August 14

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Escape Manor – Wine Cellar Escape

Posted by on August 14, 2015 in Ottawa | Leave a comment

Escape Manor is located on Queen St in Downtown Ottawa.  Because tickets were so hard to get a hold of, we decided to book a back-to-back with the Asylum.  Both the Asylum and the Wine Cellar started off a bit late but we were eventually greeted by Gamemaster Ben who brought us to the room.  


Creativity and Design (aka its Fancy level): – Was it inventive ? Did it fit the theme?
Score : 4.5 of 5.0

The room is well decorated that had a solid and rustic look, complete with a rack of wine bottles and a wooden barrel.  For a group of 6 the room felt a bit cramped and would probably suit a group of 4 more.   Like the Asylum it was just short of a perfect mark if 1 or 2 items weren’t included in the room.  (We felt these items were forced in for the sakes of adding puzzles).

Bells and Whistles: Was it just lockboxes throughout the Room?
Score:  3.5 of 5.0

A few of the puzzles felt they missed the mark and depended on things to be set ‘just right’ in order to solve it (we struggled with one in particular).  Otherwise we didn’t see any safety issues or anything that blew our mind away, the room was very simple.

Intuitive (aka Frustration Level):  Did you have to be in the designers mind to escape?
Score:  3.5 of 5.0

There were many 4 digit codes and multiple 4 digit locks throughout the room, which made solving puzzles frustrating (aka Too-much-info-and-not-enough-direction).  It got to the point where all 6 of us stood by a lock to test our answers.  The puzzles didn’t require any large leaps in logic, but they do depend on you to have a keen sense of observation.

The hint system is an interesting spin on a walkie-talkie hint.  The walkie talkie is actually hidden in the room, and you are required to find it in order to use your 1 hint (before it isn’t counted as a win).  This was easier to find than the Asylum, but still needed some searching.

Staff Support/Price : Were they friendly? Were they helpful? What was the Damage?

Gamemaster Ben was great.  I think overall Escape Manor has a great group of Gamemasters that really do help sell the story.  Overall the staff at Escape Manor move like a well-oiled machine (much like some of the busier places in Toronto, De Code Adventures and Escape Games), but unfortunately we didn’t get any backstory from anyone.

The price is $21.00 / person and they run on a ticket system (which means that you can potentially play with randoms).  You definitely have to book at least a week in advance or be prepared to play at obscure hours.

Overall: There are good rooms at Escape Manor and the Wine Cellar Escape isn’t one of them.  It is wonderfully decorated but it falls flat on puzzle and inventiveness.

For more information check out:

http://www.escapemanor.com/
201 Queen Street – 4thFloor
Ottawa, ON