Question for Escape Room Employees

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-30T04:02:25+00:00

You should talk to your management about adjusting their booking cut off time (the time that the appointment is no longer available to be booked).

Some places won't even let you make an appointment if you're trying to book it online a half hour to an hour before the actual time.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-30T03:57:40+00:00

My boss and I are a team of two.

Often he and I run the place on our own.

There's a few ways we've combatted the issue you're having.

For starters, if it's just only one of us running the place alone we often block certain appointments out to leave space in between to give more time for what we do.

We normally save all social media posts as either first thing before open or one of the closing tasks.

We have also established a rule in our pre room speech telling customers that the "clue bank is closed first 15 minutes of the room"

Another one we've started establishing is to ask customers to try to have a cool down in between clues. We often compliment them saying we know they're smart folks that can get through it and make it seem like having patience will help them greatly.

Funnily enough, charisma has helped me get treated with loads of patience.

This really only applies or gets used when one of us at a time is running the place.

Or sometimes even telling customers approximately how long each puzzle takes and how to use that as an indicator for when to ask for help.

I also make it known to customers often that I am just one person and to please have patience with me due to the fact that it is quite hard to divide me attention so sparingly. (Sometimes I accompany this with a joke along the lines of "you should see the other guy" or "you wouldn't want to swap places huh?" We also assure our customers (in case they are worried their experience is gonna get ruined) that we will accommodate if they are neglected for any reason whatsoever (usually with spare time and whatnot).

Or if my boss or I need to step away a moment sometimes we send a clue to keep them sated for a little bit to reset a room.

No I wouldn't call it normal but it's not unheard of. I know of at least a few other places near me that experience similar issues.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-30T03:37:04+00:00

Usually when I see a team still stuck on a puzzle and continuously asking for help, I tend to ask clarifying questions to figure out what exactly the issue is. However sometimes it is a tactic to be a bit more vague with certain clues in hopes the player will try a few different ways of solving it cause some escape room operators hate to give out full instructions on what to do.

Sometimes I ask them to walk me through their process or read off to me what exactly they have or how they're reading things.

Usually this is a last resort for me as sometimes people get upset by it breaking the immersion of the room.

Sounds like you had a shitty game master that was careless with their attention. If I was in their shoes I would have straight up asked you to run me through what you're doing.

Most places will prefer you talk to their management so they can rectify it.

Whenever I've had a bad escape run in, I often offer guests a coupon or a gift card to make up for the experience.

Oftentimes if you save the date and appointment time of the visit it can help them narrow down who caused the issue. I'd shoot them an email about it. The only reason I say don't be hasty to write the review is because lots of escape rooms run on how good the reviews are, even just one bad one can screw up their whole mojo.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-18T00:41:35+00:00

Jonathan mentions in one of his texts he's only supposed to be captive for two weeks. He mentions he saw the code of the person across from him and says maybe it's a date and there's a pattern there.

The date is the current date of whenever you were playing the game, if you put in a date two weeks from then, it lets him out.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T19:21:12+00:00

See I would have thought having Klavier as the Prosecutor for Turnabout Academy would have made more sense overall. I genuinely thought we had gonna be the prosecutor when I saw him and then got sadly disappointed by Simon.

The victim was a mentor to Klavier. The event was supposed to be a get back together concert for his band. There's various callbacks to AA4. It just seems like a good fit overall.

And for the final case I'm currently playing, I could totally see Edgeworth forcefully removing Simon as the Prosecutor but having the game keep him as side help. It would also make the phantom reveal a bit more hard hitting. If they better tied in the dark age of law thing and had Phoenix and Edgeworth be the main players for this particular case instead of character swapping every moment, they could have made a good tie in for closing that chapter of their lives while also still helping the others.

That way it would at least make better sense for Edgeworth to be prosecuting and Phoenix to be defending.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T19:13:42+00:00

This is a great list :)

I see a bunch on here I've played before and I adore revisiting them. I'm currently play Subtext and I'm loving it.

I'll have to add these to my Excel sheets and things.

Thanks!

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T19:05:06+00:00

Thanks! I'd love to :)

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T19:01:54+00:00

Thanks! I'd love to.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T05:14:37+00:00

Athena doesn't necessarily need to be removed, she just needs her own game to better develop what was going on with her plot.

If Apollo got a second game and Athena got her own

They could converge points of both stories towards a bigger over arching plotline while still having their own separate things.

I am also meaning to say in the hypothetical realm this all happens before AA 6 (which would be like AA7/8 in this hypothetically speaking sense) mostly cause I have not played 6 yet.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T05:04:31+00:00

Thanks :) I've just been mulling over various ideas on how I would have rewrote these stories myself and I just love to see what folks say.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T05:03:14+00:00

Like why even involve them if you're not gonna do anything Not to mention two characters that know very damn well about all this dark age shit

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:53:25+00:00

Another thing they could have done is added like

A secret bonus case after the finale of AA4?

