Well, this is it. My final day. There is not nearly enough time to do all the things I want to do. Don’t get me wrong, I think I made the right call in giving myself a couple of buffer days before going back to work. But man, the escapes I have missed!

Enough about what I missed, though. Let’s talk about what I didn’t miss!

Hair Status: Managed…Barely

I broke down and went to the hotel shop to buy myself a $13 USD tiny tube of curl cream. It was glorious and although I am not a fashionista, at least the Frizz is contained.

LA Stuff

Oh man…today was my first day truly experiencing the LA traffic. On the one hand, I am proud of myself for doing the escape enthusiast thing and agreeing to squeeze in one more escape than we had scheduled. On the other hand, it meant our time was much tighter and…LA traffic is not kind. Believe it or not, Toronto traffic I feel is just as awful, but for difference reasons. Our trip was 37 miles. It was meant to be 40 minutes. It was an 1 hour and 40 minutes with traffic. We travelled 11 miles in 45 minutes. It was…a very special time.

There honestly isn’t much else other than that. It was all traffic. Oh! Except my breakfast. I had Eggs Benedict with “Canadian” bacon, but it was that ham stuff that usually goes on an Egg McMuffin that I do not consider Canadian bacon. Canadian bacon is peameal bacon!

The Escapes

I was playing with Scott once again today, along with our friend, Chris Waters of Constructed Adventures! We were going to be playing with Jesse as well, however, by this point in the post-RECON timeline, a lot of attendees were reporting positive for COVID. This included Jesse. We were nervous given we had spent the whole day with him the day before, but, we checked with each other and agreed to mask up in the escapes. Scott and I had also had COVID fairly recently and were still testing negative, so we were a bit more comfortable.

Just as we were heading out, we ran into friends again! Just when I thought RECON had emptied out! Included in the group was puzzle master, Brett Kuehner! Sadly…I seem to have the lost the photo of this.

Escape Room LA- The Black Dragon

Our first stop was at Escape Room LA’s latest room, The Black Dragon. Escape Room LA’s lobby is full of photos of celebrities who have played their games, including Conan O’Brien who did a spot on his show about it.

The lobby, like a lot of the lobbies I noticed during my time in LA, was pretty standard. Our game host (who, again, shamefully, I have forgotten the name of…I really need to write these things down) was patient and chill as we got our waivers together.

The Black Dragon began with a video setting us in Hong Kong in the 1960s. It went into gang structures there, talking about how triad games became a problem. It then went into a…slightly cringey bit I won’t get too into here, but let’s just say it kind of had a “white savior” tone to it. I was told afterward by someone else who had played it that the owners/creators were Asian, so I felt a bit better about that, but it was still an…odd choice.

One thing I have noticed about LA rooms is that they seem to specialize in having small scale wow moments, little tasks or mechanics that might be quick, but leave a lasting impression. These moments are also things that I am not used to being able to do in an escape room, which was a nice change of pace. Escape from LA was no exception, and had a fun, creative opening with a task that was completely in world and delighted me. In fact, we commented afterward that an awful lot of space had been allocated to what amounted to the first 5 minutes of the game. I wouldn’t call it a waste of the space, but it is interesting that a large portion of the room, which has a lot of detail set wise, is basically left alone for the rest of the game.

The set for Black Dragon, a Hong Kong street filled with shops, is just fantastic. It put me in mind of Omescape’s game, Hong Kong After Dark, which is also set in a Hong Kong street. The attention to detail was imipressive. Every wall was practically plastered all over in Chinese advertisements and storefronts.

The puzzles were mostly straightforward, with a heavy reliance on combo locks. We got pretty tripped up at the beginning but once we got a nudge, things got rolling. Our game host was in the room the entire time, putting on a slight role of sweeping up the streets while keeping an eye on our progress. I liked that little touch of reality. There were moments where, again, we poked fun at the logic of how someone would choose to lock their door, but for the most part we would shrug and accept the escape room reality of it all. I would say I was definitely getting lock fatigue by the end of it, though.

60Out- Wizard’s Treasure

Next up was 60Out, a franchise with locations worldwide! We went to their Hollywood location, where we played their new room, Wizard’s Treasure. Before heading out, we got some coffee and wouldn’t you know it, we ran into Brett and his gang again. I think they were stalking us.

They had actually been coming from 60Out and were apparently delighted with Wizard’s Treasure. That boded well!

