Review: The Queen, Escape Long Beach
Fun Factor 7
Escape Long Beach
3926 E. Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90803
Date we played: January 11, 2025
Booking size 2 to 6; We recommend 3 to 4
Game time: 55 minutes
Objective: Paranormal investigators are needed to investigate whether the ghost of Queen Mary is collecting souls to sail her ship.
Horror Theme: No.
Difficulty: Intermediate
We recommend The Queen at Escape Long Beach. We gave this a fun factor of 7 due to the beautiful but compact set with authentic antiques, a variety of puzzles and some enhanced immersive elements provided by Escape Long Beach as well as exceptionally friendly customer service. And we really appreciated a surprising cinematic moment where Escape Long Beach provides players with an enhanced transition after correctly solving a puzzle. All this adds up to a fun experience.
The Queen's set is small, but it is filled with details and authentic antiques, making it a recommended experience. When we arrived at the location, we were surprised to discover that Escape Long Beach had a private driveway that could accommodate two cars. We found plenty of on-street parking the day we visited, but the private parking could be a welcome benefit on other days.
It's best not to arrive too early, as the sign on the door states that Escape Long Beach requests teams wait outside until a game host greets them at the appropriate time.
This escape room is inspired by The Queen Mary cruise ship, which is docked not far from Escape Long Beach, serving as a hotel and site for paranormal tours. We are told that the ghost of Queen Mary is looking to take over the ship that bears her name and be piloted by other ghostly spirits. Our job is to investigate ghost sightings near the ship and attempt to release these spirits so that The
Among the special touches that enhanced our fun is that we were assigned multiple “roles” and some of us were given extra items. Then one person was selected to play an individual role while the rest of the team waited outside for the appropriate moment to come in and start the scenario. The room which served as the lobby where we met the game host just a few minutes earlier was now revealed to be the starting point of the escape room. We had a couple of puzzles to solve with the help of the one person who was separated from us and we soon found ourselves together. This twist helped us become immersed in the world of the escape room.
Escape Long Beach embraces the spirit world with several puzzles that require interacting with the spirits. This is certainly not a horror room, and I would say it’s not at all spooky for a room involving ghosts; the vibe is a friendly and humorous ghost party. The set is a bit dark to maintain the theme—and Escape Long Beach provided us with only two flashlights for the three of us. They did mention we could use our phone's flashlight, but I personally find using a flashlight or lantern to be more immersive than using my phone, so I wish they could provide more light sources.
“The standout feature that makes this room a solid recommendation is the authentic antiques and locks that Escape Long Beach has lovingly maintained”
The difficulty level was generally intermediate, but we were pleasantly surprised by several of the puzzle-solving techniques, which involved fun and imaginative interactions with spirits.
This is a 55-minute room. I don’t recall playing a 55-minute room before.. The content is scalable, and we played the harder version, which included additional puzzles. Even so, we had plenty of time on the clock, so the 55 minutes did not come into play. — I am aware that some players avoid rooms that are less than 60 minutes. We would have enjoyed another puzzle or two added to the content to round out a full one-hour game.
The standout feature that makes this room a solid recommendation is the authentic antiques and locks that Escape Long Beach has lovingly preserved. While we've played in larger and pricier ship sets before, experiencing this space with the antique set and props was genuinely enjoyable and felt unique.
This room can be booked by teams of 2 to 6 players. We recommend 2 to 4. There is on-street parking - but Escape Long Beach also has two private parking spaces in its driveway. If you visit The Queen, please let them know you saw a review on Fun Factor Escape Room Reviews - let us know what you think - and have FUN!