Future Technology Escape Room by REASON embeds fun demos of future technology in an satisfying 80-minute escape room experience.
A picture from inside the room. (REASON)
Story and Background
This game is founded by a group of people with a background in accelerating / incubating “future tech” startups. They’ve accumulated quite a few “future tech” toys and have transformed a part of their office into an escape room.
The story is based around a reactor in a high-tech facility that was sabotaged and needs to be shut down.
Story of the game (from their Yelp page)
Our reactor facility has been sabotaged and it needs to be reversed. You and your friends are locked in the reactor room together — no smartphones, no cameras — and your goal is to shut down the system in order to escape. How? That’s for you to figure out.
Quick facts:
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Players: 5-10 (we’d recommend 5-8)
- Price: $480
- Duration: 80 minutes
- Overall Rating: ★★★★
Puzzle Quality
This room has a mixture between traditional escape room puzzles and puzzles that involve using a “future technology” to complete a certain task. Here are my thoughts on both kinds:
Traditional Escape Room Puzzles
The puzzles were clean – they progressed very clearly and it was clear what you needed to find, use, and solve before you need to finish. The puzzles were satisfying and all needed to be finished before you could solve the meta.
Future Technology Tasks
These were the true highlight of the game. These are less so puzzles in the traditional sense, but tasks where you have to quickly learn how to use certain “future technologies” in order to get the information you need. Some of these are a bit finicky as they weren’t made to be used in an escape room, but the general execution is pretty fun.
Production Value
This escape room is part of a larger innovation lab – the owners have promised regular updates to the escape room involving really fun and quirky “future tech” toys. The room is constructed robustly, well themed, and contain quite a few details that add to the atmosphere.
The game seems fully automated as well – with quite a few magnetic switches that activate after you complete certain tasks, or place objects in the right place, or press buttons the right way. The decor matches the theme fairly well too.
The main production value has to be in the future tech toys you get to play with – these are far more advanced than the typical toys you find in escape rooms.
The checkin desk. No paper waivers here, just an iPad to sign in! (EscapeRoomTips.com)
Shortcomings
A lot future technology is a bit finicky and requires a lot more care and precision to operate than your usual escape room contraptions – there are opportunities to render the task / puzzle impossible without game master help if you do something the wrong way or break an object.
The price of this room ($480) is the highest I’ve seen, especially with our recommended team size of 5-8. The price is somewhat justified by the increased duration of the room (80 minutes) and the high-tech toys that you get to play with, but this might still price out a lot of casual escape game players. Try it for a corporate event?
The narrative is not really developed, but the room is generally well-themed around “future technology”.
Overall Recommendation ★★★★
The puzzles and the technologies go well together as part of the overall theme, which is unique and well-executed. I would recommend this game for people who are willing to front the cost (corporate groups and escape room veterans?).
The main novelty of this escape game is the “future technology” toys that make up an an integral part of the escape room. If you haven’t played with them before this experience can be dazzling. If you have played with them before this experience is still a lot of fun.
You can check out their website / make a booking at tryreason.com. Let them know that Escape Room Tips sent you!
Full Disclosure: REASON comped our admission for Future Technology Escape Room.
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