Electric City Escape - "Escape the Final Act: The Houdini Experience"

LOCATION: Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA

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We arrived at Electric City Escape in Scranton, Pennsylvania for a late-night session. This little town was very charming and they always have parades or street fairs. We didn’t have any issues parking here on the streets since it was nighttime but during the day this could be a bit challenging since it’s a commercial area. Electric City Escape is located inside the old electricity building. The building has a really cool façade and there’s tons of history there. When we went close to the outside window of the escape room, we can see people playing an actual escape room inside! This was the first time we saw a live escape room on display for pedestrians to watch and interact with the players. This was their “Escape the Doctor’s Study” room which could accommodate large parties up to 16 people. It was a great way to “welcome” people into their venue. The lobby was very spacious with a waiting area full of puzzle games. The Christmas lights in the hallways really added a nice touch, making you feel at home.

The first room we tried there was the “Escape the Final Act: The Houdini Experience”. We’ve done many magic-themed escape rooms before and although the theme is mesmerizing, it’s pretty difficult to accomplish the design aspect of it. We can’t wait to see the secrets this room will “reveal”. Lucky for us, we were invited by the Great Houdini after his act to meet him in the auditorium. But someone lock the door behind us and we needed to find a way out before we became the final act! As we entered the room, the first thing we saw was a familiar equipment used by a lot of magicians. It would’ve been interesting to see that being utilized more into a puzzle rather than a “hiding” element.  There were a few confusing designs in the puzzle aspects. One lock was not an actual puzzle piece but was used to lock one of the props. Our suggestion is to label it as “not in play” as it was confusing why we didn’t have to open that at the end. We were also able to bypass a section of the game somehow. I wonder if the puzzles could be tweaked so that this wouldn’t happen. In the latter part of the game, lights were cleverly used but one had something to do with the puzzle, the other didn’t. It would be great if it could be used more consistently. Overall, the puzzles stuck with the theme of the room and we had a lot of fun.

We would love to see the sequel to this room as the owners already have concept ideas for it and we hope to see a more secret “revealing” aspect of a magic-themed room as those are the precious “wow” moments. Our recommended size for this room is 3-4 people. We had a good amount of time left escaping with just the two of us. Now we are fired up to continue onto our next adventure here: “Escape the Coal Mine”.

** UPDATE - We regret to inform you that "Electric City Escape" has closed its doors.

Disclosure: We thank Electric City Escape for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

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