Real Escape Game

I had a blast doing the Time Travel escape room last night. I went with 6 friends and 4 other players were put on our team. The game was very challenging, but the people working there provided helpful hints just when you needed it most. This kept things challenging but not impossible.
I highly recommend checking out this escape room with friends. You won’t regret it!

Last night we went to the Real Escape Game on Stafford for a friend’s birthday. There were 5 of us and 6 in a separate bridal party in the Trial of the Mad Fox Society room. To be honest I had never even heard of escape rooms before and I was quite sceptical. I am so glad it went! Don’t get me wrong, the puzzles were quite complex, varied and intertwined. It was cool playing with others we didn’t know as well. In the end we ran out of time before solving the final riddle. I would definitely do it again!

So much fun and so much more exciting than the usual dinner, movie, bar, pub, etc. If you love board games, puzzles, riddles, and having a fun and unique time with friends, this is for you!

The staff were amazing — passionate about what they do and super engaging the whole way through. It really made the experience as good as it gets. We loved the game and our group had a complete blast. I highly recommend this activity, such an original and fun way to spend an evening.

First escape room. We were literally about a minute from solving it. Apparently only 6−7% escape, but I liked how challenging it was. Would definitely go again to one of their other rooms.

Eight months later and I’m just getting to the review now. I came here for a UYE event run by Meena and had an amazing time! Even though we didn’t finish, I think we did really well though it was a little chaotic at times. People I think gravitated to what they were strongest at, and it ended up that we had, in my opinion, a pretty well-​rounded team. I’d definitely come back here for another game.

This was my first escape game and we did Time Travel Lab with our friends last night.
Facility:
— great that it was downtown and easy for us to get to
— so many of the larger rooms seems to be up in Markham
— though the only decent bar nearby was still 15 minutes away walking in Liberty Village
— nice and clean space overall
— room was spacious enough for the group of 10 people we had
— game environment was decent but wouldn’t call it sumptuous, more practical and sufficient (but this was my first game and I have a feeling based on other reviews that this game is above average on submersiveness), I was just hoping for a Disney-​level experience which is likely not a realistic expectation
The Game:
— there are lab assistants in the room with you who are role playing parts and can give you hints when you need them
— I think some games don’t have the staff immediately in the game with you, I didn’t mind them but some people may not like them right there
— there was a bunch of «don’t touch» items that the lab assistants make sure you don’t mess with so it felt a little restrictive but I can totally understand that some people might have tried to get creative and damaged their stuff
— the staff were mostly great but I felt like at least one of them was just a little annoyed with her job and was just going through the motions… kind of like the teenager at the anusement park who has said «keep your arms and legs in the car at all times» about a thousand times too many
— great story, extremely clever puzzles
— something for everyone, great mix of strengths required to solve what you needed to solve, definitely kept all of us engaged
— the game max is 11, and we bought all 11 but only had 10 people, we wanted to avoid being put with strangers (we are normally very friendly people honest)
I would totally recommend this game! It was really fun.

3.5stars. This was a fun game. It is interactive (you have lab interns in the room who you need in order to get through some puzzles), forces you to play with others (maximum of 11 ppl/​room and you cannot fully book the room for a smaller group), it has many many puzzles operating at different wavelengths. some more concrete and some more abstract. Overall we had a lot of fun. You will not get the high technology of hidden mechanical doors or stairs as in Omescape or Escape games (11 kodiak), but the intricate puzzles make up for that. It is a brainier type of escape game. If it were a smaller group we would not have gotten as far. you definitely need a variety of thinkers. We were on the last puzzle and time ran out because we panicked and wasted time. I would try their other room.

Highly recommended! My friend and I had a blast even though we didn’t know what to expect since it was our first time attempting any escape room. The «assistants» that were inside the room with your party were very helpful. A couple tips for succeeding in escaping would certainly be not to overthink the puzzles. They are much simpler than you would expect. Another tip would be to pay close attention to the details of your debrief and anything that the «assistants» talk about or mention. Best of luck!

So close!!!
We have done both Real Escape games (with the same team) and LOVE it!
So much fun. I would highly recommend it to anyone for a night out.

Just played. No escape… but can safely say I like this one just as much, if not MORE than the first game. Just like Vol 1 the room is the puzzle, everything plays into the game in some way.
So much fun.

Did Volume 2. A lot of fun. Highly highly recommended.

