The Escape Key @ Salt Lake City: CSI:SLC

This is my spoiler-free review of my experience at The Escape Key in Salt Lake City.

First, The Escape Key. The location is relatively easy to find, and parking is good. Like all the escape rooms I've been to, the people here are professional and fun. My dinner beforehand was slow getting to me, and I rushed to eat it, so I arrived at Escape Key with shawarma all over my pants, and possibly not in the best of moods, but they quickly put me at ease. 

One great thing to note about Escape Key is that their prices are about $20 per person, instead of the usual $30. That makes me much more likely to make it a casual outing. They're also unique in having a wall for people to write on after the game. Apparently the place is popular, because the walls were completely full. ("Stephen is a beast" is now somewhere on the ceiling.) And there's a house Chihuahua, which is just funny. They have three rooms presently, with Lair of Lunacy having a 50-60% escape rate, CSI:SLC at around 20%, and Impossible at around 15%.

I did their CSI:SLC room. I ended up being the only one in my booking, and I escaped the room with 23 seconds left. This was my eighth escape room, making my record 7/8. While I will not give any hints to solving puzzles, I will be describing some minor details about the room. Everything I say is either something you're told before starting, or something common to many escape rooms. But if you wish to remain utterly surprised by everything, stop here.

The backstory video is extensive. In short, you have to solve the murder of an undercover officer by finding clues left in the room where he was playing poker with five underworld figures. One of the five is the mysterious Vendetta. (And all I can think of is Sideshow Bob...) Your briefing is interrupted by a message from Vendetta, telling you that he's trapped you in the room. You have an hour to find the six-digit code to the panel next to the door, or the room explodes.

One unique aspect of this room that I really enjoyed: you get one shot at the code. Once you unlock the panel, you have sixty seconds to enter a code. If you don't, or if you get the code wrong, game over, you lose. I've seen locks that only let you enter limited codes in a set time, but I've not seen another room that you can lose prematurely. A very nice touch.

Another unique aspect of the room is that it's a crime scene. They tell you going in, don't move things around too much, and they mean it. You could easily make the room impossible to solve if you don't take that seriously. And unlike most rooms, there are meaningless details in this one! Almost every room I've done subscribes to Chekov's Gun. This one doesn't. And that's okay! It's arguably more fun this way, having to figure out what matters and what doesn't.

There were a few minor glitches. At one point I accidentally unplugged the clue TV! Oops! I'm not sure how you'd make that more difficult, but it did seem surprisingly easy. Apparently it happens once a day! They fixed it, of course, and knocking it out is as much my fault as theirs. There were a couple chains hanging down from the TV mount that seemed relevant at one point but turned out not to be; most irrelevancies were marked, but those weren't.

The room had some of the standard tropes, including a UV light. Unlike any other room I've seen, though, this room had a window to the outside, which was completely unrelated to the puzzles. You're told to just pretend it's not there. But the UV lights work best in almost complete darkness. I think the room might have been a bit more fun if the sunlight around the edges (and the red flashing light) hadn't interfered with the UV so much.

Another trope is the audio recorder. Unfortunately, most of the message was completely unintelligible. You're able to get what you need, if you know what to look for, but don't waste time trying to understand the rest.

The room was also impossible to solve by one person, just because of some distances involved. The game masters realized this when I got to that point and helped me out, but be aware that you'll need them if you plan on doing this room alone. The max for this room was specified as six people, though, which I think might be a nightmare of stepping on each other. You'll also need some help from the staff if you don't bring a smartphone, which is another thing I've never seen before in a room.

One thing that could really be improved is the specificity of the clues. I was often given clues to things I'd already solved, even when I said I'd solved them and was specifically asking for help with another part of the game. That was moderately frustrating. Not to be overly critical; I wouldn't have made it out without those clues, and I really appreciate the help!

Ultimately, I had a good time. The staff was nice, the room had some unique puzzles, and the little details helped make the atmosphere more immersive. If they fixed some of the small glitches, it would be even better. Even then, though, this will never be a great room. Even if it's executed perfectly, the fundamental room structure and concept is always going to be just okay.

Now, an okay escape room is still one of the most fun things around! If you want a good time, it can definitely be had here! But for me, I'm trying to have the most and best room escape experiences possible. The next night I decided to do another room, and rather than come back here, I took a chance on curtain number two. Escape Key isn't bad, by any means, but it's not fantastic enough to keep my from trying anywhere else.

Rating: 7/10