If you are looking for a group activity in the Seattle area for tweens, teens, or the whole family, try an escape room experience. Escape rooms are immersive games played in person and require cooperation and teamwork to complete.
Start by talking to the game master. They give you the story and objectives (a mystery to solve, an object to find) and are available to offer hints if you get stuck. Move through multi-room sets, elaborately decorated to encompass the story’s setting, such as a house, jail cell, or ship. Interact with a variety of puzzles within one room. The sets contain many fun gadgets and mechanics, too.
Solve the puzzle, and a drawer with the next clue pops open, revealing the next puzzle in another room. The game has a time limit, but whether you escape or not, it’s a fun activity and sure to impress even the most jaded teens. If you’re interested in checking out a family-friendly escape room, read on for suggestions on where to go.
(Image courtesy Hourglass Escapes LLC 2025)
Tomb Raider Seattle
1122 Post Ave, Seattle, 98101
- Ages: 10+ The company recommends booking the private option for parties or if you have kids 10 to 14 years old, who could be paired with strangers. An adult must accompany kids 16 and under.
- Length of game: 90 minutes
- Price: $44 and up | Discounts: Weekdays are less expensive, and private games are also slightly lower priced on weekends. There is a weekday spring special currently, all M-F tickets are $44
Although this escape experience is modeled after the Lara Croft Tomb Raider franchise, you don’t need to be familiar with the game to succeed. This 90-minute, six-room experience takes you on a journey to escape the Temple of Fire, solving puzzles along the way. A live guide, “Alex,” leads you the whole way, aided by Lara Croft’s voice to warn of impending danger and move the story along. One thing that sets this escape room apart is the beginning and ending rooms, which feel almost like an amusement park-type ride with motion, sound effects, and “windows” that show the scenery going by as you fly to Chile and then later escape. Having an actor as a game master to guide you is a fun aspect, and they also step in when needed with hints. The set details and special effects made us feel like we were in the Temple of Fire instead of downtown Seattle. Another fun bonus is that at the end, you can get photos taken that are turned into a downloadable and shareable mini comic with music and voice actors. These are emailed to you after the game.
Hourglass Escapes
3131 Western Ave #422b Seattle, 98121
- Age: 10+ An adult must accompany kids under 16. Must have a minimum of three in the group and the games are all private.
- Length of game: 60-70 minutes
- Price: $40+
The award-winning Hourglass Escapes offers four escape rooms: Mystery at Innsmouth, The Ghostly Galleon, Rise of the Mad Pharoh, and Evil Dead 2. I recently did the Mystery at Innsmouth with two teens, and we had a blast. The set details were impressive, with just the right amount of an eerie atmosphere — without being scary. This room had various puzzle types (key locks, combination locks, runes, and more) which kept it interesting. The clues built upon each other and were rated medium difficulty, yet we needed several clues.
Reviewers say that Evil Dead 2 fans will love the Evil Dead 2 escape room, and that it feels just like the Knowby cabin from the movie, and that there are tons of comical moments and Easter eggs for fans. This one does contain adult language and content, according to the website.
Tip: Hourglass is located in two different suites at the same address. When you get your email confirmation, note the location of your escape. We ended up at the wrong spot and they gave us a map to find the correct location. Also, plan to arrive early to find street parking.
(Image courtesy Hourglass Escapes LLC 2025)
Puzzle Break Seattle
2124 2nd Ave Seattle, 98121
- Ages 8+
- Length of game: 60 minutes
- Prices: $39.95 -$49.95, depending on how many tickets you buy | Discounts: Groupon for the Escape from Seattle room and a 30% rebooking discount
Puzzle Break is America’s first escape room company, and their rooms are some of the last standing original rooms in the country. Puzzle Break is not only the OG, but it has also been rated number one by many participants. Unlike most escape rooms, these require finding a physical key to unlock the final door and escape. I took three teens to the Mystic Manor Blue Room. We had a game master who gave us the story’s details and our quest, after which they stood back and only offered hints when needed. The set is very immersive, with an old manor, low lighting and creepy music. We were each given a (battery-operated) candle from a candelabra to use when looking for clues. A flashlight was also provided, which was good for my older eyes.
