Trapped! Escape Room - Willoughby

We did a departmental team building event here. We had a great time. The owner was fantastic and even added an element to the debrief to aid in the learning and takeaways for everyone in a way I've never seen done before.

Apr 04, 2025 · Steve Schulte

We did the Clown Escape room with 4 people (2 couples) and they split us up with no warning and placed us in two separate rooms where we were for the majority of the time. My partner and I were able to complete our challenge and were let into the next room, but the other couple in our group had 2 locks that must’ve not been set up correctly, and after attempting to wave at the camera for assistance for about 20 minutes, a staff member finally came to help and just said “oh yeah that’s weird, you were putting in the right combinations, you can just go to the other room” even though we needed the clues that were locked in the drawers with the locks that were set incorrectly in order to complete the tasks in the next room with the full group. Near the end, we hadn’t used all of our clues, so we waved at the camera to try to get another clue with about 10 minutes remaining and we never got it. When our time was up, the worker who came to get us looked extremely stressed and quickly took us out of there. Seems like they need more workers. We also thought it was odd that they didn’t even offer us extra time after all of the time wasted because of their error with the locks. If everything worked, or if they at least made up for the mistake somehow, the escape room would’ve been fun, but we left feeling annoyed.

Jan 05, 2025 · Ben Golden

What an incredibly frustrating experience. We arrived just a few minutes early for our 7:15 PM game and found the doors were locked. The lights were on, the open sign was flashing, but it seemed as if no one was in the building. We had to call the company twice to actually be let in. With the first call, they said they would send someone over. Which they must’ve forgotten because they needed a second phone reminder about five minutes later. Turns out someone was in the building but must’ve been occupied and distracted elsewhere. Although I’m confused as to why someone wouldn’t be up at the front desk if you’re expecting a group with a booked time slot. I have played my fair share of escape rooms, probably just shy of ten with at least four different companies, and there was absolutely nothing intuitive about these puzzles. We played Race Against the Machine, which as I understand it, has you solve a sequence of puzzles before one big reveal happens (namely, a new room being unlocked). But there was no indication that we solved steps to the sequence, even though we were later told that we got some of them right. Just as constructive criticism, it might be helpful to add LEDs to each individual “mini” puzzle that lights up green when solved. We wasted a lot of time continuing to mess around with things we got right, just because we had no idea they were right. Asking for clues almost made the room more confusing. I’m not convinced our game master was paying attention because it would often take minutes to get a response on the screen after repeatedly asking for a clue. We were later told that there were some computer difficulties that made projecting clues to the screen difficult, which I certainly can’t fault our game master for. But again, this would be where I would suggest adding two-way audio to the rooms as an alternative for communication (like other companies do). When we did get clues, they were not helpful at all. Most of them were along the lines of “did you try figuring out how to open x locked cabinet/box/etc”. Sure, but we didn’t even know what puzzles to solve in order to do so. The game master was nice enough to give us ten extra minutes as well as additional “clues” when we were visibly frustrated, but we still didn’t even get halfway through. When we were let out of the room, we tried asking the game master about some of the puzzles, and they couldn’t even give us answers on how they worked or how to do them. I wanted to like this place, I really did. I’ve been to other locally owned escape rooms that were great, and I will say that the artistic design of this room was well done. But overall, I honestly just feel upset that I spent money on this experience.

Oct 02, 2024 · Jenn Minnelli

We did the clown room in willoughby. We are experienced escape room people, having done over 30 rooms across northeast Ohio. This is so shade to the individual worker at this location. She was likely untrained or just following protocol as she was told. Either way… whoever owns this location needs to make some changes. This place is a dump and I wish I could get my money back. Would give zero starts if I could. 1) this room splits your group up before the game begins. We’ve done this in other rooms at a different company where you get split up mid game for a few minutes, have to solve 1 puzzle, and then get reunited with your group. This clown room split us up and we were split up for a majority of the game. We essentially did 2 separated escape rooms without the rest of our party. 2) the decor at this location was so cheap, things were falling apart, props were broken, we felt like we were in someone’s basement. 3) the rooms were so poorly lit, we could not even read the clues or the key locks. If you are nocturnal, this room is for you. We ended up finding flashlights at the end of the game that were located literally on the ceiling. We obviously did not find these because they were impossible to see in a DARK room. At other escape room companies, they hand you a flashlight in the beginning. Or allow you to use your phone. 4) the clues were so nonsensical and made no sense. After the game, the worker couldn’t even tell us how to solve the puzzles or explain them to us. 5) when the game was reset prior to our time, the props were reset incorrectly. For example, the code to open a suitcase was located inside the suitcase. We physically could not continue the game without the clue………….. 6) when asking for clues… there is no clue button. In order to get a clue, you have to stand in front of the camera and wave your hands and/or yell. If the worker happens notice you yelling & asking for a clue… you might get one. Several times, we asked for a clue and the worker responded “no.” We wasted 20 mins during this room bc the worker would not give us the clue. The clue we needed was the code to unlock the suitcase…. We obviously could not figure out the clue bc the clue was inside the suitcase it. So are we supposed to stand around until time runs out if we can’t figure out the next clue?? 7) the door to the business was locked when we arrived and I imagine locked while we were inside. This is a fire violation and unsafe 8) we were told to leave our purses/cell phones in the car or a provided locker. I am not going to leave my phone somewhere where I cannot reach it in case of an emergency.

Jan 26, 2025 · Marissa Maio

My wife and I have played over 150 rooms across the country, and our experience today at Trapped was the worst we’ve ever experienced. Puzzles that made no sense, game masters who didn’t seem to care and couldn’t give clues, and a room where most things didn’t work even if you did them right. We actually walked out with time still on the clock it was so frustrating. Avoid this place.

Mar 01, 2025 · Matthew Price