an equal chance to prove their worth. Subjects are given puzzles that test a wide range of skills and abilities. Complete all the puzzles in 60 minutes and you are given a chance to disarm the knock out gas bomb. Those who prove their intelligence and value will be allowed to go free. Those who fail the challenge are deemed unnecessary to society, and their best use is giving their lives to Dr Crowl’s experiments.”
Walking into the room, ambiance wise it looked pretty nice! There was a laboratory area and an office area. The lab felt very clean and sterile, where as the office felt cozy and like I might work long nights in there. The office felt perhaps a little more rustic than I might expect of a scientist, but hey, who’s to say they weren’t a bit old fashioned.
This room isn’t very story driven. There’s a nice story about what the room is, and they give you a introduction to it before you enter the laboratory, but it’s not the main focus once you’re inside aside from trying to prevent the bomb from going off. Once you’re in, oh man, it’s all about the puzzles.
This room had more puzzles quantity wise than almost any other room I’ve played. They do remove puzzles if you’re playing with a smaller group, but I suspect it’s still a ton to keep you busy.
They have a visual guide of sorts in the room to help you figure out what to do next, but I won’t spoil the logic behind the guide, which is a little bit of a puzzle in itself. It was a nice piece to have in such an overwhelming room. As for the logic of the puzzles, they were really solid. I think this room will only improve as more groups play (we were only the 9th or so to have done so), and the more that people interact with it, the more the logic of the puzzles will be tightened up. That being said, out of several dozen puzzles, only one or two needed a little tweaking. Which is more than I can say for some rooms that have been around for years when I played them.
The puzzles themselves ranged from being technology focused to having no technology at all driving them. I liked the variety this offered since it gave my group of diverse skill sets different things they could work on. There was something for everyone.
This escape room is not for beginners and first timers. I recommended having played at least 3-5 other rooms first and go with a large group of friends that you work well with. Being able to break into small teams to divide and conquer but still communicate what’s been done and who is working on what is going to be key to defeating this room. We played with 9 players and all puzzles were active, I think we would have liked to do the room with a full 12, because I think with that many we could have broken up into enough mini groups to have successfully finished the room.
Is it worth playing? Yes, absolutely! This is a room built for the pros, so if you think you’ve got what it takes head on over to The Laboratory: www.escapethelaboratory.com
Puzzle Types: WARNING POTENTIAL SPOILERS highlight the text in the black box below to view.
Lock and Key, Combination Locks, Logic Word Puzzles, Hidden Objects, Pattern Recognition, Black Light Puzzles, Scent Puzzles, Coordination Puzzles, Sound Puzzles, Magnetic Puzzles
The Room Escapist was offered a free room in exchange for an honest review.