NO food, drinks, coffee, cellphones, etc allowed inside. So finish your drinks beforehand. Would definitely recommend coming sober as it is already challenging enough.
Holy heck some of the places you find clues are beyond unexpected. DO NOT count anything out. These people are creative with hiding clues.
Oh and when you think it’s over… WAIT FOR IT. It isn’t.
We didn’t escape but had a fun time nonetheless.

Absolutely hilarious. Best night out since Volume 1. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Room escape games are popping up all over with good reason. They are fun! Proving that Toronto is jam packed with super smart people, the team that ventured out on a cold day in February was full of enthusiasm and ready to roll. The briefing before the game reminded me of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE where various talent was assembled to achieve a goal requiring different skills. The feeling of being part of a team is just so enjoyable! Kudos to Meena for jumping in with both feet in organizing events like this and helping to get us out of the house and doing things together.

Fantastic fun. If you enjoy puzzles — or games like Myst or Escape from Monkey Island — this will be right up your alley.
Get a team in and enjoy! The difficulty is just right — challenging, but achievable.

Get a room!
This is my first room escape attempt ever! I came here for an UYE with a group of elites.
We were introduced to the rules before we started. Once we got in we had exactly one hour to escape the room. There was an announcement for every 10 minutes that passed by reminding us of the remaining time.
It was an hour of fun, collaboration, teamwork, and excitement. We did not manage to escape the room on time (just like the 97% who tried before us). We came pretty close to escaping the room but the last bit was pretty challenging to figure out.
Overall it was a great experience. Thank you Meena A for arranging such a great event :-)

My brain hurts.
This is an incredible activity for anyone who loves puzzles of all kinds. Nine of us came for a UYE hosted by the incredible Meena A. We had engineers, tinkerers, puzzle aficionados and a doctor in our mix. We came agonizingly close to solving the game, but failed at the end. Don’t get all mean about it. The room has a 2% success rate.
This is an amazing way to challenge yourself (and your relationship with friends). We all had an amazing time. Thankfully, the people do tell you how to solve the puzzle at the end. It would eat me alive if he didn’t.
The puzzle was crafted very well with a zillion layers and the puzzle makers put a lot into the clues and space. This was much cleaner and professional than another room escape place I went to.
They have other puzzles coming. I can’t wait to try them all!

This place was great! I came here for a UYE event (organized by Meena A, there were 9 of us total!) with a bunch of elites (sadface, the only non-​elite in attendance), and while I had never met any of them before, it was a great hour of fun & collaboration. I’ve never done a professional room escape before; by contrast, I did an event similar to this at my university, but it was organized by a school club, and was much simpler in scope and in the number of associations between puzzles.
The biggest draw for this place & the activity for me is the amount of teamwork involved. You have to trust your teammates to do the roles they set out to do, and what everyone does is valuable and useful to the collective contribution of the overall group. Our group had minds from all disciplines — and they all came together to form quite a nice team dynamic. I figure we came pretty close, but we still were part of the 97% who failed to solve the puzzle.
That all being said, it’s a great place to challenge oneself, and people who love puzzles and patterns and is curious about everything in general will immensely enjoy this place. Be forewarned — it’s a ~2% success rate. I’m very critical of my own performance, since I was at least partially responsible for not recognizing a pattern in one of the last pieces of the puzzle, but hey, it’s a team effort overall!
The only regret I have about this place is that I didn’t take more pictures of the lobby area /​outside of the game room.
Definitely get a room here, it was a pleasant & enjoyable hour of craziness. The guy running our room said there was more stuff coming — and I can’t wait to come back and try again.

This place is EXCELLENT and I highly recommend it to anyone. There are a lot of these escape rooms popping up, a few of which I’ve done and a few I haven’t. This place is slightly more pricey than another place I went to at Downsview (Escape Games) but they just do it RIGHT. The puzzle design is almost perfect, nothing seems out of place. The way everything integrates feels almost magical.
This may be personal preference, but I also really enjoy the minimalist design (although there is a REALLY cool concept they explore) over the cheesy tacked on themes of some of the other escape rooms. It’s very eerie to be trapped in a somewhat normal looking room; I definitely respect the designer’s restraint in that department.

Challenging and devilishly fun! My partner and I have absolutely no interest in trying the other «escape» rooms, that have conveniently influx in Toronto /​North York /​Markham, because none of them could compare to the difficulty of the original! haha!

