We did all three rooms three nights in a row! They have an awesome discount (30%) when you book right after completing a room. There were good puzzles and their difficulty scale was spot on. Would have given 5 stars if their timers worked and their flashlights didnt go in and out.

Very fun! Helpful, friendly staff. The only issue was that we arrived a little more than 30 min early since the instructions stated to arrive at least 15 minutes early and the door to PanIQ Escape Room was locked. The staff member stated that the guidance was that the door is not opened more than 30 minutes prior to the reservation time. I recommend that the 30 minute opening time be stated on the website or in the instructions after a reservation is made. Arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your reservation but not more than 30 minutes. Or something to that effect. Thanks.

Helpful staff, and they have easy rooms if youre a beginner or want to bring kids. I only gave it 4 stars because they use a lot of padlocks. I want something more creative than just finding a bunch of 4 digit codes to unlock padlocks.

AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS! I have done almost 50 escape rooms around the country. This one by far is one of the worst I have ever done! Go to Escape Room Live in Georgetown, a few doors down, for actual fun. We did PanIQs hardest room, but the only reason it is hard is because there is noway to solve some of the puzzles without help because the information isnt in the room. For example, a math puzzle, but it doesnt tell you whether to add, subtract, multiply, etc. I thought I missed something in the room, but when I asked after the game master how I was to know what to do, the response was you dont, you just have to guess. That is not how escape rooms are suppose to work! Also there were signs telling you not to do something but when we asked for a hint, we were told to do EXACTLY what the sign says not to do! Talk about frustration!Another example is an audio clue that you cant hear unless you ask for help and the game master has to turn off the background noise so you can actually hear what you need to. Horrible puzzle design and flow. If you are looking for a game of frustration and endless guessing, this is the game. If you actually want a good time with fun and puzzle that can actually be figured out with the items in the room - Go elsewhere! You will be thankful for not visiting this place.

Very fun! It was harder than we expected, but our guide was really helpful and the general manager was also very nice on the phone when we had questions. We will do it again!

GREAT escape rooms, very immersive themes and unique puzzles, we loved it!I played the Insane Asylum II and Prehistoric rooms, the puzzles were fun and very unique and required some teamwork. The themes were very immersive, some of the best Ive seen.Our game masters Keisha and Alex were very nice and helpful.All around great escape room, awesome location right in Georgetown. Go and have fun!

The room was fine. The clues were cool. But the service was absolutely horrid! We asked for hints and it’s as if she wasn’t even paying attention to us. Very rude and short. We didn’t finish the room because she gave us terrible hints.

So much fun!!! I did the perfect crime one with my family and we loved it. It was about a medium difficulty and we didnt find it too frustrating. Prices are steep but not so bad if you use groupon (about $90 for 6 of us), normal price is double that

This was a very frustrating experience. When we finally found the place, we were “greeted” by a very rude woman. She asked did we want to start the escape room without the rest of our party; apparently, your starting time is concrete (which they don’t tell you before hand and other BETTER escape room establishments do not function on such strict terms) so if you’re one minute late, it’s deducted from your room time. When the rest of our friends arrived, the same rude woman went back and forth with me about how much time we had remaining to solve the room. She said we were 10 minutes late so we had 40 minutes remaining when we actually had 50 minutes. When she realized she was wrong, she didn’t even acknowledge or apologize for being rude. We completed the room and another guy came in, unenthusiastically took our pictures and we left. I could’ve gotten over the location of this place and the room was actually decent, but the customer service was so awful that I’d never consider coming back and I’d tell others not to waste their time.

I had a lot of family doing this activity with my two children and my mother. Never done anything like this before, so it was very tricky. We didnt exactly make it out finishing all of the challenges, but we would like to come back and hopefully escape the next time! Lol

We booked an easiest room at PanIQ DC ( Primal Quest), because 4 of the participants were complete beginners and others had some experience. We did the room in 32-35 minutes, I believe. Riddles were fun and quest host - Destiny was very friendly. We really enjoyed our experience.

Did an escape room for the first time, it was fun staff(keesh) was funny and lit definitely coming back!!

For a small place, it was filled with fun. The staff was great and helpful.

