When the door shuts and the timer starts, you are no longer the same person you were this morning. You are now a zookeeper, cracking codes and solving riddles to keep all of your animal charges cared for. After that, it’s time to head over to the stadium, where you can help some rock icons locate their missing guitar.
You’ll solve puzzles, unravel mysteries, and work with your teammates to achieve your goals, and it’s all part of the fun at Tacoma’s Cityscape Games, which brings a hyperlocal twist to the escape room genre.
Since 2023, this little gem off of South Tacoma Way has inspired visitors to explore, problem-solve, and collaborate to complete a series of challenges within 75 minutes.
In the interest of not spoiling the surprise, there will be no further details on what you’ll find inside these rooms, but rest assured, you’re guaranteed to have fun, give your brain a workout, and see Tacoma through a wonderfully creative lens.
Choose Your Own Adventure at Cityscape Games
First things first: Which path will you take?
In Zookeeper, you’ll embark on training programs for various animals, including fish, lions, birds, and more, learning about the unique habits of each.
And in Rockstar, you will spend plenty of time getting behind the music – literally – as you rush around backstage at the Tacoma Dome, trying to reunite a musician with his lucky guitar before the big show.
As soon as you step through the door, you will find yourself lost in a self-contained world, one where your collaboration skills and mental faculties are constantly getting a workout.
No bit of space is wasted, and all of it is a joy to explore, whether you’re unraveling clues or just taking in the cleverly constructed little details. Little wonder that Cityscape has earned numerous accolades, including being ranked among the best escape rooms in the world in the 2023 Morty Awards.
The People Behind the Escapes
Owner and creator Daniel Dror has poured himself into the project, building on years of experience not just as a worker in the industry, but also as an avid player.
He first came across the genre in 2018, when he teamed up with a group of 11-year-olds to navigate a “horror-themed dinosaur laboratory escape room.” This auspicious, chaotic beginning led to a full-blown obsession, as both a participant and a Game Master.
During one of these stints, he engaged in a lengthy conversation with some players about the excitement of these experiences and his desire to one day create rooms of his own. With their support, Dror moved to Tacoma and began building his own worlds.
Building the Escapes at Cityscape Games
The challenge, of course, was to build engaging escape rooms that also had a local touch. As Dror explained, “Two guiding principles helped: create experiences you can’t find anywhere else and keep them family-friendly so anyone can enjoy them.”
Dror spent roughly five months on Rockstar and eight on Zookeeper, bringing his ideas to life by developing a wide range of new skills, including 3D printing, electrical engineering, and woodworking.
“My favorite part of the creative process is translating a vision into something people can physically touch and solve,” he said.
Always Something New at Cityscape Games in Tacoma
In a city like Tacoma, there are an infinite number of unique stories and spaces to explore, and Dror has no plans to slow down any time soon.
He plans to create several additional rooms, all themed around the town and its stories. (If you’re looking for clues, take a peek at the massive, Grit City-themed mural in the entryway). There are also hopeful plans to expand this model into other cities, combining local history with compelling gameplay.
At the moment, though, he is happily immersed in the South Sound and its welcoming, collaborative escape room scene. “That spirit makes the experiences better for guests and creators alike, and I’m grateful to be part of it,” he said.
If you’re local, Cityscape offers a fantastic spot for a date night, family gathering, or evening out with friends. And if you are a visitor, you’ll get a nice taste of what makes the city so special – not just the destinations that inspired the rooms, but also the enthusiastic artistic energy that infuses spaces like these.
This is the kind of place where you can always find a neat little bit of art, where even the Roomba vacuum has its own doghouse. (As Dror puts it, “He’s my best employee”). Passion, innovation, a pervasive sense of fun; these are what make the whole enterprise shine. And truth be told, the satisfaction of solving a particularly cryptic word puzzle doesn’t hurt either.
Cityscape Games is located at 5424 South Puget Sound Avenue in Tacoma. It is open from 2 to 9 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It is closed on Wednesdays. For bookings and additional information, visit their website.
