ESCAPE ROOM REVIEW – THE QUICK AND DIRTY
Play if… you’ve ever wanted to experience being in a padded cell (without being actually committed).
Avoid if… you are all thumbs.
THE BASICS
PanIQ Escape Room Washington DC:
Address: 3283 M St NW, Washington, DC 20007 (click address for Google Map)
Contact and Website: (202) 735-0485
https://paniqescaperoom.com/washington-dc/escape-rooms/insane-asylum-2
[email protected]
The Room – Insane Asylum 2:
Description (from the company website): The year is 1956. You have been kidnapped by the CIA and are being used as a guinea-pig for their mind control program known as MK-ULTRA. Doctors have held you inside a padded room for weeks now.
There was an emergency at the other side of the institution, so the staff is gone for a while. Probably this is your last chance to escape before they completely brainwash you.
Difficulty (1-10): 4.5 of 5
Time Limit: 60 minutes
Cost: $24-36 (+ tax per person) (varies based on number of players)
Identifier: R2 (Note: this says Insane Asylum II, so we’re giving this room the revamped room identifier, even though we did not do Insane Asylum I)
Party Size: 2-7
Staging Area: First, ring doorbell to gain entry. Rooms are on the 3rd floor of the building. Small waiting area with couches and water cooler. Enough space for one team to hang out while they wait, but additional seating in stairwell area.
Metro Access/Parking: Rosslyn metro and then a .9 mile walk across the Key Bridge. It’s Georgetown, so parking can be difficult (so definitely carpool and use the parking garage for Georgetown Mall (it’s open 24 hours) at Wisconsin and M, head down the hill towards K Street). We suggest Uber or Lyft.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Logistics:
This is the video we took before we entered the room:
This is the video we took just after we completed the room:
Note: The ERG were given the opportunity to try out this room for free, with the understanding that we would continue to provide an honest review and follow the same process we’ve used on all of our other ratings.
Description of the room: You enter a padded cell. Clearly the person who inhabited the room has gone a little loco.
Understanding of the Mission: Solve the clues and figure out how to escape the cell before the asylum’s staff returns. You are close to being brainwashed and this is your last chance to escape before they succeed and you become a mindless drone in their spy program.
Did We Escape: NO! [Insert word cloud of expletives here]
Time Remaining: Less than 0.
Our Suggested Party Size: We had 6 and that worked well. We could have added a seventh and it would have been fine. We don’t suggest any less than 4 because there is a lot to do.
Did the room challenge the entire team? Yes
Members of our team (other than the ERG): Eric, Alphonso, Liz and Jill
Worth the time and money? Hell yes, even though we failed.
Where to Eat/Drink Before/After: It’s Georgetown, so there are tons of places to have dinner or grab a drink.
- Old Glory BBQ – BBQ and a variety of beers w/ a full bar
- El Centro D.F. – upscale Mexican cuisine – we stopped in for chips and guac, tacos, and margaritas to drink our sorrows away.
- Clyde’s of Georgetown – right across the street