So damn close again!
So Vol. 2 has some different elements to it — so keep that in mind when you are going in for this. The theme is time traveling. I won’t be giving any spoilers.
I will say that Vol. 2 was far more interesting and involving than when I played Vol. 1
Differences from Vol. 1 — well there seem to be more logic puzzles in this one and not as many things to take apart.
Details matter in this one, more so than than in Vol. 1.
Best way to experience this 8 — 10 people — but they do allow up to 12 people into the room. Best thing is to get a group of friends to go and experience — the bad thing is that the puzzles are the same — so you’ll need to be aware of that; if you end up going through the same scenario again.
Explanation was straight to the point and starts with introducing your teammates. They are very clear on the fact that there are different rules in Vol. 2 than Vol. 1.
Notes:
if some of your party is late they have 20 minutes before they aren’t allowed in the room.
Try to arrive 15 – 20 minutes earlier than your game slot so you can get right into the game.
The room is in the basement — walk past the DIY Jewelry store and it is down the stairs. Check in is there — fill in and sign the waiver and off you go.
The only thing is that the debrief wasn’t as detailed as Vol. 1. But they just started this month — so I think the details might more forthcoming in the future.
That’s all and may the odds be ever in your favor.

I booked this room for a private event on Oct 14^th as a birthday gift to myself. Had 10 of my friends and family come and we attempted unsuccessfully to get out of the room. Oh well!
The staff were great! I think her name was Lavina (?) was our host and walked us through the rules and explained what we could expect.
Some of the hints were a little abstract so we didn’t feel so bad about not completing the room.
Overall it was around 90 minutes in total. They even brought me out a birthday cake!
I would recommend this to everybody! Good, clean fun…

Holy. Shit. Dudez.
REAL ESCAPE IS FRIKKIN AWEESSSOOMMMEEE. This was beyond fun even though I felt like such a huge fail (I missed 2 clues! Someone else found them later) and we were THIS CLOSE to breaking out (we only had like 3 more steps to solve!) But alas, we ran out of time and lost like big losers.
Here’s how it works. You show up 15 minutes before your game is supposed to start. A super cute punky girl makes you sign waivers and outlines the rules of the game (jist of the rules is common sense — don’t run into walls, don’t break shit, don’t stick things into electrical sockets.) She gives the team a few general pointers, tells us stories of the crazy drunk people who have tried playing the game and just ended up smashing vases, and then off we go down the hallway and are loaded into the room. And then BAM, the game starts (it’s announced over a speaker). You get countdown announcements every so often letting you know how much time has elapsed.
Having a mathematical mind might help with some clues, but the clues are so varied and interesting that simply being quick on your feet, creative, and paying close attention to itty bitty details are 3 of the most important traits to bring into this game. Thinking outside the box also really helps too.
And then the OMINOUS TEN MINUTES LEFT announcement is made and our group scrambles! Twas intense!!! And yea, we didn’t break out :’(But cute Punky girl comes back into the room and helps us finish the game, so by the end of it, you know how to break out. You unlock the door and are led back out for a debriefing. The debriefing includes punky chick explaining the clues we didn’t finish or missed, talking about ideas for upcoming Real Escape volumes (EVIL DEAD REAL ESCAPE WHAT???) and also tries to recruit people to actually WORK for Real Escape (which is lolz), but if you love gaming, puzzles and are generally a crafty little ferret, you might as well apply to work there and get paid 20 bucks an hour to work for Real Escape.
But Yea, Real Escape is addicting! If you don’t break out of the room, you’re just like GOD DAMMIT IT, I MUST BEAT YOU, I MUST BEST YOU REAL ESCAPE GAME. Or, even if you do beat the game you’re just like HAHA IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT REAL ESCAPE, YOUR CLUES AND TRICKERY ARE NO MATCH FOR ME, I CAN TAKE YOU, DO YOU EVEN LIFT BRO?

We had so much fun. My cousin brought us here for her birthday. Unfortunately we were one of the teams that didn’t escape, but it was so much fun that we can’t wait for volume 2!
If you like mysteries and solving puzzles, this game is for you. It really makes you work as a team and it is so much more fun than just playing the same kind of game on your electronic device. Really makes you interact with each other.
They did let me have my infant daughter strapped to me, but she was super good (for the duration of the game). If you have a cranky kid, you probably don’t want to bring them because it would throw you off your concentration.
Everyone must try this.