Fun puzzles, a little run-down. We did the easiest (too easy for 3 people). Fun but much too easy and quick.

Fun time with the family. Location a little hard to find from M Street, and almost claustrophobic small, but still a good time.

First off to get to the actual building you need a pass code, I wish I wouldve known ahead of time. Got there 15 minutes before hand @ 10:15, my session was at 10:30, didnt actually play until 10:55-11:00. Guest master was okay but he needs more staffing, there was only him. The game over all receives a 4 out of 5, it was actually really good & some what difficult. Overall it was fun!

This is really a unique venue. So different in clue styles and hints, yet so fun.

Was a very fun experience. The murder mystery provided quite a challenge but was solvable with effort within the hour. Some pretty fun and unique puzzles that entertained the entire family.

We did the prehistoric room and had a blast! We had 4 people in our group and we escaped the room. We had unlimited clues after 10 minutes in our room which was nice because you can get stuck. So to get to the place there is a stair case that goes up to a second level. There is a locked gate that the staff tells you the code on location. To get their attention you have to ring a little white button marked iq escape ( or something like that) then they bring you up through a building and into the lobby. The game masters we had where very accommodating and fun people ( Matt and Alec or Alex ). I just would really recommend this room for beginners​ to intermediate escapers. Also PARKING is across the street next to a Japanese restaurant on the corner of M Street and 33 Street.

We figured out the room, but the clues were challenging and sensible.

We loved this escape room! We did Asylum & thought it was a much better room & puzzles than Escape Room Live down the street!

The staff was wonderful! I love this place. Cant wait to come back. Big shout out to Ryan and Danielle . You guys are awesome .

Good themed escape rooms around DC. Friendly staff.

Me and my girl had am amazing time here. and we plan to go for a second time too. were from waldorf so but its drfontly worth the 1 hour drive

Booked all 3 rooms for an family and friends adventure with 21 people. The hosts were very accommodating. We had a blast! Even our youngest team (age 9-14 plus one adult) made it out of the room eventually.

Loved it! Small, but nice atmosphere and simpler layout in the way they run their business. We really appreciated that they let us have the room to just our group! They take reservations. Highly recommend!

I have done several escape rooms here and myself and friends have a hard time solving them because there no real flow. Things are very random which makes it hard to solve. Other places I have been to make it hard but the codes are related and flow better. The staff here is very friendly and try to help you if you ask for it.

Great fun! The entrance is past a metal gate and up the stairs. Then go through the main door and up 3 more flights of stairs to the location. This is the few locations that has a multiple room escape room and we loved it!

If I could give this place Zero stars I would. We booked a corporate event on September 7, 2018 for October 2, 2018 for 16 people and all 3 rooms. I confirmed with the location a week before that we were on the schedule and that all rooms were to start at the same time 1:00 p.m.. My firm, all of us, arrived to the location (up 3 flights of stairs) and waited from 12:22 p.m. to 1:08 p.m. for the location to open for our booking that was supposed to start at 1:00 p.m. We made multiple phone calls and sent multiple emails regarding why the location was locked and we could not get in. After 45 minutes of waiting, our group decided to leave. We have requested someone to contact us, no one has, we have requested a refund and no one has contacted us to rectify the situation. This is an unacceptable way to run any business. While we were going to work on corporate team building, the only thing we as a group worked on together was waiting for a business to open and it never did. It is now over an hour from when our event was scheduled to begin and still no one has contacted us. DO NOT GO HERE, they will take your money and never host the event for you and will not give you notice. Wish there was a corporate number to call. PER THEIR FAQs they do not issue refunds, however they better issue them for their employees not showing up. UNACCEPTABLE.

So much fun! First timers so we did the easiest room, just challenging enough for a group of puzzlers to figure out together. We had a great time!

Facilities seem a little shoddy, but the escape room experience itself was challenging and fun.

We had a great time. We were a group of four, we arrived about 10 minutes late so our time was deducted, but the instructor got us in as soon as possible and even let us get a few extra minutes to try and escape. The Primal room is quite fun, despite other posts I’ve read saying it’s “just a bunch of locks”. It will probably take you the whole hour to complete although it doesn’t look like it at first. Our time ran out right before we could escape . Can’t wait to do another theme at PanIQ Room!!

