The timer was counting down our last 30 seconds. I stood in front of the door, ready to get out.

“What are the numbers?!” I yelled, and patiently (or as patiently as I could) typed them into the keypad as someone recited them to me. When I was done, I hit the enter button, ready to accept my freedom.

Nothing happened. In fact, the keypad locked me out for entering the wrong code. Who knew how long it would take to reset.

“What the hell happened?!” someone else yelled.

“I don’t know! I put in the code!” I yelled back, and recounted the five digits I had entered back to them.

“Wait, did you only put in five numbers? THERE ARE SIX!” someone else screamed.

But it was too late. The buzzer went off, and our hour was up. We had made it so close to freedom, but failed by one. Single. Digit.

Thus ended our experience at Cross Roads, the latest escape room to open in Southern California.

Located in an unassuming building in Anaheim, Cross Roads is owned and operated by Madison Rhoades, creative director, and her husband, Luke Rhoades. The two of them have extensive background in theater and the haunt industry, having worked for Delusion and Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor. However, they decided to try their own hand at an escape room.

Their first, The Hex Room, is a fantastic first outing. This horror-themed room has a horror film loving madman putting you in a room to create his own terror filled film. What makes The Hex Room unique is that each person is given a role to play, typical to what you would find in a normal horror film: nerd, virgin, jock, rebel, prom queen, or detective. Players are assigned these roles before the game begins after filling out a brief questionnaire.

To further separate itself from other escape rooms, The Hex Room literally separates its players. Each are locked in their own distinct room, and will need to work together to escape. But here’s the catch; you can’t speak to the others. In fact, you can only rely messages between them with whoever is playing the role of detective. So while you may have a lock box that holds the key to your salvation, the combination to said lock is probably hidden in one of the other rooms. This is a fantastic way to force teamwork upon the game, and really work together to get out alive.

Of course, as the game goes on, each member of your team will eventually escape (hopefully) their individual rooms and assist the others in escaping theirs. And of course, once everyone is out, you still need to find the way out of the overall trap!

There is also another element added, where each role has their own private Hex puzzle to figure out, in order to see if they survive the “movie” at the end of the game. While it wasn’t quite ready yet the first time I visited Cross Roads, I recently went to check it out again, and was able to see this extra bit of puzzle solving. While it’s not recommended for escape room novices, for veterans, it does add a little MORE to the game. The Hex puzzles are not necessary to help the entire team escape, but they are a fun little diversion. Some of my team during the second go-round forgot that they even existed, and blew them off. I, however, in a bit of down time (is there ever such a thing in an escape room?) managed to figure mine out and get my survivor’s medal. The clues to each room’s Hex puzzle are hidden on the various props your character receives, and again, while not integral to the overall game, it does add an extra layer for more seasoned players.

I really loved how the Rhoades played on the strengths (and clichés) of each role in each room. While I was assigned the role of the rebel, and have a vague understanding of what may have went on in the other rooms, I didn’t know specifically. Thus, the replay value of The Hex Room is extremely high, as you can have a completely different experience by playing another role. I found this out for myself when I visited a second time, and took on the role of nerd. As expected, everything was completely different in the nerd’s room compared to the rebel’s, and while I thought I would know the answers to the “common” puzzles (that everyone needs to work together to solve), they were changed to make it a new challenge. It definitely was well worth the second trip.

Madison & Luke Rhoades

The puzzles aren’t just a walk in the park, either. In fact, before going into The Hex Room, Madison told us to consider it extremely difficult, and she wasn’t lying. There were some tough challenges along the way, and many instances where we had to really work at a puzzle to solve it. A strong team effort is essential to escape, along with communication between everyone. But the challenging aspect of it was welcome to us, as it really worked our brains, and forced us to look at things in a different light. Our usual strategy of “if it doesn’t work for you, let someone else try” didn’t apply here, since we were all separated, so we really DID have to work together quite a bit to get out.

It’s also worth mentioning how fantastic the sets look. With their theater and haunt backgrounds, the Rhoades have managed to create one of the most visually appealing escape rooms I have ever seen. Really, I’ve never seen a dark, dank basement look so fantastic before. In the midst of the chaos, I made a point to look at the other rooms (when I could get into them) just to see what they looked like. I was very impressed, because it definitely helps sell the illusion that you are stuck in a madman’s house. Also, some of the coolest bathrooms ever. Seriously.

Though we didn’t make it out alive (seriously, if we had 20 more seconds, we would have made it), the second we got out of The Hex Room, we wanted to go back and try again. Not only will we be back to switch roles, but a less scary encounter, The Fun House, is slated to open in late February / early March. While they told us it would be easier than The Hex Room, it will be just as fun. Who DOESN’T want to do a circus-themed escape room?!

We were so close!

While they kept quiet on further plans for the future, the Rhoades did mention that they are planning on a Halloween-themed room for October, and they have the space to have FIVE rooms overall in their building.

Count me in.

Seriously, this is one of the best escape rooms I’ve ever done. It puts a new twist on the game, and it really puts you to work. It’s a fantastic time, and well worth it to check out.

Cross Roads Escape Games is now open for business. I highly suggest you get there before they start selling out, because believe me, they will.

For more information, and to buy tickets, visit them on the web at www.CrossRoadsEscapeGames.com