60Out has, again, a pretty generic albeit cozy lobby. We met and chatted with the owner/creator of the room, Grant, while some lofi played on a television. Grant had also attended RECON, and it was great to chat with him about the LA scene in general.

Without spoiling much, Wizard’s Treasure is my absolute favourite low-key opening to an escape room so far. Ever. To say anything more would be to say too much. Maybe I’m even saying too much by just saying it’s my favourite!

This room is…simply delightful. It is whimsy at its best. The plot of the room is pretty simple. You need to open the Wizard’s vault to get at his treasure! That’s it, but that’s all that is needed. We quickly set about our tasks, of which there were many! This is very much a task based puzzle room, with little ahas leading to a task you need to do a few times.

Grant recommended that we play as much as a group as possible so we could experience all the cool moments. Rather than splitting up the tasks between us, we took Grant’s advice, and I’m glad we did. Normally, I hate task heavy rooms, but Wizard’s Treasure had tasks that somehow did not overstay their welcome nor did each iteration we had to solve become too tedious. I was impressed our momentum was so high throughout!

Oh yeah, and we were allowed to take photos and videos in the room! I was shocked! I had only heard of one other escape room company allowing this, and frankly, I hope more follow suit. This set was amazing and it feels good to be able to share it! I tried not to take spoilery ones.

Wizard’s Treasure is marketed as a beginner room, and I would very much agree. In fact, it’s one of the best beginner rooms I have seen and I would happily direct any friends or family to try it out.

Exodus Games- Ink and Ashes

Technically, this was not our next escape, but after being able to sleep in and get our energy back, we were eager to suddenly stuff our day with what we could. So we figured on the way to our next escape, we could swing by Exodus Games to squeeze in Ink and Ashes, which was designed by Christine Anderson whom I had played with the day before!

This is where things went sideways for us a bit schedule wise. As I mentioned before, the LA traffic began to haunt us. We went from having a 3 hour break with plenty of time to grab food to scarfing down some “power wafers” Scott had in his car. I was glad I had eaten a larger breakfast that day, but it was starting to wear off.

We powered through, though. As we entered the lobby, the owner greeted us with a friendly hello, and did not seem perturbed that we were so close to our play time. I think that’s another US thing. Everyone is very relaxed about start times and will hold the room for 15 minutes if you are late.

Ink and Ashes is a newer room for Exodus. It is murder mystery themed, with the premise being that an author who was killed years ago may have left behind clues as to who killed her. Sleuthing ensues!

Exodus was also seems to be a combo-lock heavy escape company, but for the most part we were pretty clear when we got a puzzle answer what lock it belonged to. The puzzles themselves were clear and at the very least fit the theme. The room followed the continuing trend of small wow moments with a couple of cinematics and tasks that both surprised and delighted me.

Were there plot holes? Oh yeah (although maybe I missed some things). But I appreciated the designer’s clear efforts to avoid them, and the atmosphere felt appropriately like all my favourite murder mysteries. None of our own theories panned out, but we were having too much fun to care. And the plot was pretty fun. What I also appreciated was when a big narrative moment happened, the lights would dim apart from what the game wanted us to look at, which I really wish more rooms would do!

We were really happy to have the time to play Ink and Ashes. It was well worth the detour and the hunger pangs. I am really glad we had Scott with us who not only used to live in the Irvine area, but also is a big foodie. We had JUST enough time to rush to a nearby ramen restaurant and wolf down some of the best ramen I have ever had before heading to Hidden Donkey.

Hidden Donkey: Irvine School of Wizardry and the Goblin’s Secrets

Hidden Donkey’s rooms are all wizard themed (not Harry Potter…tooootally not Harry Potter). The premise of their latest game is that we are all wizarding students studying for our exams, however, we are given a special quest to find the Phoenix Ring hidden somewhere in the school. Our game host was friendly and wonderfully sarcastic as she greeted us in the clean and simple lobby (yes, again). We got there with just enough time to spare and were ready to get our wizard practice on!

First, escape room owners who love doing wizard themes, take note…if you can’t pull off some crazy wand tech, don’t bother. I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure Hidden Donkey opted for our wand magic to be triggered by none other than an attentive game host who would simply hit a button if we did it right or wrong. And I was sooooo relieved. Nothing annoys me more in magic themed rooms than madly waving a wand that is failing to capture some weird motion sensors. This way, we could feel magical without having to worry about the precision of our movements or tech failing.

