Escape Key Entertainment Inc

Super fun! Girlfriend and I enjoyed our time here. The hr goes fast but with help it can be done. It was a bit smaller than I hoped but the service was friendly and nice.

It was an alright experience. Been to many others and this is one of the lower end escape rooms. Sure the puzzles were some what challenging but with the unlimited help its not to difficult to finish the single themed escape room within the given hour. If you do need extra time, the operator will give you an extra 5mins for the price of $ 1 for every participant.
At the end of the game no matter if you finished or not everything will be explained at the end.
Pros:
–Friendly service
–cheaper then most other escape rooms
Cons:
— unlimited help (didnt really feel challenged with someone constantly telling you what to do when you didn’t even ask for a hint)
–décor was minimal
–no return value
If you are looking for a cheap escape room do come here other wise don’t if you’re looking for a more challenging escape room.

[The Key to Success]
Escape key is one of the newer additions to the escape game market in the lower mainland. It’s a tiny little place with only a single game room nestled in the midst of street-​level retail businesses. It doesn’t look like much but don’t judge a book by its cover.
The premise is that your team of computer hackers has been captured and put to the test. The interior pretty sparsely decorated compared to other escape games. The word that comes to mind is minimalist. However, what it lacks in appearance, is made up for in puzzle quality and satisfaction. Here’s why:
1. There’s no limit to the number of hints you can get. They’ll try to point you in the right direction versus giving you the answer outright. Communication is done through radios so no one physically comes in.
2. You get an hour. Most places give you 45 minutes. You’ll also get a briefing before and after the game.
3. If you come reasonably close to solving it, they’ll go through all the remaining unsolved puzzles. No more insomnia or anger over an unsolved puzzle.
4. Not all puzzles are locked based. There’s a lot of really ingenious ways to open doors and drawers that don’t invlove combination-​based locks. It really makes you think outside the box versus focusing on finding a combination. They’re also very logical.
My only suggestion is to go with a diverse team — people with different backgrounds. The game can accomodate upto 8 players. We only had a team of 4 and managed to get to the final puzzle.
So how does it stack up to the competition? The satisfaction of solving non-​traditional lock-​based puzzles was a refreshing change. I’d even say these were among the best in the city. My only qualms are the barebones décor and the lack of other themes. At the moment, I’d have to say top 10.

Once you have signed up for a 90-​minute session and have arrived at the main office, you will be given a short introduction as a team of computer hackers on the run. After an explanation of the different elements to be expected in the room, you will be sent into a locked room with 60 minutes to try and escape from the room. Essentially you will look around the room for clues that you have to decrypt or solve to open more paths to the ultimate goal of unlocking your way out of the room.
If you’re not a genius at solving puzzles, you will also be given a way to communicate with the game master who will provide you with hints for your current puzzle. What I like about this escape room is that you are given hints as needed (to a time-​sensitive limit) to solve your clues. Some other places like E-​Exit and Freeing Canada limit your hints and their staff usually just tell you what to do next. The hints here are actually helpful hints.
Another thing I like is the pace. Other escape rooms are usually 45-​minute time limits; here the time limit is 60 minutes which I think gives a little breathing room. You also get a debrief at the end to tell you how you should have solved the puzzles if you don’t make it out in time. In my opinion, this is much more satisfying than walking out defeated. This extra time does come at a cost though since the room rate is $ 28+tax per player on weekends. The price is cheaper on weekdays at $ 23+tax per person.
All in all, I think these types of games are great for team bonding experiences and the puzzles were quite clever and stuck to the theme of computers. At Escape Key I’d give the difficulty and fun both a thumbs up. If you make it out you can sign your name on a key and and hang it on the «Keyderboard» (key + leaderboard). If that’s not punny enough it’s actually a triple portmanteau of «Key + Leaderboard + Keyboard».