Recap & Giveaway: Edmonton Escape (Eescape) Live Action Escape Game

There’s a new live action escape game in town! Eescape Live Action Escape Game is the latest company to bring the popular escape game concept to Edmonton.

From the website:

Eescape offers people a chance to participate in an emerging world phenomenon. We offer some of the most exciting sleuthing action to be found. Experience real life adventure gaming and entertainment. Challenge your intelligence with a variety of different missions. Find the clues, solve the riddles, and find a way out of each of our meticulously designed rooms with logical reasonings. Let’s face it, few things are as exciting as the thrill of completing a mission in a trapped environment!

For those new to the live action escape genre: basically you choose a themed room, get locked in, briefed on the room’s scenario/problem you need to solve, and then you get 45 minutes to work with your team on solving various puzzles within the room in order to escape before the clock runs out.

Fun, right?

Eescape is located downtown at 10132 105 Street in the basement of Sylbert Place building.

They just opened last weekend and had been offering free beta testing to anyone who signed up on their site. They’re kicking off with three rooms: Held Hostage, Back to the Future, and National Security.

Mike and I went to try two different rooms with our friends – Held Hostage and Back to the Future – during the beta testing.

Eescape in the basement of the building – perfect.

You’re asked to put your cell phones/bags in a locker before you enter the rooms and obviously I don’t want to spoil anything for you, so I’ll just give the site summary for the rooms we tried, and a quick summary of our thoughts on it.

Creepy Eescape hallway – you get blindfolded before being led to your room!

Before you enter into any room, you get blindfolded. It’s a simple, yet very effective way to set the tone for the rest of the game.

Held Hostage is where my close friend Elizabeth is kidnapped by a group of gangsters who are asking for $1 million cash for her safe return – or else they’ll kill her. They’ve locked her in an abandoned building. We’ve tracked her down to the building but need to find where she’s been locked up before the gangsters (who have stepped out for food) return!

In Back to the Future, we’re sent back in time to 1955. You’re confused, stunned, and your team members need to solve puzzles in the room in order to get back to present day.

We weren’t able to solve and break out of Back to the Future (though we were VERY close). We also found it very difficult (we basically solved nothing on our own – and relied solely on the hints that were given – you get 2 hints per game). We also found the backstory to be a little lacking. Held Hostage on the other hand – we all loved! It featured a lot more puzzles (that were a good mix of easy and difficult). There was also more individual success in Held Hostage, where there was at least one sort of shining moment or puzzle solved by one member on the team. We did end up solving Held Hostage – so that could also be why we think more favourably towards that room (only 20% of all teams who play escape games manage to escape).

Sad faces because we failed to escape Back to the Future.

Eescape becomes just the second live action escape game in Edmonton – the first – BreakOut Entertainment – launched fall 2014 (see my recap of the experience here!)

Winners of Held Hostage!

Eescape’s owner, Crystal, says the niche industry is gaining more popularity in Canada (and obviously thought there was enough interest here in Edmonton to launch Eescape!)

In fact, BreakOut is launching a Calgary location soon, and just glancing over their online bookings today show that they’re still pretty booked up – even more than a year later (good for them!)

Eescape costs $24.99 per game, per person, which is on par with BreakOut.

If we’re comparing the two, I think they both do some things better than the other – for example we thought the production value/set-up of the rooms in Eescape were very good (better than the ones we’ve tried in BreakOut). But Eescape’s hint system wasn’t as strong as BreakOut’s (where BreakOut will try to get a feel for what you’ve discovered so far and where you’re at in the puzzle before they give a hint or ask if you’ve checked something, Eescape’s hints were much more blunt).

Our biggest feedback for both escape games (and maybe all escape games) is that room scenarios/backstories could be just a bit more in-depth, and quality of some of set design/etc. could be better.

But overall, lots of fun! And as I’d written with the previous escape game, it’s just such a great alternative to your usual nights out (either date night or friend hang outs, or team building!) Eescape is a welcome addition to the Edmonton entertainment scene and I’m sure it won’t be the last we’ll see of local live action escape.

