If you're like me, you're probably wondering how you can research a good room to play. I've made the mistake a couple of times of just booking one that was near me. Today I'm gonna tell you some ways you should NOT go about researching rooms (ie mistakes that most people make), and then ways that you should.

Quick note: this is from my experience. You may have different results based on your preferences. Also, these are in no specific order, just the order I think of them in.

nay-nay things

1. Google Reviews

Google reviews are the first sign you get of an escape room's quality. This is not an accurate first sign. Even if you look all over, you'll be hard pressed to find a single escape room company with less than 4.5 stars, even if it's bad. This is because people who leave reviews on Google do so for one of two reasons.

A: It was their first (or maybe second, or third) escape room experience. Because they had nothing else to compare it to, and they enjoyed it, they gave it 5 stars.

B: For those people who leave Google reviews on EVERYTHING (you know those people), they always seem to give an escape room company a star or two more than it deserves. It's called being nice, and I totally understand why, but it's screwing up reliability for researching escape rooms.

Only rarely does an actual escape room player leave a 5 star review, and probably only because the game was amazing.

Don't trust Google reviews.

2. TERPECA

The Top Escape Rooms Project Enthusiasts' Choice Awards seems like it would be a reliable site. Unfortunately, I don't believe this is the case.

From what I've read on their website, you are allowed to apply if a) you have played over 200 rooms and b) you are not employed at a venue. This seems like it would be a fair judging, no? Well, here's the issue.

There's nothing that allows TERPECA to make all their voters from different parts of the world. This means that there could be many voters in a certain country or town, and none in another. It's a very unbalanced system.

I've noticed in recent years (especially in 2021) that places like Spain and Greece are receiving quite a lot of nominations and awards, and entire continents like Australia or Asia or Africa are barely getting any recognition. This makes me believe that there are better rooms out there, but no contributors in those locations to have their voices heard.

UPDATE: TERPECA's FAQ has confirmed my suspicions. They do try their best to accommodate for this, though.

3. TripAdvisor, Yelp, or any other "know before you go" website

They're literally Google reviews, but a different company.

may-may things (maybe)

1. The website of the company

This is a real make-or-break strategy, but if you run out of anything else, resort to this. If the company shows images of its rooms, it's probably good. If it won't show anything, see if it won any awards - every company loves to show off how good its rooms are, to prove to you (so you don't have to read this article)! If the only reviews the website shows are from Google or TripAdvisor, you'd probably be best steering clear of that one. There's plenty of good games out there to find, and it doesn't sound like this is one of them.

yay-yay things

1. Room Escape Artist

Easily one of the most trusted escape room reviewing sites out there, Room Escape Artist is like us, but better and more professional. They'll provide detailed reviews for rooms, explaining what's good about them and what isn't. They tend to be a bit nicer than they should be, but it's still an extremely trustable site. They also have Regional Recommendation Guides, which list the best escape rooms in the area. That's what I always go to first when I want to play an escape room.

2. Escape Authority

Escape Authority is another escape room reviewing site, again better than us. Unlike Room Escape Artist, Escape Authority tends to be a bit more critical than they should be. If they've given a room 3 keys, it's probably a 4 key experience. Our website is kind of a combination between those two, with the scenery and puzzles section coming from Escape Authority, and the pros and cons from Room Escape Artist. Although Escape Authority has not been updated in months, if they say a room's good, it's GOOD.

3. X-Quest

Oh come on, you didn't think we weren't gonna plug ourselves in here, now did you?

4. Any other escape room reviewing site

This is mostly for if both Room Escape Artist and Escape Authority haven't covered it, but there's plenty of sites out there that review games for you. I haven't met one I didn't find reliable, but there's probably one or two out there. Find a site that matches your interests, and use it to get the best experience possible!

THAT CONCLUDES THIS ARTICLE. THANK YOU FOR READING AND HAVE A NICE DAY.