Lots of fun, friendly helpful staff. I would definitely recommend.

Absolutely the worst customer service I have experienced in an escape room game. The assistant manager Keisha was delayed with another room and decided to take it out of our room time. Then she proceeded to call her manager and audibly complain while we were trying to complete the room.

Awesome experience. Booked the Primal room. Took us almost the full hour to escape! Friendly staff. Will definitely be coming back to try out the other rooms!

Great time! We did 2 rooms, Perfect Crime and The Insane Asylum. Both were great. The Asylum was a little harder. We escaped both! Ryan was great and made everything fun and enjoyable.

The entrance is easy to miss. You have to walk thru a gate with multiple signs on it, go up the stairs, turn to the right, go through another door, and up even more stairs to get to PaniQ.We did the easier level, Primal Quest. It was fun and challenging. This was my first escape room experience. We had to call for help repeatedly for hints. Either the guide was busy helping other groups or distracted. But overall the experience was great.And the actual venue is very small and with a tight hallway. Just be aware that it can get crowded with multiple groups coming in and out of the various rooms.

The tech name Danniele Lee had very good customer service and explained the whole situation about the game. She had a very professional attitude. I would come back again to play.

Very good team building fun! Doesn’t disappoint!

Once you get past the first challenge of finding the room, it’s a fantastic experience. Hosts are accommodating and the rooms are challenging but fun.

Excellent experience! Two adults and two teens. Game Master/Host Ryan is fantastic, professional and a boatload of fun! Rooms were tricky enough to really boggle our mind and the puzzles were varied so as not to for any of our team members. Definitely headed back to try out a different room.

Amazing experience. In case you are worried about finding the place, as shown in past reviews, they have fixed that and added signs. We did the perfect crime room and had lots of fun. We had ryan as our host and he was awesome. Hes very funny and fun to be around definitely the best host I have had for an escape room. The puzzles were definitely a bit challenging but none ever felt unfair or didnt make sense. The rooms were designed well that it felt like we could be doing different things at all times and werent always solving a puzzle one by one. Overall probably one of the best escape room experiences Ive had and definitely the best customer service from one.

PLEASE DO NOT CONSIDER GOING HERE!!!! IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY, TIME, AND IT WILL RUIN YOUR EVENING AND YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS ESCAPE ROOMS.I booked the primal quest escape room for four for my boyfriends birthday. Right away I shouldve known what we had gotten ourselves into. The gate to get in was hidden, the code didnt work, the stairs were not ADA compliant, the water cooler was broken, no one stood up to greet us, it was dirty, it was cramped, and it smelt bad. They put us into a room with a walkie talkie.The primal quest room is supposed to be their easiest room but as soon as we got in there I quickly realized that some of these puzzles were made for 5 year olds and some of them were IMPOSSIBLE TO SOLVE. Literally no way to use 1) logic or 2) critical thinking skills to solve it, THE WHOLE ENTIRE POINT OF AN ESCAPE ROOM. When we asked for a hint over the walkie, instead of giving us a hint she gave us THE ANSWER!!!. WHAT IS THIS MESS???Then it started to get super super bad. We needed another hint for one of the other terrible puzzles, we asked over the walkie and... radio silence. Shes gone. Where did she go. We keep asking, as our time keeps counting down, and 5 MINUTES LATER she comes back on the walkie, saying shes helping another customer... um excuse me maam youre supposed to be our GAME MASTER, HELPING OUR GAME ALONG THE WAY BECAUSE WE ARE ON A CLOCK... and when we walked in there were two employees in the lobby so I dont understand why she was multitasking. A game master has to have their eyes and ears on their groups at all times!!!! So after another 3 minutes, THIS LADY STRAIGHT UP WALKS INTO THE ROOM. This is a huge no-no in the world of escape rooms. Youre never supposed to ruin the surreal experience of the escape for the guest. But she walks in and begins EXPLAINING THE CLUE TO US. I am mortified. She walks into the room SEVERAL more times after this, she gives only 2 extra minutes on the timer because of her mistake the walkies, of course we didnt escape. I cannot believe how mad I am at this point. They dont even take a proper picture of us.So please if youve made it this far, DONT EVER BOOK WITH PANIQ ESCAPE ROOM DC!!!

