The Third Gate Hotel

This is the best room we have played to date. We drove up to a small storefront, and the game master was waiting for us at the door!

She was dressed in a costume that fit into the theme, greeted us by the name on the booking, and led us straight into the front of the “Hotel”. The foyer was dim, with a Vacancy sign, a blood-red curtain, and a screen. We barely had time to get our bearings and the pregame video was beginning. We were checked into the haunted hotel, told the story of the doomed family, and ushered into the hallway to the penthouse and told to begin! Creepy, disorienting, and awesome!

Also, my Readers, I will offer you a bit of insight as you walk into the Third Gate. Charge your phones, as you will have to use the flashlights. And while you are told not to use the camera or recording device, nothing is said about the notepad….hint hint.

Props & Decor:

It is very obvious from walking into the hotel that it is supposed to be from a different time. Barely a 21st-century touch in sight. All of the creepy props and details were beautifully maintained and creepy to see and touch. The decor had so many small details to notice, and not even just the parts that were relevant to the puzzles! Every wall and cabinet was brimming with creepy details begging to be inspected and bringing shudders of amazement! And it was not just at eye level. If you go play this room, look up! There might be something crawling up the walls!

Almost every escape room I have played before this has contained a prop or two that could have been in better condition, but I have always thought this is excusable. After all, I know how hard it is to rebuild props between groups. However, the Third Gate has broken me of that! Every single prop was in perfect repair! I was amazed. Also, the way they use each and every one of them to add to the atmosphere as well as to bring the puzzle-solving goodness is mind-boggling to think of. The creator of this room thought of every single detail before adding it in, made sure it fit into the theme and the puzzles and it has come together to a delicious level of creepiness.

Puzzles:

I loved how each and every puzzle was worked into the theme and the decor. With the exception of a couple of keypads, not a single thing was out of context. That being said, none of the puzzles were so hidden that we couldn’t find them. Even the few times we had to ask for hints, there was always an ah-ha moment after the hint was given and we were able to find the solution.

A bit of a comment here about hints. Our Game Master, or “The Butler” as she was called in the game, was a delight! She answered every single hint request quickly, asked us what she could do for us, and gave us a relevant, specific hint every time. As she saw we were a bit lost or as the end of the game got close, she threw in a couple of extra hints on her own. She even gave us a couple of time updates. Five stars to her!

But back to the puzzles. There was a good amount and variety of types, and while they were challenging, none of them seemed to be put in specifically to be unsolvable. You used objects in creative ways, and in some cases, did commonly used puzzles with some uncommon type objects. I could rave more about this, but….spoilers…

Theme:

This room is set in a penthouse of a hotel, with a set of crazy twin girls that have opened a gate to Hell. The hotel seems to be apparent in the intro room, and as I have no idea what the penthouse of an old-timey hotel looks like, I can suspend disbelief and buy into the idea that the rest of the escape room takes place in the penthouse. It may be a bit of a space constraint that has you introduced into what looks like a hallway instead of an entryway, but I was able to overlook that quickly. That being said, the theme is wonderfully upheld throughout the rest of the room. There are small touches of the psycho twins scattered everywhere; you can really tell that they took over the penthouse. And the unsettling touches of evil permeate every room. Even the paintings go from normal to creepy. A couple of pop scares hidden in the decor are like the icing on the cake in this scary-themed experience!

Overall:

Immersive, creative, well maintained, and creepy as Hell! This escape room experience covers all the bases. I would recommend it to anyone in Vegas, or to my aficionado friends that just happen to be visiting. It is a bit off the beaten path, but it is a treasure of a find. I just hope it’s quality stays this good, and doesn’t erode with the sands of time.