MISSION: ESCAPE is one of Georgia’s newest escape rooms and is located in downtown Cartersville, Georgia. MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville has 3 rooms to challenge you including MISSION: Copán. In the MISSION: Copán game, “Your mission will take you to the Copán Ruins in Honduras where you will infiltrate the operation of the GCS and retrieve the burial mask of Mayan ruler, Yax-Pasaj, before the GCS is able to use it for horrendous ends.” MISSION: Copán is a multi-room challenge with several types of puzzles and tons of kinetic action for a thoroughly entertaining escape room experience. The local creator of this room was also inspired by Disney’s Haunted mansion and included one of its famous special effects!

“Your mission will take you to the Copán Ruins in Honduras where you will infiltrate the operation of the GCS and retrieve the burial mask of Mayan ruler, Yax-Pasaj, before the GCS is able to use it for horrendous ends.”

MISSION: Copán (https://missionescapega.com/mission-copan/)

MISSION: Copán is my personal favorite type of escape room with multiple spaces to explore and lots of physical and mental challenges. This review is spoiler free in that I’ll only include our ending picture and pictures you can find on the MISSION: ESCAPE website with no discussion of specific puzzles. You start off with a briefing from your “game master” and a video that will set the stage and give you some basic rules and instructions. You’ll also be given a radio to communicate with your game master. Our game master was Lily and she was fantastic in providing us little hints when we needed them. The production value in MISSION: Copán is very high with things that light up and move as you interact with them. As you solve puzzles new spaces will become available to explore. You’ll face some standard escape room puzzle types, but MISSION: Copán puts a unique twist on several of them. Where MISSION: Copán shines is the ending which is a spectacular payoff to completing the challenge.

We hosted our son’s 9th birthday party at the location and the kids absolutely loved it. Most of the kids had never done an escape room, so it made for a unique experience. MISSION: ESCAPE has a party room upstairs that we were able to use for free which allowed a place for us to have birthday treats and for parents to hang out while the kids were in the room. It’s a large private space upstairs and out of the way that also serves as a workspace for the room creators with lots of drawings and props to look at.

MISSION: ESCAPE has a great location right in the heart of Cartersville’s historic downtown, Free parking is available right in front of the complex and you can make reservations in advance with a group of 5 guaranteeing you a private room. It’s only a short walk from Drowned Valley Brewing Co., The Booth Museum and several restaurants including Scott’s BBQ right across the street. It would make for a great adult evening to get some dinner before an escape room or catch some beers at the brewery after. A group of adults would also enjoy MISSION: Copán, but they also have MISSION: Cold McDuffie which has “an intense “true crime” story line.” They’re also open late on Friday and Saturday night.

MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville is a great escape room experience with a great staff in a great location. If you read a bit about MISSION: ESCAPE you’ll see it’s a passion project for local CEO Barry Arrington, JR and Charity Gherardini and it shows. Barry takes inspiration from the fully immersive environments of Disney and elements of the famous Pepper’s Ghost illusion from The Haunted Mansion can be found in MISSION: Copán. This isn’t a “corporate” escape room, but more “craft” escape room as Barry designed and built each of these rooms with his dad.

In an escape room review it’s hard to convey how cool it is without simultaneously giving something away, but I couldn’t recommend MISSION: Copán at MISSION: ESCAPE Cartersville more. We can’t wait to try MISSION: Ballad of the Sleeping Dogfish as well as MISSION: ESCAPES new Canton, GA location ASAP. If you’re in Northwest Georgia be sure to check out MISSION: ESCAPE as for an hour you’ll be thoroughly entertained, challenged and amazed as you work with your friends and family to complete one of these great adventures.