Casa Loma Escape |
vs. |
Great Escape |
| Patrick Keenan, Tina Santiago Keenan, Courtney Gray and Michael Keenan (pictured); 2012 | The team; year established: |
Co-founder Simon Chiang and senior associate Claire Lee (pictured); 2014 |
| Patrick and Tina played an escape game in Singapore on their honeymoon and decided they wanted to bring this type of immersive experience to North America. | Why did you decide to open an escape game? | There was a place called Escape It in Toronto, and a bunch of us went to it. After we played, we felt like we could probably do this and make it better. So it was spawned from there. |
| We’ve had the mysterious room, the time travel lab, the bank and escape from the tower, which just opened in Casa Loma. | What escape rooms do you offer? | We have the wonders, the woodshop, the dollhouse and the museum. Each one has its own back story and level of difficulty. |
| Three to six per cent for most games and 10 to 20 per cent at Casa Loma. The fastest time was 42 minutes out of 60 in the time travel lab. | Success rate?​ | For the easiest room it starts at 42 per cent and goes down to 2.5 per cent for the hardest. Our fastest time in the woodshop was 17 minutes. |
| Our tickets range from $25 to $36 per person, and go up to $42 for prime time at Casa Loma. | Price? | It’s $20 per person regularly or $15 if you mention us on social media. |
| Lack of communication. If they don’t tell each other what they’ve found or what they’ve solved, they fail. They have to talk to each other. | What’s the most common mistake you see teams making? | More people is not a good thing. There tends to be more opinions that circulate, which takes up more time and increases the level of difficulty. |
| Go with an open mind. If you give yourself up to it, it will be really rewarding and fun. Let immersion take you and be a part of the experience. | What’s your advice for getting out of the room?​ | Split up into pairs to tackle the puzzles. Make sure to look around carefully because it’s a mix of scavenger hunting and problem solving. |
| 1 Austin Terrace Blvd., 416-923-1171 |
5291A Yonge St., 647-342-1627 |