I’m giving away three pairs of passes to Eescape!

I’m excited that Crystal of Eescape has given me three pairs of Eescape admission passes to give away to readers!

** GIVEAWAY **

ENTER TO WIN ONE OF THREE ADMISSION PASSES TO EESCAPE!

I’m giving away three pairs of admission passes (each pair valued at $50) to Eescape!

There are multiple ways to enter (commenting in this post answering the question below is mandatory, everything else are additional/bonus entries.)

  • Leave a comment on this blog post answering: Why do you want to try Eescape Live Action Escape Game? This is mandatory. You must do this in order to be eligible to win.
  • Tweet this exact sentence: I’m excited to try @info_eescape live action escape game! Enter @lindork’s giveaway: http://bit.ly/1ArqxvA #yeg
  • Follow @info_eescape on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this)
  • Follow @lindork on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this)
  • Like Eescape – Live Action Escape Game on Facebook (let me know you’ve done this)
  • Like my Facebook Page – Lindork (Linda Hoang) and leave a comment on my Eescape post. (let me know when you’ve done this)

Please note comments are moderated so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear right away! This giveaway closes on Friday, June 5, 2015 at 10 p.m. I will randomly choose three winners based on the entries after the contest closes.

* UPDATE (Sunday, June 7, 2015) *

Congratulations to Alouise, Ashelyn, and Cindy – who have each won a pair of passes to try Eescape! Thank you to everyone who entered!! Please go give it a try anyway :)

Follow lindork on Instagram

Linda

26 Comments

  • Lisa says:

    I’m planning on taking our Council down for a team-building activity in June – it sounds perfect for that!

  • Cindy says:

    I want to try Eescape Live Action Escape Game because I need to do something other than eat food all the time. ;)

    Retweeted, followed all on Twitter & Facebook! Thanks Linda!

  • Because I like solving puzzles! I also followed both twitter accounts and fb.

  • Carley Graham says:

    I would LOVE to try EEscape! I love the concept and have been following them on facebook. The rooms look tricky!

  • Carley Graham says:

    Follow @info_eescape on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this) – DONE!
    Follow @lindork on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this) – DONE!
    Like Eescape – Live Action Escape Game on Facebook (let me know you’ve done this) – DONE!
    Like my Facebook Page – Lindork (Linda Hoang) and leave a comment on my Eescape post. (let me know when you’ve done this) – DONE!

  • Miranda says:

    I think it would be a fun datenight. I follow on Twitter and Facebook

  • Honey Pell says:

    I would love to try EEscape Live Action Escape Game as an exciting and unique date night with my husband! This would give us the chance to use our parental deductive and reasoning skills on something other than trying to figure out who drank all of the milk and left the empty carton in the fridge. (Spoiler alert – it was our son! Who knew?).

  • Candice says:

    Thank you so much Linda for sharing your experience at EEscape!

  • Sarah Fung says:

    I’ve tried BreakOut twice and had a lot of fun. I want to see how Eescape Live Action Escape Game compares!

  • Diane says:

    I think this would be a fun thing to do to figure out which of my friends I want with me in case of a zombie apocalypse (aka who is good at thinking on their feet!). ;p

    I completed all the other entries.

  • Alia says:

    I have always thought of myself as aomewhat of an ameture spy. It would be fun to try out my skills and slither through the experience!

  • Alia says:

    Also I have done all of the extras for bonus entries! Fun!!!

  • Yolanda says:

    I went to Breakout for my birthday and loved it! We failed horribly, but it was still tons of fun. Would love to give Eescape a try!

  • Lily says:

    I’ve tried Breakout and would love to try this new place!

    Also, done all but the fb entries!

  • I love this idea! It’s definitely something new & fun to do on a night out. I hope I win!

  • Karen says:

    I enjoy trying new things. This would be a fun experience.

