Highlights from the Business
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Large group friendly
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Locally owned & operated
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Family-owned & operated
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Private events
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Available by appointment
Services Offered
Verified by Business
Review Highlights
“We played the Edison Escape room (we were told there are 3 types of escape rooms), and everyone had a great time.” in 117 reviews
“Chris and his team have clearly put a lot of imagination and care in to creating a very polished experience.” in 25 reviews
“Palace Games (Houdini Room) was simply one of the more rewarding escape room challenges we've come across.” in 125 reviews
Location & Hours
Amenities and More
About the Business
Business owner information
![Photo of Lizzie C.](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/assets/srv0/yelp_styleguide/bf5ff8a79310/assets/img/default_avatars/user_medium_square.png)
Lizzie C.
Creators of The Great Houdini Escape Room, The Roosevelt Escape Room, The Edison Escape Room, and Escape the Palace at the Palace of Fine Arts! Palace Games develops unique games and immersive experiences designed for team building / company offsites, fun with friends, birthday celebrations, parties or other special occasions. Customer service hours are from 10 am to 5 pm. Reservations required.
Ask the Community
Q:
Can you do the room with only 2 people?
A:
It looks like their minimum is more than 2 and it would be pretty difficult (some parts impossible) with so few people
Pallavi K.Q:
Does the game require intense physical activities?
A:
Nothing intense, but there are some small or narrow passages & tunnels you have to get through, sometimes with low lighting. Take care not to dive into them, which is easy to do when you're feeling the time pressure.
Nik G.4 people found this helpful
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Overall rating
475 reviews
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- Kevin G.San Francisco Bay Area, CA01Jul 9, 2024
That was SO MUCH FUN. It was just the three of us, wife and kid (he's 25, was just back in town for a couple days) and myself. None of us had ever done an escape room before. The Edison room was just a blast. Like living inside a science fiction movie. We solved it in just under two hours and were completely involved, completely committed, completely immersed. Am looking forward to getting some people together to tackle another room.
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - David M.San Francisco, CA1822May 15, 2024
Amazing. I've done escape rooms all over the world, and every single one of the escape rooms at Palace Games is better than every escape room I've done elsewhere.
So good!
Also a great staff that keeps everything working, which is different from most escape rooms.Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Michael C.Livermore, CA116530May 4, 2024
I've done 30+ escape rooms and Palace Games are the unqualified best. By a wide margin. The puzzles are clever but not unsolvable. The special effects are amazing. Just when you think you're done, something amazing happens and then there's more.
The only barrier to doing more of these is the relatively high price. They are the best, and they charge accordingly! Even so, the games are worth every penny.
Recommended without hesitation.Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 1Oh no 0 - 395540819Apr 1, 2024Updated review
We recently did Houdini and Palace Escape room never ceases to amaze me~
There were many pleasant twists and turns and we were able to escape in 64 minutes!!! It had substantial degrees of mystique, and many separate puzzles that could be completed at the same time so there was always something for someone to focus on.
My all time favorite is still the attraction and I feel bummed out that my friends have all pretty much completed Roosevelt and Lolly land as those are the only two I have not done yet.
These rooms are incredibly well made and worth the visit!Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0Mar 7, 2023Previous reviewMy partner and many of our friends have done all if not most of the rooms aside from myself. I have only done the 'Attraction' prior to my second game.
This past weekend, we did the 'Edison' room where some members of the group would complete all the escape rooms at Palace Games.
After hearing that the 'Edison' room was touted as one of the best escape rooms in the nation, I could not wait to see how the room would unfold as I thought the 'Attraction' was easily the best room I have ever done. This is the 8th escape room I have done thus far.
We arrived and were ready to go.
I love how the room expansions would be done in a discrete manner and we all worked well together as a team. I loved the production quality, sensors and various uses. There were a few things that could have been improved in order for us to save time but we escaped! It was a successful 'W' for our group AND we asked for ZERO clues!
I still think the 'Attraction' was much better and hoped to see more from 'Edison'. It was fun nevertheless!
Also, our team would have preferred to have a timer letting us know how much time we had left exactly rather than the number of rings to indicate how much time has passed. Yes, the immersiveness of having the rings occur are more historically accurate for the time period we are in, but the inability to know exactly how much time we had left would've resulted in us moving a bit faster. - Melissa M.Novato, CA18Aug 19, 2024
The Attraction was the second room we tried at Palace Games and like the first, the Edison Room, it was a great challenge with lots of amazing technical effects. The puzzles were interesting and as a mixed group of young folks and elders, we each had areas of knowledge/interest that were tested. Themed around classical poetry, literature, Sci-fi, and video games, it kept us engaged for the whole time.