That…and the feedback was so clear. If you do something wrong in this room, you know it right away. Likewise, there was a way to track our progress that was clear and simple. Once we got the hang of that mechanic, it was easy to see what our next task was.

But the set…okay, all of the sets I have seen in LA are incredibly detailed, and they are equally as impressive as Hidden Donkey. But I have to mention just one that completely took me by surprise. As I was leaning up against one of the “castle” walls, I suddenly realized…this wall felt different from what I expected. It wasn’t styrofoam, it wasn’t wood made to look like stone, it felt…it felt like plaster. It felt solid and sturdy. This felt like a castle would feel. And yeah…afterward I learned that the creators had worked for four months just pouring bricks for their castle set. Colour me amazed. This kind of workmanship is to be recognized!

There was one puzzle that was fun to do but took us a bit longer to understand/interpret. We learned afterward that this is a new puzzle in the room that was recently added because it was felt players were blasting through the room too quickly. However, the new puzzle seemed to be a bit too difficult now. I always like hearing about updates, and we gave some feedback as to how it could be simplified. I’ll be interested to hear how it goes!

With our final escape room done, it was time to head back to the hotel and prepare to head home…

LA Final Thoughts

I am so glad I got to go to LA. While I didn’t get to do everything I wanted, the escapes I got to play, the people I got to meet, and the food I got to eat were all unforgettable. As far as LA’s room trends, what I tended to see most often was:

• Elaborate sets, regardless of the tech involved
• Small wow moments that felt big
• Unique tasks not usual in escape rooms
• Credits! I forgot to mention, there was a lot more crediting of designers in LA than I have seen in other cities.
• Lots of combo locks (not necessarily a bad thing, just something I noticed)

Mind you, this is only with a sampling of 13 games. I would be interested to know other people’s thoughts on LA! What do you find is a trend there? It would be nice to come back someday and play the ones that I had to miss out on!

RECON Final Thoughts

As I write this, over a week has gone by since I got back, and almost two weeks since RECON occurred. I have had some time to let the event percolate in my mind.

Much like Boston, the in-person RECON event was inspiring. To see so many inspiring talks, to meet like-minded people and and learn things from different owners and enthusiasts is something that I am so glad I got to experience and that can’t really be replicated in the online version of the event (oh, but trust me, I have my tickets secured for the 2025 online event). I am so glad there are industry events like these where we can share ideas and evolve.

Since it was bigger, this RECON did have a different feel to it than Boston. Having the big con-wide trips to Level 99 and Boda Borg really did allow us to bond more as a group. Boston was also a bit more intimate, with fewer attendees and thus more time to get to know one another.

LA was a bigger event and with escape rooms in the area far more spread out, it simply was not possible to plan these big outings as a part of our experience. However, there were other things about this event that made it special. The sheer amount of people I could meet and reconnect with was exhilarating. And the events that were done within the convention itself were a lot of fun and allowed us to get to know each other and play.

I also loved experiencing the con as a volunteer. The RECON staff did a phenomenal job organizing and making sure everything ran as smoothly as possible. They deserve all the accolades for putting on such an inspiring and exciting event.

If I was to pick something I would like to see change for RECON 2026…and perhaps even 2025…it would be some of the nature of the programming. A couple of attendees I talked to brought up that, while inspiring and impressive, a lot of the talks focused on creators and companies who were making big budget, award-winning, crazy experiences….experiences that most escape room companies simply can’t accomplish. This was something I noticed in Boston as well, with the final talk of the convention basically telling owners that if they don’t build their rooms a certain way, they were kind of failing.

I know I compare to the video game industry a lot but…not every escape room can be a Triple-A title. But that does not mean that they cannot be memorable. If I had a wish for future RECON programming, it is in finding the value in the little things and how to work with your constraints, whether budgetary or otherwise. The 49 Boxes alone is a good example of that, packaging big moments of wonder in the smallest of packages. Heck, that’s what escape rooms in LA showed me, that small moments really count! Even as I type this, I am now wondering if I am kind of a combo-lock puzzle snob! Oh man…I have some reflecting to do.

Regardless though, RECON was a blast, and I can’t wait for next year’s event. Congrats to everyone who organized, spoke, performed, whatever, what have you! You have all earned your rest. Thanks for all the inspiration! And the spicy cucumber margaritas.