DOA Room Escape

My experience, along with my group, was not a pleasant one. From the start, the employee was rushing through the rules and speaking so quickly/​mumbling that my father (who has a hearing loss) could not understand anything. He had never been to an escape room before and was excited to see what it was all about.
In the room, that same employee stayed with us. I thought that was strange but soon learned why. This room (the garage) was beyond difficult. My husband and I have done 3 previous escape rooms, escaped them all and think of ourselves as being rather savvy. Considering this room, I felt completely defeated and bothered by how complicated the clues were. One of my friends was actually angry because she was unable to contribute. The employee pretty much coached us through the entire time, seeing how lost we were.
While we did escape, I do not accept it as a win. When discussing the room with my group, we all felt this was a waste of time. The employee admitted they pride themselves on being «one of the more difficult rooms in the area». Yeah, ok. I understand owning a business is challenging but I find it very questionable you make these rooms so difficult that an employee needs to help you through it.

Love this place! Easy to book, Excellent Service, extremely nice and accommodating staff! Doa sticks to History for their themes and the clues in the room go hand in hand with the timelines of their themes. Super cool to have fun and learn something new at the same time! Best room escape I’ve done!

I 100% recommend DOA Room Escape to any company looking for a team build. My team of 13 decided to try it out today. First off scheduling the event was so easy and professional. All of our needs were met and they went above and beyond to accommodate us. Both the ladies working today were extremely fun, helpful, and kind! We received stellar customer service! Our team unfortunately didn’t make it out in time, but that didn’t take away from the fun at all! We seriously had a blast. We will just have to try it again sometime. Thank you so much from myself and my FedEx Purple Promise Team! Don’t change ever! Great staff, great time!

My friends and I have done a number of escape rooms and this was by far the worst experience we have had. From the time we arrived to the time we left we experienced the worst customer service EVER! Do not go here! We had workers coming in and out of our room-​they were extremely distracting-​there was an employee in the room the entire time-​and they seemed annoyed by everything that was happening. This was the most expensive escape room we have seen and after buying every ticket for 2 rooms we didn’t even receive a «hello» when we got there or «thank you» when we left. However, we were told to «hurry up» in filling out our release forms and aggressively told to «not talk» when we left, so other groups coming in wouldn’t receive clues. (Completely understandable, but was said in an extremely rude way)
This could have and should have been a really fun experience (regardless of escaping or not) but it was ruined by horrible customer service.
Aaaaaaaand…the room was as hot as balls!

Had a blast today in the garage escape room. Met a lot of great people in our group. We were so close to getting out (down to the minute) but still walked away with no shame. Proud of everyone coming together.
It really is an experience everyone needs to try. Can’t wait to go back for the other rooms.
Half way through we hit our stride and were in the zone. No better feeling than getting in the zone and having the pieces come together.

We did this for my sisters 24^th birthday over the past weekend. It was a lot of fun we knew all 11 people in the room as we planned it that way. We thought it would be weird with people we didn’t know. Background and history of the event was a nice refresher and introduction before we got locked in. We didn’t really know what to expect going into this as none of us had done anything like this in the past, apart from playing the board game clue. With out the help of the staff we would have really had no idea where to start. I do however think there should be another set of instructions when you unlock the last box. We seemed a little puzzled as to what to do with what we had found and I believe that confusion contributed to our time running out. No one knew what to do next with the last clue. Overall, I would do it again and I recommend it for anyone looking for something new in the burbs. Great experience, though a little pricey.

I didn’t know what to expect going in and was a little nervous about being locked up in a room for an hour with other people. But the game masters put me at ease from the get go. They were super fun and made the experience entertaining, even! One of the owners, John Bennett, briefed us excitedly and animatedly on the history of what the room is based on before we enter the room and he does it in such a way that not only gets you excited and leaves you with more knowledge of these historical events but makes you anxious and giddy with anticipation to enter and see what it’s about. One of the game masters was in the room with us and from time to time, gave subtle clues about what direction we were heading in figuring something out, which made it more anxiously challenging.
Overall it was such a cool experience — and we ended up escaping!!!
(Hint: try to go with people who are team players and good communicators — it goes a long way! And try to get someone to delegate who will be doing what in the room — that seemed to work for us!)
I’ve done all three rooms there and can’t wait to check them out in the Dells over holiday break as we usually head up there for our annual staycation and now my kids can take part in this fun game where they have to use their minds instead of their phones! Can’t wait!!!

