Mr. J Escape Club

Solid place!
I went there with a few friends that are from out of down. I was impressed by how well put together this place is. The guy there was super nice and helpful! He gave us a couple extra clues. The rooms were just hard enough I would say, but they have put a lot of thoughts into it. Looking forward to their new rooms!

This is a relatively new place in Richmond, hidden at the back of a strip mall on Alexandra and No. 3 Road.
Theme– We did the Vampire Hunter room. Nice and spooky décor, and most puzzle props stayed with the theme. Not a lot of storyline, but that’s not a huge part of it for me.
Production quality– Pretty decent. On the same level as Lockdown, not as good as Guess HQ. The props were pretty sturdy, but not quite on the level of feeling totally ‘real’.
Puzzles– Really good. No lockboxes, lots of electronic/​mechanical feedback on puzzle solves. They were all logical and solvable, even if we needed a couple of hints to nudge us along at times. It was pretty linear, but there were LOTS of puzzles, which I really like– everyone gets a chance to try things out that way. I think this place might be my favourite for puzzle type and quality. Bonus points for having the best ending of all the escape rooms we’ve done.
Staff– Friendly enough but not terribly attentive. There was also a minor issue with some equipment, and while they gave us extra time to make up for it, it derailed us a bit.
Pricing– $ 30 per person including tax. We used a Groupon, which was about half that.
All in all, a great experience. Would definitely return.
Overall experience/​fun:
1. Guess HQ
2. Mr. J Escape Club
3. Lockdown Richmond
4. Locked Canada Kingsway
5. Smartypantz Gastown
6. Exit Canada Broadway
Theme/​Production Quality
1. Guess HQ (by a landslide)
2. Lockdown Richmond
3. Mr. J Escape Club
4. Smartypantz Gastown
5. Exit Canada Broadway
6. Locked Canada Kingsway
Puzzle Quality:
1. Mr. J Escape Club
2. Locked Canada Kingsway (all lockboxes, but fun level/​type of challenge, at least for our group)
3. Guess HQ
4. Smartypantz Gastown
5. Lockdown Richmond
6. Exit Canada Broadway

Out of all the escape rooms I’ve ever done (10 – 11), this one is near the top of my list. The cool thing about this escape room is that it is all mechanically automated. It’s quite different from all the other escape rooms I’ve ever done and I’m glad we got something other than the traditional locks and number combinations. The storyline was quite engaging but there were times where we definitely wouldn’t have gotten to the next step due to the finicky-​ness of the mechanical automation.
Staff were helpful, but once we had completed, we came out of the room ecstatic that we had come out. After walking to the staff, they stared at us blankly, as we obviously interrupted their PC gaming time and asked us «…what?». We told them that we had gotten out of the room (duh), and they shrugged it off and said «good job», returning to their game.
Soooo…don’t come here for the service but it’s a cool set of rooms. Our group has been through two of them here and we’ve loved both! If the staff members here were a tiny bit more theatrical, it would make the experience just that much better.

We love the electro mechanical elements in their rooms. The puzzles made sense and the staff were friendly. Wish they would expand into larger rooms.

[Tomb Raider]
An impulsive Groupon purchase brought our group of 6 to Mr. J last Saturday evening. This was my 20^th room escape at various places around the city and while the novelty still endears, I’ve become quite critical of puzzle logic, prop quality, and ambience. That said, Mr. J does things differently — some good and some less so.
The general format is the same: you’re left in a room (or rooms) and through a series of puzzles, you must find a way out. Mr. J allows for 50 minutes and 2 hints — no surprise here. After a half-​hearted briefing, we were left to our own devices. The one thing I liked most was the fact that almost everything was mechanically or electrically triggered. There was almost no combination locks which really gets you thinking outside the box instead of looking around for random numeric codes. Room design and prop quality was also well done. The puzzles were fun to solve and most were quite logical but I felt the quantity of puzzles could’ve been increased. There wasn’t much to buildup the story other than the quick 1-​minute briefing to put the whole experience in context but you get the general idea once you’re inside.
The Lost Tomb theme wasn’t overly difficult and we were able to solve it in the allotted time. (Technically, we were in the midst of opening the final door and they let us have an extra 2 minutes to finish what we were doing) There’s also the option to add additional time at a cost. It didn’t seem like there was a set pricing structure but it’s an option that could help you sleep better at night. The Lost Tomb is difficult enough for both veteran Houdinis and newcomers alike. At a retail price of $ 30 per person, it’s a tad spendy. However, at a Groupon price of $ 15, this makes for a fun team-​based experience.
So how does it stack up to the competition? Top 5.