My family and I had a great time. Our game master, Ryan, was great! Our first escape room experience was a week prior at a different location and this one was much better...many more clues needed. My daughter wants to come back for her birthday with a group of friends, so we will be back!

We had a great time and we will going again to try another room!

A really fun experience!

Had a great experience(Prehistoric)! The host, Brianna was extremely nice. I recommend adding a sign outside on the strip to help customers better identify the location.

Fun and challenging but definitely harder than expected, some things you will have to ask for a hint on . Definitely worth checking out.

Fun! If you do the Primal room, prepare to get a little dusty though....

This was really fun, though new in regards to others in the area but it was the perfect activity for a date night.

Lots of fun. Always enjoy escape rooms.

Getting through the front gate was a serious issue. Once that was solved, we had a good time.

Had a great time with friends!(prehistoric) Almost got it.. Host was cool and helpful. Would return to try another room. The only thing is identifying the location..I think that was the hardest part...lol.

The challenges were not well thought out. Some of the clues did not work correctly (even in retrospect with full information).

My girls and I went for a birthday celebration. We had a great time! Ryan is amazing! Great customer service!

Soooooo much fun!

The four of us had a great time! We didnt succeed, but thats fine. We figured out a lot of clues and made a lot of progress and solved three out of four parts of the puzzle. We asked for a hint and it was clever because it didnt tell us anything directly, it just pointed us in a clearer direction. We might have solved the whole puzzle with more experience at this kind of room or by asking for more hints, but it didnt matter because we had a lot of fun anyway. For my international visitors, they say it was the best thing they did while here in the DC area.Why 4 and not 5 stars? Nothing terrible, nothing to put you off. We arrived and there was no one there. Maybe the Game Master was in a room with players, maybe he went to get a coffee. No big deal. The water fountain was empty and the bottle had not been replaced. It might be boring, but stuff like that should be kept working. It was a hot day and the room was a little too warm. Not hot, just less comfortable. The lighting wasnt bright and we had to use the lights on our cell phones occasionally to read clues carefully. As I said, no actual problems, just minor stuff. 4/5 ... I recommend this place. We will go back another time and try another of the rooms!

Amazing staff Loved the room. Could use a few more signs to help locate the entrance.

Wonderful experience.Staff was very helpful and polite.Although our time was over but they still let us finish it.Fun thing to do in group

I was sceptical about this whole escape room idea. PanIQ was the first one that Ive ever done and I am now hooked. We were able to get in for a good deal, but its worth it regardless. Its a great team building exercise, I cant wait to go back!

Customer service and atmosphere are horrible.

We had done the Asylum II, and had a great time. The puzzles were challenging and took us nearly the whole 60 minutes, but we broke out in the last few seconds! Would recommend trying this location out!

Adding to Danielle’s review, extremely disappointed in your rude, discourteous, very unprofessional staff. Just wondering what kind of business you are running. I give you guys a big fat 0 on a scale of 1-5. If YOU had to cancel, a courtesy phone call or email notice to reschedule should have been done. The only recommendation you will receive from me will be a warning not to waste your time or your money. JUST DON’T GO THERE. Dont let the highlighted star fool you. You have to click on at least one to enter a review.

You know a room is bad when the person running it cant solve the puzzles. 3 stars, just because the puzzles in the beginning were fun and engaging. It really needs some work though. The puzzles at the end were literally insurmountable.

A well decorated and planned game it was. The last time I played was a couple of days ago and it was quite interesting.

The atmosphere of our room (prehistoric) was great, but the clues were either impossible to solve or way too obvious. No middle ground. Also the host came into the room 4 or 5 times to talk to us, which really spoiled the effect. Overall, would not recommend or come back.

It was cool. Complicated, but cool

The staff are awesome

Had an AMAZING time here with coworkers building camaraderie. The place itself may be challenging to locate, actually. Once you find it though, the entertainment begins. I would recommend this place!

Fun game and great game master!

Manny was very helpful at explaining how the escape room was completed.

The host was cool, and the room we chose was fun and challenging. I would highly recommend.