Kristin,
Your reply is a ridiculous attempt to cover up the actions of you and your business practices. Below is just ONE of the emails threads I sent trying to contact someone to explain the circumstances that transpired after our initial conversation when my mom AND niece were hospitalized.
With that, I still stand by how I feel about DOA Room Escape and how you and your co-​owner John Bennet handled this situation after you/​your employees were notified about the death of my mother.
PS: I have all my emails saved and will be happy to post the others to call out your nonsense :)
–Valerie
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: December 15, 2015 at 4:08:07 PM CST
To: DOAroomescape
Subject: Re: Reminder: Sunday, September 13, 2015 1:30 PM
Yes I did speak to Kristin about rebooking since both my mom and niece were hospitalized at the time of the party. My mom passed away and there just is no joy in celebrating anything right now.
Please credit my credit card for the $ 47.40. (I no longer have the groupon as Groupon refunded the voucher because of these circumstances).
One of the guests that I invited to the original party thought DOA was an neat concept and since she didn’t get to experience it with the party that I was planning, decided to have her company Christmas party with your company. She had never heard of it before my invite. They said they had a good time.
I am requesting again that the money be refunded back to my credit card.
Thank you,
Valerie
On Dec 15, 2015, at 1:35 PM, DOAroomescape
wrote:
I spoke with Kristin (the woman you worked with previously). She said she would be happy to reschedule your show. Unfortunately, we do not offer refunds.
Please let us know when you would like to rebook and we would be happy to make that happen.
Thank you!
Heather
GameMaster
D.O.A. Room Escape
On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 7:46 AM, Valerie wrote:
Can someone please call me about this charge? I have emailed several times and have not been called back. Is there a number I can call?
Please credit the $ 47.40 back to my credit card. The Groupon was returned to Groupon for the amount I paid ($ 185)
Thank you.
Valerie

I used this as a team-​building exercise for a gaming group I run, and it was an absolutely fantastic experience! My brain was in overdrive for the entire hour, and it flew by! One group did the Basement and escaped, while my group did the Garage, and had to hang our heads in shame that we didn’t.
Likes:
— the staff reminds you before you go in that communication is key
— the puzzles were all well-​themed, a lot of fun, and used the space well
— there was no shortage of stuff to do or things to try to puzzle out
— the guide will sometimes help you if you’ve misinterpreted something to prevent you from wasting too much time
— well-timed…if we had just a few more minutes we would have gotten there!
— communication truly is necessary — you need to work together, because there’s too much for one person to keep track of. Other rooms I’ve done were doable by one person while everyone watched, but that’s not the case with DOA.
Dislikes:
— as another reviewer said, there were a LOT of number locks. Maybe switching it up to involve letters, symbols, or other types of combinations would allow the same types of riddles, but different ways of expressing the answer.
I would most definitely go again to do the other room, and once a new one is made, I’d go back again! Great place for fun, team-​building, or an afternoon of brain-​melting with friends!

Absolutely great time! We did the HH Holmes basement rooms! The 8 of us has to work as a team to solve puzzles and riddles to get codes to unlock the locks or find keys. It was great. The staff are friendly, entertaining, educational and fun. You have 60 minutes to break free from the room. Or room actually had two rooms to escape. They say only 12% are able to escape but most that don’t are very close. We finished with just under 11 minutes to spare! It was a team effort and was a lot of fun. Be sure to speak up and work together. No suggestion is a bad suggestion. Highly recommend!

Awesome! If you are looking for something totally different to do, stop here. It takes all kinds of thinkers to make it out of the room, so don’t think you have to be a genius. The staff are super nice.

We failed again! We do this for date night and talk about it daily. We tried has a couple and came close. Our second try was with ten people we didn’t know. Both attempts were fun. Two times and so close, we’ve always left saying what if! After trying two rooms and two different experiences, we have no complaints. I’m still kicking myself for missing a step I’m sure would’ve given our team the extra time needed to escape! Money well spent! If forced to make a complaint it’d be we won’t have another room to solve for awhile. It’s not a complaint because it’s obvious it takes a lot of time to develop each room. We can’t wait for the next adventure.

This was so much fun! It was a night spent with friends actually doing something! No sitting in a bar and blowing tons of cash, but using your brain and having a blast! I’m claustrophobic and I don’t like being locked in but I never felt trapped. The owners are with you every step of the way and they’re amazing! Very VERY well done! You can do it… we did! We made it out of the garage with 25 seconds to spare! Highly recommended for fun with friends or a team building activity for work. I can’t wait to try the other room and to see what they come up with next…

SO much fun! We’ve been looking for something different to do and saw this on groupon. Unfortunately we weren’t one of the groups to escape but we came soclose! We had a group of 11 and everyone had a good time. We definitely want to come back and try one of the other rooms!

SO FUN! Did a team building exercise here for work today, and it was awesome!
Wish I could say we were one of the 10% that gets out in an hour, but no such luck… it wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped, nor as difficult as I feared… but tough.
We did the basement, and were thankful that they keep a ‘guide’ with you. They don’t really help, but they do try to steer you toward a clue, if you don’t realize you’re on to it.
Keys? Don’t over think it. Listen to each other.
Would we do it again? Yes! In a heartbeat!