I have mobility issues (walking/balance) and they went out of their way to accommodate me so I could enjoy all segments of the game and root for my team when the physical challenges were difficult for me.Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Jan 21, 2024
The best escape room I've done! It was very techy, good variety of problems to solve, fun opens to additional rooms, lots of laughter as we shouted at each other to do the right thing, and very well done room.
We did the Edison room and I've heard there are 3 others with Attraction being like a mystery one with less of a time component. It's at the Palace of Fine Arts with free parking which is always a plus!
Apparently there is only a 17% clearance rate so gooooo us!!Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 4Oh no 0 - Mar 6, 2024
We are an avid group of escape room addicts with over 200 rooms under our belt and I can say without a doubt Palace has some of the best games I've ever experienced. So much fun!
There is some serious thought and TLC put into the rooms here. This time around we did both The Attraction and the Houdini room and although they were wildly different in theme and set design, both were extremely fun and perfectly challenging.
The tech in The Attraction was absolutely insane. It was fully immersive and we felt transported to another world while inside. An absolute must for anyone who loves unique and amazing games.
Houdini was a more traditional experience, but the mechanics and surprises throughout the room felt fresh and rewarding. It was a struggle at times with only 3 players, but with a little help of our host we managed to complete in around 100 minutes despite the plethora of puzzles involved.
Special shout out to all the staff here. The person at the front desk along with our game hosts went above and beyond in making sure we had a good time and were taken care of. Really felt like they cared about the attraction and making sure we had a good time.
Can't wait to come back and can't wait to see what they come up with next.Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 1Oh no 0 - Evonne M.Waimalu, HI432116Jul 28, 2024
This company has ruined all other escape room companies in the world!!! The rooms are well made and the themes/mysteries are innovative. Tough but solvable. Yes, it is expensive, but well worth it split between the max amount of people. Also, the time limit for each room are well over the usual hour. You will not regret paying for their amazing rooms!
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Douglas E.Van Nuys, CA1716657Jul 10, 2024
I've heard about this place for a while but with the steep price tag, you need a large group which never happens to me when I visit SanFran. But as luck would have it, I had a large group with me and I wasn't going to let this opportunity get away! So I booked the Edison Room for 8 of us! First, the building itself, the Palace of Fine Arts is gorgeous and Palace Games was smart to grab a corner of this beautiful landmark.
The room itself starts out in "typical" fashion and progresses to get more complex as you go from room to room. But this isn't an ordinary escape room and the room "changes" as you progress through the experience. Its non-linear so there is something for everyone to do. I wasn't a fan of one of the puzzles (periodic table) that was made harder by our larger group (yes, you get penalized for having more players). But the final room, the final puzzle was among the best finishes I've ever experienced in an escape room. Everyone was cheering, screaming, sweating, running, and universally, everyone LOVED that final room! It quickly made us forget about any shortcomings the room may have had prior to that. The Edison Room ranks 21st out of the 425 rooms I've done to date. Highly Recommended!Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - 77463252Dec 1, 2023
The main reason why I have been dragging my feet to come here is the price point of $425/game. It's not too bad if you max out the group (which I believe is 8 people), but my group generally doesn't like to hit the max. We like the extra space and the chance to solve more puzzles than we would get with a larger group. However, I do like that you get the whole room to yourself.
Palace Games has been on my radar ever since I found out their games are ranked- I think The Edison is the most well-known and their claim to fame. My group played The Attraction and we were able to get out within the allotted 2 hour time frame and didn't need to ask for hints (the game master offered up a few that we felt like were unnecessary, but didn't really take away from us solving the game).
The technology and storyline are rather intricate and I loved how you get to solve so many puzzles and see all these different rooms in a short period of time. For our game specifically, there weren't any locks that we had to solve. This is very different from other escape rooms because I feel like generally most places rely heavily on traditional lock and key puzzles. Because of this, I think Palace Games are much more innovative than most. I've been a diehard Omescape fan, but now I want to try all the games at this venue. It's also a plus to have FREE parking in SF! I can't recommend this place enough and it's also kind of cool that it's located in the Palace of Fine Arts. TBH, the first part of your adventure is finding the venue itself. Good luck!Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0