Palace Games: The Edison Room (San Francisco, CA)

We finally escaped, with no hints!

"The Edison Room" is Palace Games' latest room and the follow up to "The Great Houdini Escape Room" and "The Roosevelt Escape Room". The set design and automation were real standouts in the previous two games that we played here and we were hoping that their newest game would have some of the same magic. We have yet been able to escape any of the Palace Games rooms so we were ready for the challenge. From their site:

"The Palace Games team recently unearthed this telegram sent by Thomas Edison in 1915 on October 2nd. 

Since the discovery of Edison’s telegram, the Palace Games team has located his study at the Palace of Fine Arts. It is now open to the public. Come play to learn the secret reason Edison built and maintained this special place at the Palace of Fine Arts!

Puzzles, Technology & Set Design

Like the set decor for the other games at this location, everything was polished and professional. Then again, the setting usually takes place in a home or a workspace so nothing too extraordinary to start off. There are some nice design elements that made the room feel like an inventor's space and we appreciated the level of detail in the set design.

The start of The Edison Room is pretty much what you'd expect from a normal room with a mix of tactile and paper puzzles (or more so puzzles that needed note taking). While definitely solid puzzles to start off with, the second half of the room transforms into a pretty different style where most of the magic took place.

The Edison Room takes automation to the next level and is right up there with the best of the best escape rooms in the country. The transition between rooms is smart and in itself a pleasure to experience.

Memorable Moments 

The last set of puzzles were by far the most unique. There was a video game-like feeling for the finale that necessitated the involvement of all party members and that's exactly how you want the experience to end. It's always fun when you end a room with a bang as opposed not even knowing you're done which is actually fairly commonplace.

Room For Improvement

We felt that the room started off a little slowly with some repetitive elements. This was actually something we felt the previous games exhibited as well. Once you discover how to do a particular set of puzzles, that initial eureka moment is great but when you have to do it multiple times, it feels like a bit of a chore.

While the ending was really fun and dynamic, the first half of the room, although very good, does not provide many "wow" moments. The theme was also common that there's a bit of a been there done that feeling.

Overall Thoughts

The level of polish and automation along with the creative set of puzzles makes this room a standout. Everything looks great, plays well and the automation was seamless.

• Set design: Great
• Difficulty: Medium-Difficult
• Price: $400 for the entire group regardless of size
• Number of players: 4-8, (we recommend 6-8), private
• Duration: 100 minutes
• Overall Rating: ★★★★★

See their website here: https://palace-games.com/edison-escape-room