Can You Survive The Hex Room?

One of the highest-rated and most talked-about escape rooms in the Los Angeles/Orange County area, Cross Roads Escape Games’ The Hex Room was on my must-try list for a while. During a crazy escape-room frenzy in the O.C., I finally got a chance to see if I, along with my friends, could survive a horror movie.

The Premise

“Can you survive a horror film? This murderous horror movie fan wants to watch you try. Each player will take a quiz before the game to find out which character they are: the Nerd, Virgin, Jock, Rebel, Prom Queen or Detective. Your team will be divided up into separate rooms where you must work individually and as a team. Not only do you need to escape, but you must also survive! Who will live? Who will die?” (Cross Roads Escape Games)

My group of nine got our characters (some were doubled up) – complete with little costumes/props – closed our eyes, and were locked in our respective rooms by a madman who taunted us as we struggled to escape. As the Detective, I was the main contact for all the characters. I was going to have my hands full and I couldn’t have been more excited!

The Hex Room

Each smaller room within The Hex Room is impeccably designed with such quality and attention to detail that fits the character and puzzles held within (i.e., the Nerd is in a laboratory, while the Rebel is in the boiler room). As the Detective, I was tasked with discussing puzzles with everyone in the group separately, passing things between rooms, and collecting information for larger “main room” puzzles. We relied on each other for communication and sharing clues, which ended up being tricky because we sometimes weren’t sure which puzzles were solvable in the room and which needed to be pieced together with outside help.

By splitting up the group, The Hex Room gives everyone an opportunity to solve their own set of puzzles before joining the group to escape together. In my experience, not everyone gets to participate equally in rooms, with puzzles dominated by only a few in the group. This can be frustrating, so having everyone be able to work on separate tasks was refreshing. It also caught us up a few times, as we weren’t able to get a fresh set of eyes in a room that was stuck. Thankfully, my partner from the police office called with leads for us to check into to help us on our way.

By the skin of our teeth!

The Takeaway

Not only did I love the concept and production value, but The Hex Room‘s main draw is its inherent replayability factor. Since all the characters are separated and have their own puzzles to solve, people are encouraged to come back and try a new character. As an added challenge, each character has their own bonus box that requires their costumes/props to solve, meaning they “survived” the horror film. It is possible to escape the room (getting everyone out) but not survive (unopened bonus boxes). Since everyone is split up for a good portion of The Hex Room, I definitely recommend it for more experienced players, or make sure to have extra people so you can double up on brain power.

Can YOU survive a horror movie? Book The Hex Room here.