Puzzle Break offers five rooms, with Escape the Lost Temple being the easiest (recommended for younger kids) and Escape from Seattle: The World’s Fair Affair being the most difficult. Any group that has kids under 18 requires at least one adult to join them and is given a game master. The website indicates which rooms are more family-friendly and what size group is recommended for success. They have a nice lounge area where you can wait for your game to begin.
Puzzlebreak’s lounge room offers games to warm up your escape room skills. (Image: Tiffany Doerr Guerzon)
Sure Lock Escapes Kent, Renton, West Seattle
Locations in West Seattle, Renton & Kent
- Ages: 8+
- Length of game: 70-100 minutes
- Prices: Start at $35 per person for groups of 8 or more
Sure Lock Escapes is locally owned, with locations in Renton and Kent. These are an excellent choice for younger kids or those who don’t appreciate scares because they never include horror or scary elements. The Renton location features three rooms set in the mythical land of Cypher Island, where you will solve puzzles in a Pirate Shipwreck, the Shimmer Reef, or the Abandoned Mineshaft. They also offer the longest escape experience in Washington state, a 100-minute experience called Guardians’ Grove. The Kent location offers three rooms where brave adventurers accept quests to help the kingdom of Lunaris. The West Seattle location has four rooms, two of which offer a “full motion experience” in which the room shakes. All bookings are private so that you won’t be adventuring with strangers.
(Image courtesy Sure Lock Escapes)
Flee Redmond
2222 152nd Ave NE Redmond, 98052
- Ages: No age restriction, but if any kids are 13 or younger, at least one adult must be in the room with them.
- Length of game: 60 minutes
- Prices: Start at $40/hour | Discounts: One child under 8 is free with two paid adults. Group discounts are available for birthday parties and corporate team-building activities.
Flee offers six different escape rooms with varying difficulty. Choose from The Lift (the only single room experience), Prison Escape, Museum Heist, Steampunk Submarine, Ancient Egypt, and the Game of Thrones-themed Icewalker. The website offers video trailers of each and grades each on difficulty to help you choose the best option for your group. That being said, Flee recommends Steampunk Submarine and Prison Escape for younger kids. All escape room bookings are private. Participants say they enjoyed the props and storylines and that the puzzles were challenging without being impossible. Flee also offers portable escape games in a suitcase for on-site events and has zero-latency VR experiences in the same location as the escape rooms.
(Image courtesy Flee Redmond)
Trapped: A Labyrinth Adventure Tacoma
Fort Nisqually Living History Museum in Tacoma, WA
- Length of game: 60 minutes
- Prices: Starting at $224 per group of 4-8 guests, no individual tickets sold (this does not include admission to the rest of the museum).
- Ages: 12+, recommended for groups of 4-8
This escape room is located at Fort Nisqually Living History Museum in Tacoma and is set in the 19th-century Pacific Northwest. The experience is located in one of the museum’s historic reproduction buildings, so historical artifacts surround players as they solve period-inspired puzzles, decode historical ciphers, and more to find a long-lost map. All of the puzzles are based on the real-life history of Fort Nisqually and players are led by a costumed guide for their adventure.
(Image courtesy Trapped Escape Fort Nisqually)
Escape room tips
- Arrive early so you can get settled in and aren’t in a rush to start the game.
- Visit the restroom before the game starts. You can leave for a break, but they don’t stop the clock.
- Listen carefully to your game master when they outline the rules. They will offer helpful advice, such as where not to look for clues (think not under a rug or high above your head), which will save your team time, and other info, like how to radio your game master for hints.
- Look around the room and check drawers, cabinets, and tabletops for clues. Be careful not to force anything open. Look up and down!
- If there is more than one puzzle in a room, splitting the group to work on both simultaneously will save minutes.
- Collaborate to put the clues together.
- You can ask for clues or hints anytime. If you start to feel stuck, it is better to get a hint than to waste time and possibly run out of time.
- My kids watched this video by Mark Rober for tips on beating an escape room.