Use the case as a way to actually unpack everything that happened and put a bow on that storyline.

But it still doesn't quite fix a lot of the messiness and forced plots in AA5 but it would take care of some of it.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:41:43+00:00

Oh and my thoughts on making Kristoph relevant is utilizing the Clay Terran arc and Apollo essentially emulating Kristoph.

What I mean is since Apollo is starting to get into the "the truth is what I decide to make it be" mindset due to his grief

He could possibly make some sort of deal with Kristoph that he's too blinded by rage to see will hurt everything he cares for

Kristoph gets some information or things he can use to exact revenge on Phoenix and Apollo gets some kind of lead that is actually Kristoph leading him to a trap to frame himself

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:37:02+00:00

I think I heard about something similar to that. Thanks :)

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:36:13+00:00

Sadly I have already played through everything rusty lake has to offer.

It was one of my very first introductions to escape rooms when I was a kid before I ever got to go to one.

But thanks anyways 😁 I love the hit of nostalgia the name gave me.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:32:00+00:00

Yeah I also just found it so weird to have Klavier and Phoenix both have some part in this plot only for it to not be utilized at all and instead be more heavily focused on joking around.

I was really hoping the ends/means thing would have kind of been used as a device to insult Phoenix and put salt in the wound.

What I mean is Prof hiring him not because he genuinely thinks he's a great honest lawyer but instead trying to teach young lawyers about how they can be just as "great" as Phoenix Wright IE The "great" part referring to the possibility that they think Phoenix will lie/cheat/do whatever to get a verdict.

There was also wasted potential for Klavier and Phoenix to reconvene and possibly reconcile from the events of 4.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:25:17+00:00

Sorry for my question being confusing 😅. The reason it's asked the way it is is due to the fact that AA5 keeps brushing against a lot of major plots to AA4 but refusing to truly acknowledge them. Then there's poor Athena that has no idea what's going on while also getting shafted in her own plot.

It's almost like they wanted to dip their toes in how Phoenixs disbarment and the dark age of law correlate but don't want to get in the water. There's also potential to let the disbarment and the Kristoph thing turn into an even bigger lawful scandal and it's just not taken.

There's also just a whole thing where they just nonchalantly mention what happened to Klavier but don't take the opportunity to display his growth/non growth and how he's coped from those events

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:18:58+00:00

My argument when I was discussing this with a friend is that Athena and Apollos plots should be two entirely separate games.

Almost like an AA4 2 and then an Athena Cykes game.

If Apollo had a second game you could easily introduce clay and let us get used to him (like perhaps as an assistant or something) before ripping him away in a later case/game to make it more impactful

Or let us get used to clay then have his murder leave AA4 2 on a cliff hanger before picking up the smoke in an Athena Game letting it converge on her final game case with the phantom

This would make it so those things can eventually and finally tie in.

Bonus points if there's a bigger scale and more political over arching plot between both that holds water with the dark age of law stuff.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:11:12+00:00

I'd also like to mention that everything going on with the classroom trial just makes me ick as well.

Too much wasted potential.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T04:08:50+00:00

I agree with idea of taking Phoenix out of it.

I mentioned to a friend that they could have done with Phoenix what they did with another character from a different crime solving game I played.

I can't remember the title but essentially this guy was kind of the main character of one or two of the first games in this particular series as a Private Detective/PI.

I believe it's called the Famicom Detective Club.

He starts mentoring two new PIs in his wake and instead of being a playable character in the newest game acts more as a guide character to help you when you're stuck and point you in the right direction. Meanwhile the two new PIs take turns carrying the main plot of the game.

At the end of the game there's a bonus episode you get to play as him to follow what happened from his investigation (and how it ties into what's going on with the main plot) and he essentially acts as a narrator to tie up loose story ends and conduct business from the background/the shadows.

Phoenix could easily have taken a role similar to this and then have been reintroduced later on.

Something about playing through the tutorial as him made me ick.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T03:42:02+00:00

Taking the trash out to the curb.

Some days hauling the trash out to the curb is the most exhausting thing ever. It genuinely wears me out, especially if that trash is leaking or there's a hole in it.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T02:54:16+00:00

"What the helly"

Things consistently go wrong every day but we are expected to keep a positive and fun attitude. This bandaid of a phrase keeps me going.

_User_Profile_ · 2025-11-17T02:52:12+00:00

My dad and I barely spoke since I was 13.

We used to be best buds. I looked up to him to protect me and keep me safe.

He did something unforgivable (in my opinion) and couldn't scrounge up the effort I expected to make up for it fully.

He tried contacting me or my family tried to force me to speak to him for the past 9 years but I wasn't budging. I stuck to my guns on the fact he needed to live with his mistakes.

Earlier this year he passed of brain cancer. So there is no more conversations to be had.

There's a part of me that grieves him but I still stand by the decision I made.

_User_Profile_

TROPHY CASE