October
17
Tags
EscapeZone
Escape Zone (formerly known as “BreakOut”) is located in downtown on the border of Chinatown and Kensington market. It is not to be confused Xscape Zone which is in Markham. Walking into EscapeZone reminded us of our experience at De Code Adventures, with the consistent colour and design theme throughout their complex. EscapeZone is significantly smaller but with the space they used, the designers definitely made the most of the space.
Rooms: 4
Reviewed rooms: Da Vinci Code, The Billiard Room Murder, Black Room
Creativity and Design (aka its Fancy level): – Was it inventive ? Did it fit the theme?
Score : 5.0 of 5.0
The Da Vinci code started off in an art studio. There wasn’t any obvious dollar store items, and the room was very clean and suited the theme. It wasn’t overly cluttered, and most items had some significance to the puzzles. The second room had an interesting design which i won’t spoil, but it definitely made you look at things from another perspective. From the Da Vinci Code, it made us very interested to see how their other rooms are. Overall a solid design.
The Billiard Room came equip with a pool table, pool cues and everything that would be included in a pool room (although a bit crammed). Not too many random elements.
The Black Room is harder to evaluate because you’re literally in a dark room. So based on that alone, it was themed well.
Bells and Whistles: Was it just lockboxes throughout the Room?
Score: 4.0 of 5.0
The Da Vinci Code limited their use of lockboxes, yet some key points still used them. Otherwise they were inventive on their use of ‘simple’ technology that fit the theme very well. However unlike some of the other venues there was nothing that stood out.
With the pool room they tried to incorporate the objects in the room as part of the puzzle, and one interesting piece of equipment for the end.
The Black Room had the most technology of their rooms and a nice additional feature as well but its impossible to say anymore without spoilers.
Intuitive (aka Frustration Level): Was it solvable? or Did you have to be inside the creators mind to solve it?
Score: 5.0 of 5.0
The Da Vinci room was overall intuitive and straightforward. Our group was initially stuck on a fairly simple puzzle, but after that it was smooth sailing. The hint system at EscapeZone is unique, they offer 2 hints and they hide puzzle pieces throughout the room, if you find them all then you will be able to get a 3rd hint. We appreciated that the majority of the puzzles were ‘encryption’ or ‘code’ based, which actually follows the theme (surprisingly not alot of places do this). .
The Billiards Room was very linear (it even tells you what you need to work on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc) and in terms of puzzles, weren’t incredibly difficult. We were told before going in that this was their EASIEST room and that Da Vinci was their most difficult.
The Black Room was nice, simple and straightforward.
Staff Support/Price : Were they friendly? Were they helpful? What was the Damage?
Score: 4.0 of 5.0
The staff was friendly and prompt. Our only complaint was that when we were trying to get some clarification on a hint, we never received a response. When we did the Billiards room we never got a response from the intercom because there was a huge crowd of people in the lobby area, leading too too much noise over the intercoms (and perhaps not enough staff).
The current price is $25 per person (if you check in on Facebook or Yelp). With the discounts the price is reasonable especially compared to some of the other downtown venues.
Overall: EscapeZone offers a solid Downtown experience. The Black Room doesn’t disappoint as it is their most popular room, but the other rooms also have solid puzzle flow. All-in-all EscapeZone proves that good things come in small packages.
For more information check out:
http://www.escapezonetoronto.com/
388 Spadina Avenue – 2nd Floor
Toronto, ON M5T 2G5
647-350-0140
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