Best Escape Rooms in San Diego

by Hedge Metreyeon

The concept of solving mysteries has been around for centuries. There are ancient mysteries we have still yet to solve. As a species, we hate being bored. Put us in a room with an electrocuted box and we will touch it a few times guaranteed. Put those two things together, add in some safe fun, and a group of friends or family and you have the Escape Rooms in San Diego.

Since the early 2000s, countries across the world have been perfecting the escape room game and enhancing it for the best fun to brain exercise ratio. The themes range from murder mystery to magical mayhem. However, the place with the most variety of mind-bending escape games in San Diego, CA. Let me break down the San Diego Escape Rooms so you can have a great time visiting the beautiful city.

stamp with red inc reading:"Escape Game" and spy glass on manila envelope - Escape Room San Diego Valentines Day
Best Escape Rooms San Diego

Best Escape Rooms San Diego:

Top Tip: Groupon usually has some great deals on Escape rooms that can save you a lot of money, especially if you go with a large group. Take a look at the Escape Room Groupon Deals here.

The Escape Game San Diego

This is the latest addition to the San Diego escape rooms and a fantastic choice. Located right on 5th Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter, The Escape Game offers four different Escape room options:

  1. Gold Rush: A good ol’ treasure hunt during the California Gold Rush era.
  2. Special Ops: Mysterious Market: We did this one and it was amazing!!! If you have ever wanted to play CIA agent on a secret mission to save the world, then this one is for you!
  3. Prison Break: This is the hardest game they offer. Are you up for the challenge?
  4. The Depths: Discover the secrets of a mad scientist with a lab in the middle of the ocean.

This is a great choice for a date night, family adventure, or fun night out with friends. The rooms can be booked as private experiences, but you can also join existing groups. This makes it great for couples or solo travelers who want to meet new people. The storylines are interesting and the decor really transports you to a different world. I highly recommend this one!

The Great Room Escape San Diego

Possibly one of the most mind-bending escape room games San Diego has, The Great Room Escape has two games with a new one on the way. The first one is an art heist, you have an hour to steal your late grandfather and famous painter’s masterpiece. If you fail, you must go to jail.

The other is the Mad Lab: Resurrection quest where you and your group must bring a chained professor back to life and break into a vault. Solve all the puzzles in an hour or less or be utterly annihilated. This company also backs the Disturbance and the Haunted Trail.

Groupon Deal: Begin Your Intense Escape Here

Woman reaching into a scientific chamber that is light mystically from the inside

Lockdown Escape Rooms San Diego

Lock yourself and a few of your friends in a room filled with mystic and unsolved clues. Choose between a medieval mystery involving the infamous Fountain of Youth and a wild western conspiracy with the town sheriff and the drought.

Pick between the Voodoo-cursed town in Louisiana suffering after a catastrophic storm and a conspiring doctor dabbling in athletic pharmaceuticals.

Groupon Deal: Pick Your Mysterious Poison Here

Magic ritual with voodoo doll, mirror, candles and tarot cards. Halloween concept, mystic or divination spell with occult and esoteric symbols. Vintage objects on witch table
Voodoo-Themed Escape Room in San Diego

The CSI Lab

The House of Hints has countless escape rooms and other brain-bending games available in San Diego. It’s also one of the top ten Escape Games in America according to USA Today.

The CSI Lab room is their most popular game. A mysterious toxin has been released into the air. It is your job to synthesize the antidote or die trying. You have 60 minutes to find the clues and solve the puzzles to gain your freedom. 

Get Your Tickets Here

Guys and girls having fun in escape room stylized under abandoned lab
Best San Diego Escape Rooms

The Bayou: The Legend of The Midnight Raven

Rated as number 3 on the Top Ten San Diego Escape Rooms, The Legend of the Midnight Raven is the second part of The Entrapment’s Fogmore saga. Uncover the 100-year-old truth of the Fogmore family.

Tread lightly as you puzzle out the clues in the private session of mystery solving. Immerse yourself in this thrilling tale of curses, black magic, and the mystical.

Secure Your Private Party Here

The Diner Robbery

One moment you’re in present-day San Diego, the next you’re in the 50’s planning your next heist. You have one hour to pull off a robbery of the local diner or the coppers will have you singing “Jailhouse Rock” from behind bars. If you pull it off, you’ll be in good with the all-powerful mob that controls the town. Do you have the guts to try?

Plan Your Heist Here

Counter of a 50's diner with swivel stools and a blurry Betty Boop in the back

Escape Game SD

Remember when I said the themes of these escape rooms had a large range? That can’t be truer at Escape Game SD. Their three escape rooms couldn’t be more different. In one, you try to beat a smug wizarding teacher for your entrance exam to the most elite wizarding school around.

The next is where you put your escape act to the test. Make your way through the haunted apartment of a Japanese serial killer and survive his famous torture devices. It is the closest thing to a “real” haunted house you can get. Lastly, you can finally discover what it’s like to be a superhero. Solve the clues and puzzles before San Diego explodes!

Groupon Deal: Choose Your Favorite Room Here

Animated drawing of a studying desk with a mortal and pestal, books, and and glowing cauldron

Escape Era – Escape Rooms

This particular escape company runs two real-life scenario escape games. They’re perfect for team-building exercises, fun friend outings, or a family birthday.

The Deja-Vu room challenges guests to discover the secret behind the Deja-vu phenomenon before the clock runs out. Alternatively, the expert-level Arcade room is where players must find a stash of money hidden by the mob through difficult clues and puzzles. 

Book Your Escape Here

The Exit Game

The biggest high-tech Escape Room Game is located in Orange County and worth the drive! The Exit Game provides players with a real-life video game experience. From becoming James Bond to becoming Harry Potter, players of all interests can find their niche here. Book A Room Here

Old fashioned parlor slightly blurred out with a focus on an exposed old fashioned lightbulb

Escapology: The Study of Escaping

I would be a fool not to add in a place that has a name such as Escapology. They literally specialize in The Escape Room game. They have three rooms to choose from. There is the Antidote room where players are to investigate an abandoned lab and retrieve the antidote to the lethal virus created there. 

For the seasoned escapers, there’s C0D3 where you play an FBI Agent tasked to catch the most slippery hacker the world has ever known. However, if you don’t fool around and you’re looking for a room that’s a great deal more difficult, try the Budapest Express. Solve a murder on the train before time runs out and you become the next victim.

Read More About The Rooms and Book Them Here

Escape the room or escape game, is a physical game where players are locked in a room and a required to examine clues and solve a puzzles. The word “Xcape” is the password for this cryptex riddle

Remember: Groupon usually has some great deals on San Diego Escape rooms that can save you a lot of money, especially if you go with a large group. Take a look at the Escape Room Groupon Deals here.

Escape rooms are a newer addition to the entertainment world but they have been taking us by storm with their immersive storylines, difficult puzzles, and a thrilling race against the clock.

San Diego‘s escape rooms, however, grow and develop as the citizens do. The compelling stories and the opportunity to be the main character beckon people day in and day out. Consider visiting one the next time your group of friends is looking for something to do in San Diego.

Best Escape Rooms in San Diego – Pin for Later

Best Escape rooms in San Diego was written and edited by Hedge Metreyeon and Maria Haase. As customary in the travel writing industry, some of the mentioned experiences above may have been hosted. However, this did not influence the opinion of the authors and their opinions are their own. For more San Diego Explorer posts, check out our homepage. For more of their articles visit here. Follow them on social media here.

Last Updated on May 2, 2023 by Maria Haase

The post Best Escape Rooms in San Diego appeared first on San Diego Explorer.

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