Had fun! Staff was nice, helpful, and very accommodating :)

Too bad that there is not an option for zero stars! I am a part of the corporate event that Danielle wrote about. This is totally unacceptable for a business to do this! What a waste of time and money! DO NOT GO HERE! This PaniQ Escape Room is unethical. Go to another one if you want to go - just dont choose this location!!! Save your money!

This place is a lot of fun! But the first puzzle is finding the entrance to the place off M Street.

Very fun! The prehistoric room was fairly challenging, but my group has a good time.

It was my first experience and I like it. We tried the prehistoric room.

This place was absolutely terrible! The customer service was horrible! And the location was horrific !! I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely hate it here ! They definitely need to relocate or get a sign because it took forever trying to find it. Waste of money !

Great customer service, very friendly staff. Had a great time!

Our group booked a PanIQ Escape Room DC experience for a friend’s birthday celebration on Saturday, February 17th. The team experience idea was good, but the staff’s unfriendly, unprofessional and unpleasant demeanor and attitude was very disappointing and really took away from the experience and celebration.When our group walked into the lobby for our session the hostess was very unwelcoming and kept muttering negative remarks under her breath while a larger group waited for the previous sessions to end. We inquired about whether it was okay if we were going to be one less person than our reservation was for because a friend became ill and the hostess snarled that we would not be issued a refund despite the fact that we were not asking for one. As it turns out, the hostess was frustrated because her coworker was late to relieve her from her shift. While it may be understandable that she was frustrated about that and the fact that she could not find a set of keys while resetting the rooms it was unnecessary to let out a yell at the end of the hall, stomp around the small lobby mumbling under her breath and being rude to the groups in the lobby. This made the two groups waiting for their sessions really uncomfortable.Once we were taken into our room the hostess was still not very helpful and went through the motions of telling us the rules and back ground of the room as if going through a memorized script at a mile a minute. We had to ask her to repeat what she had said and she did so as if we were an annoyance. A few minutes into our experience we heard the hostess arguing with someone and can through the walls and walkie talkie. About halfway through our experience there was a change in hostess and he was equally as unpleasant as the previous one. When we tried to utilize hints he would address us like it was a complete inconvenience, was rude and treated us as if we were stupid. We got stuck with a chess problem and he was very unhelpful over the walkie talkie stating that it wasn’t necessary to know anything about chess to get the clue so our group had no choice but to sit in the room and watch the clock run out. When the did run out he came into the room and placed the white chess pieces in specific places and said they went there based on chess move rules and the other pieces already on the board. It sounded to us like perhaps some chess knowledge was necessary or perhaps a hint when requested would’ve been helpful. After this he rushed through the clues that were left as he reset the room up for the next session. Unfortunately, this lack of professionalism and customer service had a negative impact on the overall experience and was rather disappointing for our team member who was celebrating a birthday.The idea of working together to solve puzzles and clues is a great one and we would like to try again. However, we will most likely not return to PanIQ Escape Room DC and will not be recommending it to others.

Its scary and hard to get the hints good thing theres 3 hints per room

The Perfect Crime room was loads of fun. A decent challenge for four people.

First and foremost, Savon, the employee there, was awesome. He was very accommodating and kind.Escape Rooms: These aren’t your run of the mill, rinky dink escape rooms. These are hard. So hard that they automatically give you walkie talkies to help you throughout the game. Some of the clues honestly could not have been figured out without help. I did the “primal quest” room. It was dark and hard to see, but I enjoyed the theme. Although our room had a 35% escape rate, we escaped in 40 minutes.The Location:This was the worst.It’s basically hidden in Georgetown on a busy strip with eateries and stores. We were 10 minutes late because we could not find the place. There is a gate next to “good eatery” restaurant that has a tiny “paniq” sign. Look for that. Beware that there is another escape room venue 2 blocks away. Don’t mix them up.The Groupon: beware that the groupon is only available for the Primal Quest room. This sucks because I would have preferred to do another room, but that’s fine.Overall: I WOULD visit again for full price. I was intrigued and challenged. The staff was also great.

The Perfect Crime room was loads of fun.

Fun but some of the puzzles were a bit too hard to figure out.

One hour of trying to figure out the codes to open padlocks. Never again.

Great escape room, probably the best in town. Prehistoric and Asylum looks very real, woooow, so much fun!!!

