We’re escape room enthusiasts who have done 15 San Diego escape rooms (based on recommendations from other enthusiasts) and 95+ in SoCal. We’re compiling our recommendations for our readers.

This list covers the city of San Diego (and National City). There are more games in the North County area, but we haven’t played any there yet!

Of course, “best” is subjective, so please read through all of our reviews before deciding which games you want to play. We’ve listed both the positives and negatives of each game.

For traveling couples specifically, there are a generous number of San Diego escape rooms that will do private games for 2 (although you may have to pay for 3). Check out our ranked list below, and scroll down further for reviews.

Best Escape Rooms in San Diego

  1. Sister’s Secret🕵- Unlockables (3-6p, $32)
  2. A.I.🔰- Exit Game (2-10p, $32)
  3. Bayou🕵- Entrapment (3-6p, $35)
  4. Mysterious Stranger🔰🕵- Steal and Escape (3-6p, $35)
  5. Fogmore Mansion – Entrapment (2-6p, $32-$35)
  6. The Escape🔰🕵- Unlockables (4-7p, $32)
  7. Diner🔰🕵- Quicksand (3-8p, $35)
  8. Deja Vu🔰🕵- Escape Era (2-10p, $28-36)

Annotations:

  • 🔰(beginner) – Our recommendation for beginners
  • 🕵(private) – Strangers will never be added to your game
  • (0-10p, $) – Room capacity, standard per-person price

San Diego Escape Room Reviews

If you book any of these San Diego escape rooms, let your host know that you heard about them from EscapeRoomTips.com!

Sister’s Secret – Unlockables

  • Theme: Creepy house
  • Positives: This is an atmospheric game with a slightly creepy atmosphere, featuring many varied and interesting puzzles. This escape room combines it all – story, atmosphere, tech, and puzzles – and is our choice for the #1 Escape Room in San Diego.
  • Negatives: One important-looking reveal was anti-climatic.
  • Tips: We recommend a teUam size of 4 for enthusiasts, although beginners can bring more. Anything more may be crowded, and anything less will be difficult. Play their “The Escape” game here too back-to-back with the same team if you can manage it.
  • Book Now: http://areyouunlockable.com/

A.I. – Exit Game San Diego

  • Theme: Artificial intelligence
  • Positives: This room features some of the best integrations between the game’s digital and physical world, which leads to some creative and unique puzzle implementations. The game flows well and does a great job conveying progress. A “hard mode” will automatically unlock for players who finish the initial game with time to spare. Note: This review is based on the LA version of the game.
  • Negatives: Their games are booked with an abnormally low 10 minutes between successive games, which gives much less buffer time for players.
  • Tips: This game is also available at their LA location. We recommend a team size of 3-4 for enthusiasts, although beginners can bring more. 2 is possible but difficult. You can pay extra to make your game private.
  • Book Now: https://www.theexitgame.com/

Bayou – The Entrapment

  • Theme: Louisiana bayou
  • Positives: This is a rare 90-minute escape room, packed with hidden technology, an elaborate set, and a bunch of tech-driven puzzles. The hints are thoughtfully crafted and all self-serve.
  • Negatives: This game is only fun for groups who are willing to listen through all of the audio. All of the audio can easily make the game frustrating. You really do have to listen to everything, as there are key instructions you will miss if you don’t. The narrative slows down the pace of the game, although the game picks up the pace at the latter half. Many of the puzzles require fine precision and timing and may be fiddly at times. The intro video was absurdly long.
  • Tips: We recommend a team of 3-4 for enthusiasts. 2 is possible but extremely difficult – we don’t recommend it. Beginners can bring more. We don’t recommend any more than 4 for enthusiasts – the game starts off very linear, and less chaos helps with listening to all of the audio cues.
  • Book Now: http://www.theentrapment.com/

Mysterious Stranger – Steal and Escape

  • Theme: House
  • Positives: The game’s core strengths are the puzzles hidden around an otherwise unassuming house environment. The puzzles are varied in nature and offer some fun physical and mental challenges. As enthusiasts, we’ve seen plenty of escape rooms puzzles before, but the ones here were delightfully unique and offered plenty of fun challenges for our team of two.
  • Negatives: The physical space is a bit small and the theming is somewhat eclectic, but this is still fun, well-designed, private-group experience for any enthusiasts in San Diego.
  • Tips: Mysterious Stranger has actually been replaced now since it was one of their older games. We recommend checking out their newest games, The Lost Expedition, Takeover, and The Neighbor.
  • Book Now: https://stealandescape.com/

Fogmore Mansion – The Entrapment

  • Theme: Creepy house
  • Positives: The technology in this room is omnipresent – it imbues “magic” into the various artifacts that you’ll be playing with and discovering throughout the game. Seeing this “magic” work first-hand is a blast. This game works well to create a mysterious, dark, and creepy atmosphere.
  • Negatives: This room can easily get frustrating due to the heavy amount of reading. This room takes place in a low-light environment.
  • Tips: We recommend a team of 3-4 for enthusiasts. 2 is possible as well, but very difficult (we don’t recommend it). Beginners can bring more. Use our discount code ERTIPSTRAP5 for discounted tickets if you’re booking for a group of 1-3.
  • Book Now: http://www.theentrapment.com/ (use our promo code ERTIPSTRAP5 for groups of 1-3)

The Escape – Unlockables

  • Theme: Kidnapped
  • Positives: This game features a fast-paced variety of great puzzles The initial 4-way split team start gives everyone something to do. The set is busy and lined everywhere with interesting elements.
  • Negatives: There are some physical bottlenecks in the room that may make larger teams feel crowded.
  • Tips: The ideal team size for enthusiasts is 4 (the minimum), as the game starts with a 4-way split start. Beginners can bring more. Play their “Sister’s Secret” game here too back-to-back with the same team if you can manage it.
  • Book Now: http://areyouunlockable.com/

Diner – Quicksand Escape Rooms

  • Theme: Retro diner
  • Positives: The general decor and retro atmosphere of this Diner are absolutely charming, and the owners have gone great strides in finding appropriate large furnishings that complement the whole theme. The puzzles are all relevant and the theming is a whole lot of fun.
  • Negatives: This is a first-generation escape room, which means that there aren’t any maglocks or custom high-tech components anywhere. This is a lock-heavy game.
  • Tips: We recommend a team of 3 for enthusiasts. 2 is possible as well, but harder. Beginners can bring more. Check out their Chinatown game as well (we haven’t played it). We don’t recommend their Speakeasy game (it’s not as good).
  • Book Now: https://www.quicksandescape.com/

Deja Vu – Escape Era

  • Theme: Various
  • Positives: This game starts off as a speakeasy-themed adventure, but changes set and course somewhat quickly. The game is packed with a large number of puzzles suitable for large groups of beginners, or small groups of enthusiasts. The game flows well.
  • Negatives: This game is mostly a first-generation escape room, where most of the puzzles get you a key or a numeric combination for a lock. This is a lock-heavy game.
  • Tips: Both beginners and enthusiasts should ask for “expert mode”. The difference is that the GM adds a handful more puzzles (we thought these extra puzzles were more creative than the rest) – these puzzles are worth experiencing for both beginners and enthusiasts. We recommend a team of 2-3 for enthusiasts. Beginners can bring more.
  • Book Now: https://www.escapeera.com/

More Escape Rooms

Before you go, check out our Top 23 Tips & Tricks to Win Escape Room Games. If you’re traveling more outside San Diego, check out

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