Be sure to put your thinking caps on and come prepared to challenge your mind in every way possible.
Is this a game? Yes, it’s a game. The goal is to locate the key and exit the room. You are given clues to gain access to areas which offer more clues. It has to be done in 60 minutes. The room has a timer and a DOA staff person monitors you. Another way of describing it is a scavenger hunt for clues inside one room if you find a way to exit the room, you win a DOA Escape Room Tshirt.
90% of the items in the room are useful tips that lead you some place else. We were in the H.H. Holmes room which has Chicago significance in that it is based on a serial killer who trolled the area during the World’s Fair in the 1800s. The Holmes hotel was essentially a death trap. Once he was caught, it was learned there were over 200 ppl killed there so you can understand one’s reason for attempting to escape this joint. How did we make out? Is it true that almost doesn’t count??? Well, if so, let’s just say that if this were the 1800s, we would have been toast. We did not get out the room but we had a great time.
I highly recommend you go with group as opposed to alone or as a pair. But even as a pair, it would be a ton of fun.
We were told there are new rooms coming in a month or so. All the more reason to return for another try.

Man, our team almost escaped the Hotel. We were holding the key in our hands, but it was still trapped. A crushing last-​minute defeat.
Room escapes are a super-​fun activity for a big group. You show up and hear the backstory of the room, then they let you inside. Your ability to escape requires you to collaborate and communicate. Nearly all the clues require you to solve multiple puzzles to learn the combinations that will open locks to free a key to the room.
My group had previously tackled (and escaped) the Trapped in a Room with a Zombie experience in downtown Chicago —
— so we were eager to try another one.
Things I liked about DOA…
* Our host was very good. He gave us minor nudges to let us know when we were on the right track.
* You really do have to use your brain in unusual ways.
* At some point, obstacles can temporarily knock some of your teammates out of commission.
* Getting the combinations to the locks required multiple steps. Solving one riddle often led you to another, then another, then another. It allowed each small group to follow the threads without getting too confused or anything.
* Some of the clues were hidden really, really well.
Things I didn’t like about DOA…
* Some of the clues and solutions didn’t *exactly* match. When we did the zombie room escape in Chicago, it was clear when you’d solved a puzzle. Without giving too much away, there are some DOA puzzles where you look at the clue and the solution and say, «I guess that’s pretty close.» There should be no doubt when you’ve landed on something.
* Suuuuuuuuuuper overreliance on numbers for the padlock combinations. While DOA does have one or two padlocks that use keys or letters, the huge majority of locks require numbers. Unless you have someone keeping track of which number goes where, you are going to have people shouting numbers at you for an hour. Good luck keeping them straight.
* The choke point finale. When you get near the end of the room, your entire group will be standing around watching one person trying to do tasks that involve fine motor skills. It’d be nice if while that person was doing that thing, there was something else for the rest of us to do, like hold a rope on a pulley or solve another problem to make the lock ready to be opened. Instead, we burned the last two and a half minutes taking turns on one thing. That was a letdown.
They said their escape rate is something like 10%, whereas the zombie escape in Chicago was much higher. I feel like your escape rate should be around 50%, otherwise your room might be a little too difficult.
That said, it’s probably impossible to do DOA without having a ton of fun. Check this out!

I had such a great time at DOA Room Escape. I initially tried to get in touch with another company closer to my house to schedule a private party and they were taking so so so long to get back with me. I reached out to Kristin, last minute, and got an instant response. She offered to open doors on a day that they were initially closed in order to accommodate my birthday. Best ever!
We had so much fun, John was really great getting us geared up before our one hour escape … then off we went.
I won’t give all the fun away but in the end we didn’t make it out! Which is okay! It was so fun to see how all of my friends minds calculated to figure out all the riddles.
Afterwards we stayed a little while longer and John and Kristin gave us another fun puzzle where pairs had to figure out how to untangle themselves from two rope handcuffed. That was hilarious to watch
Long story short. Amazing. Go!

We had an amazing afternoon at DOA Room Escape! The whole experience was very well thought out and you learn a bit of history about HH Holmes and the World Fair. You can tell that the folks that run it LOVE what they do and have put a lot of time and effort into making sure you have FUN.
You are given 60 minutes to piece together clues to get out of the room and it requires a LOT of TEAMWORK. We went with our four nephews (ages 12 – 18) and they LOVED it. It was great to see the kids work together to solve the clues ~ some were not easy! You can tell how much thought that has gone into the artifacts in the room and the clues that unfold throughout the hour.
This was the perfect outing for teenage kids, a way to pull them away from video games and to make them think for an hour. I highly recommend DOA Escape and I can’t wait to go back when they change things up in few months.

Such a fun experience. The people who run this thing are so nice and welcoming. I remember thinking numerous times «wow are these people great.»
You get to learn about HH Holmes and then you get 60 minutes to use clues, puzzles, and TEAMWORK to escape his basement. My mind was blown at some of the puzzles. There is so much that goes into the rooms and they did a great job making you think hard. Our group had so much fun. In the end we died lol. Had we only had a few extra minutes we would have made it. When it was over we walked out of the room laughing about where we went wrong. Very fun and guaranteed to be a good time. Definitely recommend it for a small group of friends.