Fun place and fairly challenging room. Sometimes the clue giver is a bit anxious and gives away too much rather than give a simple clue to spur your mind and lead you to the answer.

We didnt escape, but we had a good time. I think we should try it again thanks Paniq Escape Room DC.

We escaped the Prehistoric room and Asylum, about a month ago. Having done close to 30 different escape rooms, I have to say that Asylum still stands out as my favorite - by far. I will say its definitely a tough room (if its your first time, I recommend going with Prehistoric - its a tad easier but still perfectly immersive and well-executed), but the game and setting were very very VERY convincing and well designed. From the puzzles to the ambiance, the meticulous attention to detail will haunt me for the foreseeable future - in a good way.The only hiccup we experienced was the slightly strange booking process - and that was quickly overcome with the help of the gamemaster on duty (I apologize that I cant recall her name, but she was wonderful). But dont let that turn you off to this escape room - its well worth it! We had a great time, in some great rooms!

This was challenging and fun, but other escape rooms have a camera to check progress which I think would have been helpful.

The staff here is very unprofessional and unpleasant. When we tried to utilized our hints, the staff would address us like it was an complete inconvenience. They are rude in response and treat you like youre stupid. The prehistoric room is poorly designed and falling apart. I dont recommend coming to this place. Youre better off trying this experience with another business.

Really enjoyed the asylum! Even though we didnt escape our group was immediately talking about trying it again.

The staff was late arriving and we were waiting outside. The hostess was arguing with someone and can be heard thru the walls and walkie talkie. There was a problem with one clue and she blamed us for breaking it but then she realized it was already broke. No additional time was given to replace the broken part that was already broke. The Team experience idea was good, but the staff may need some info on how to conduct herself while at work.

It was fun BUT the staff could use customer service training. Especially the girl with the pink hair

This was my first time at an escape room and had a decent time. One of the clues was outright wrong and the game master didnt understand what the clue actually was.This place is hard to find! Go through the locked-looking metal gate and up the stairs.

Great hosts, awsome rooms. Highly recommended to everyone!

Great time and great staff

This was our first trip to Washington, DC (from Arizona) and we booked several escape rooms in the DC area. At PanIQ we booked Prehistoric on May 30, 2017, which was our 56th game overall. We have done two PanIQ rooms in the Phoenix area and wished this one held up to the standards the one in Phoenix maintains.When my family discusses escapes rooms after we play them we think of them with three aspects in mind, Setting, Gameplay, and Mechanics.As far as the setting goes, the set itself was attempting to be cave-like but just fell a little short. I failed to appreciate what they were going for with the set decorations. It didnt feel cave like to me. Construction material was left on the floors and edges of the wall and instead of it being immersive, it was kind of gross. I’m not sure I remember a story that was a part of the setting, I think we were just given the goal and that was our environment. There was an attempt to make it immersive but occasionally the props didn’t match the theme so it was a bit awkward. The good news is that the room didn’t feel cluttered at all. While there were only three of us during our escape, the booking information says it holds up to 7. I would not want to do that room with 7, Three or four would seem optimum to me.Many of the puzzles were unique and memorable and I enjoyed a few of them. This room is better suited for the beginner player than it is for the experienced player. We were able to get the key to escape the whole room within 5 minutes by accidentally using a prop the way we thought it was supposed to be used but was actually for another puzzle/activity. There was momentary concern from the gamemaster while he entered the room and reset a particular puzzle. PanIQ managed not to hit any of our pet peeves which are red herrings, having to guess information, need for prior knowledge, and dark rooms without alternative lighting (flashlights) so great job for not having issues in those areas!!!!As far as the mechanics go in the room, it had a good game flow, an adequate hint system, an attentive gamemaster, good customer service and a great website! It did have the one breakdown as previously mentioned.Some people are complaining in other reviews about not being able to find the location. We didn’t have any problem. We had the address, walked right up, pressed the buzzer to get in the gate to go to the 2nd level and all worked well.If you are an experienced player, I think I would pass on this room but if you are just beginning to do escape rooms, this is a decent one to try.

This was so much fun! Didnt figure out puzzle in time but laughed alot at 4 young adults thinking outside the box!