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#20! Exodus Escape Room: Santa Clause 2 (Spoiler-Free)

 



Help save Christmas in this fun seasonal escape room! Exodus is my favorite escape room company because the rooms are a consistent quality level and they are home to my favorite room, Elevate. So of course we had to try out the new seasonal Christmas room at the Diamond Jamboree location! They recently overhauled their Sherlock Holmes Haunted Study and turned it into Santa Clause 2. 

We loved the room. The decorations and music were so fun and festive and really got us in the holiday spirit. There was a nice mix of mechanical and and physical puzzles which made the setting feel very interactive. As with all of the Exodus rooms, it was designed to be family-friendly, and this one is not scary at all. The game master was pretty hands off and did not give any unsolicited hints.

We were only the second group to try the room ever, so despite a week and a half of playtesting with everything going smoothly, we did have one piece of the room not work. However, there was a very clear noise that signaled we had solved a puzzle that opened something and we could not find what we opened after casing the joint, so we asked our game master if something should have opened and he helped us troubleshoot over the monitor in the room ("Should something have opened?" "yes, ___ should have ___'ed" "It didn't") and he fixed it electronically. Moral of the story: ask if something seems off.

Other than that, the puzzles were appropriately leveled, similar to the other rooms. You won't see a lot of "guess what I'm thinking" puzzles or hidden objects in these rooms; the puzzles are more pragmatic or clearly marked in style, and they clearly label things that aren't part of the puzzle. I would say that except for the technical issue and one puzzle that had us stumped for a while, it was overall an easier room that you can definitely do with a smaller group or with a couple of beginners present. We escaped with 2 people and about 5 minutes to spare, but we only asked for 2 hints, so if you are less experienced or want an easier experience, just ask for more hints and you should be good. I generally ask for a hint at 30 minutes and again at 15 minutes remaining if we feel stumped at either time, so a way to make it easier would be to use a different frequency.

Overall, we still love Exodus and will definitely be trying their next room when this one closes (tentatively in January unless it is still selling out). Our only wish is that all of their rooms allowed 2 people only, because the only one we have left with them is the Elfavator.

How I felt after: happy, in the Christmas spirit, excited to continue our day

Enjoyability: 😸😸😸😸😸

Cooperativity: 😸😸😸😸😸

Recommend? Definitely!!! Although my favorite is still Elevate which gave me total Nancy Drew game vibes for unclear reasons.

Links:

Booking page for Santa Clause 2 and Elevate (both at Irvine location)

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