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Houdini's Escape Room Experience

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Escape while you can - GAmes Master Houdini's Escape Room Experience Employee Review

1.0
24 Feb 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I read a lot of bad reviews before I started this job but convinced myself that it wouldn’t be the same for me, it was. To start with I thought this was a great job and really liked all my coworkers but my experience was ruined by management.

Cons

The on site manager is a narcissistic bully on a power trip and has personal problems with multiple staff and will bully them out of the company. They would tell all new starts about the staff they didn’t like encouraging them to bully and exclude these staff members. They would make up elaborate lies to pit staff against each other and to perform loyalty tests to see if information got out. I personally watched them scream in another staff members face for no apparent reason. Upper management were worse, they would constantly put passive aggressive messages in group chats about making sure we take our breaks, even when we physically couldn’t and not to waste their money. Despite approaching upper management about the bullying from the on site manager they did nothing and continue still to enable the bullying. They will not get rid of this “manager” as they did the job for 6 months with no extra pay on minimum wage and management simply won’t find a bigger mug to replace them. The sites are not well kept or maintained. It would take months for a repair technician to come out so we personally would have to find work arounds for these breaks, repair them ourselves with no experience or lie to customers about the way the game should work. The majority of games were barely functional, with key aspects of the game being totally broken. The worst part of the job was telling customers that the company does not provide refunds even if the games are severely broken and not functioning as they should. We were expected to purchase locks if any broke, out of pocket, with the promise we would be reimbursed, this would be months down the line if at all. One of the rooms had an exposed hole in the wall with loose wiring, for over a month a massive safety issues. Another room had a door handle snap, meaning the door was unable to be opened from the inside, a massive fire safety hazard. I myself was trapped in this room for periods of 15 minutes multiple times. You are not paid for any of the time you spend repairing rooms. You are paid for exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes for each game. The games last an hour and your 30 minutes is for cleaning as well as signing in customers, it barely takes into account all the time you take getting customers to sign safety wavers and giving them a health and safety chat. This is not enough time at all, however they will not pay you if you take longer. If it is busy and you are on alone they will still take payment off for a break, even if you have no time to take this break. There are days where you’re expected to be on call the whole day and you will only be paid for the games you run, that is all, if you are on site waiting between games you will not receive payment for this. The job seemed really great at the start but was ruined by the bullying and toxic environment created by management. It has ruined my mental health. I would not encourage anyone to work here due to my experience. Management do not seem to care about employees only about how much money they can make out of you and how much free labour you can provide them.

Explore other reviews about Houdini's Escape Room Experience

2.0
30 July 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Running the rooms themselves are so much fun and will probably always be the most fun I’ve had at work

Cons

Everything else. Insanely inconsistent hours, being on call, bonuses not paid properly, and literally every decision Tenpin has made since buying out the company. They got rid of the gap in the schedule that allows for breaks resulting in up to 14 hour long shifts with no break, changing the on call notice from 2 hours to 30 minutes, getting rid of bonuses for reviews and lots of other things. The absolute worst is the expectation to run two games at once, giving customers only half our attention for the ridiculous price they’re paying to be there when the only cost to run the rooms is the minimum wage staff. Tenpin’s stinginess and priorities for profit means giving the customers a worse experience and making the job itself hellish. The training is also abysmal

1.0
30 Dec 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Easy work and I literally have nothing else

Cons

Unsafe, always breaking, no support. Unpaid on call. No staff safety procedures. No manager on site.

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