  • Ashelyn says:

    I want to try Eescape because I’ve been obsessed with escape rooms since BreakOut opened! They remind me of the Nancy Drew and Mary-Kate & Ashley mystery books I used to read – it’s like living them!! Plus I really want to challenge the hardest game, National Security, since so few people have made it through so far – I want to see if I’ve got what it takes!

    I’ve also followed and liked Eescape on FB and Twitter and I’ve followed you on Twitter! :)

  • Vincent says:

    My friends and I are planning for a double date, this would be perfect!

    Done! – Tweet this exact sentence: I’m excited to try @info_eescape live action escape game! Enter @lindork’s giveaway: http://bit.ly/1ArqxvA #yeg
    Done! – Follow @info_eescape on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this)
    Done! – Follow @lindork on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this)
    Done! – Like Eescape – Live Action Escape Game on Facebook (let me know you’ve done this)
    Done & Done! – Like my Facebook Page – Lindork (Linda Hoang) and leave a comment on my Eescape post. (let me know when you’ve done this)

    Thank you and good luck everyone!

  • Linda says:

    I want to try the Eescape Live Action Escape Game because from what you described, the Hostage room sounds challenging but fun. And being blind folded before going in is a great idea to set the mood before the game!

  • Amanda porter says:

    Thank you for the comparison. I randomly found out about live entertainment rooms on facebook. From what I read I’d actually be able to do this. I have a back injury so there isn’t a lot I can actually do. A friend and I are starting a mom’s night out group cause child rearing takes a lot out of us (lol). Thank you for offering these tickets up.

  • My older brother and I no matter what the context, are always in competition, he texted me saying he succeeded in escaping a room. I want to try Eescape not only to successfully breakout, but also beat him time.

    Tweet this exact sentence: – DONE
    Follow @info_eescape on Twitter ) – DONE
    Follow @lindork on Twitter -DONE
    Like Eescape – Live Action Escape Game on Facebook -DONE
    Like my Facebook Page – Lindork (Linda Hoang) and leave a comment on my Eescape post. -DONE

  • Alouise says:

    This looks like so much fun. I’d love to do an EEscape game (my vote would be for the back to the future one) with my friends for my birthday in July. It’s something different than the typical dinner and a movie we tend to gravitate toward.

    Follow @info_eescape on Twitter (Done)
    Follow @lindork on Twitter (lDone)
    Like Eescape – Live Action Escape Game on Facebook (Done)
    Like my Facebook Page – Lindork (Linda Hoang) and leave a comment on my Eescape post. (Done)

  • I was addicted to BreakOut when it opened (so fun…but my sister questioned that I did this kind of thing for fun…I guess it’s not for everyone!), and I would love to try Eescape to compare the two!

  • Also, I just completed all the other Facebook and Twitter entries. Cheers!

  • I want to try Eescape Live Action Escape Game because I am determined to know the feeling of successfully breaking out! I think it would make for a fun date night too.

    Done! – Tweet this exact sentence: I’m excited to try @info_eescape live action escape game! Enter @lindork’s giveaway: http://bit.ly/1ArqxvA #yeg
    Done! – Follow @info_eescape on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this)
    Done! – Follow @lindork on Twitter (let me know you’ve done this)
    Done! – Like Eescape – Live Action Escape Game on Facebook (let me know you’ve done this)
    Done! – Like my Facebook Page – Lindork (Linda Hoang) and leave a comment on my Eescape post. (let me know when you’ve done this)

  • David says:

    This is a *great* recap. I’ve been trying to stay on top of all the new rooms opening in Edmonton – 12 as of today with 2 more I haven’t been able to uncover yet. Anyone know who the missing ‘stragglers’ are? http://canadaescaperooms.ca/listings/location/edmonton/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

If you're Edmonton area, subscribe to my newsletter for hyperlocal recommendations on what to do, eat, and things to know this week!
If you're Edmonton area, subscribe to my FREE newsletter for hyperlocal recommendations on what to do, eat, things to know this week, and more!