Review: Whatever Happened to the Garretts, Maze Rooms, Los Angeles
Whatever Happened to the Garretts
Maze Rooms
Los Angeles - 1901 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 211, West Los Angeles, CA 9002
Date we played was June 20, 2021, our Group size 5
Booking size 2 to 8; We recommend 3 to 5 players
Objective: The Garretts, mother, father and son…have been missing for 40 years. The case has gone cold so its really time for someone to go to their long-abandoned and preserved residence and get some real answers of what happened in 1984…and that’s where your group comes in!
Difficulty: Advanced
Overall Fun Factor: 8
We highly recommend Whatever Happened to the Garretts - we had a lot of fun.
We love playing escape rooms - and we love discovering what the game designers have in store for us. Sometimes its outstanding and immersive sets and props that take us to a place we have never been and sometimes its amazing clever puzzles with satisfying solutions…and sometimes its a fun storyline that we didn’t expect. Maze Rooms’ Whatever Happened to the Garretts fires on all of these cylinders.
We particularly love period escape rooms…when they are done well. Whatever Happened to the Garretts is a 1980s themed-room…and the set is well decorated and populated with appropriate props. One twist to the story is that you approach this game from the today - meaning you are entering the Garretts abandoned residence that has remained unexplored for 40 years. What happens next is for you to discover!
Welcome to 1984!
Keep in mind that Maze Rooms describes this as “One of the most spine-chilling escape rooms LA has to offer. Experience a combination of suspense, mystery, and thriller that will satisfy your search for a real-life scary escape room near you!” We are VERY sensitive that some players do not find scary rooms fun - and although we did not find the room overly scary (more like suspenseful and mysterious) we felt it appropriate to make readers aware of how Maze Rooms describes the scare factor. We enjoyed the suspenseful and mysterious content and our FUN FACTOR rating of 8 reflect that we had a really good time.
Along the way you will find a content/puzzle-heavy room. There is a lot of content and lot to explore but this is very linear room - typically we recommend a smaller group size for a linear room as larger groups may have a more difficult time letting all team members be involved. Maze Rooms booking size maximum is 8 - our recommendation size of 3 to 5. Whatever Happened to the Garretts has a greater than average number of puzzles and many are advanced…so having a group of even 5 experienced players should still be a fun time for all. Our group of 5 experienced players all participated with each member members making connections and solving puzzles at different times.
When we played the room we were allowed to select an easy or hard version - we selected the hard version and found the puzzles quite satisfying, fair and varied. There was one puzzle that used a technique we have seen many times before but it required an extreme level of precision which we found somewhat frustrating. And particularly for a linear room there were times that our group needed to “take turns” manipulating the props - but there was plenty for all to “do”, “observe” and “participate”.
Maze Rooms has several locations in Los Angeles with a wide variety of scenarios and difficulty level. Whatever happened to the Garretts is one of our favorites.