EXIT West Broadway

I’ve been to quite a few escape rooms around the lower mainland, and recently tried EXIT for the first time. My experience was good overall.
The service and staff were pleasant and helpful. At the end of our 45 minutes, we had asked if we could extend our time if no one was after us. We were given the option to purchase another 45 minute time block, or just continue for 15 minutes for free. We opted for the latter and it was great!
We did the Circus-​themed escape room. I found the clues and locks to have decent variety. It was not a particularly «scary» escape room (although it felt like it was supposed to be?), but there was good variety in the clues and use of space. The décor and props were fine — they definitely weren’t at the SmartyPantz level, but good enough to get the job done.
I would go back here!

My group tried the Transylvania room, and there was plenty to like about the experience. Several of the puzzles posed just the right level of challenge. Additionally, some of the locks required you to do something unconventional to open them (i.e., more than just entering a combination or inserting a key), so the inventiveness occasionally impressed us. The staff members were also professional and helpful.
That said, there were a few things that weren’t so great. My group of four received two lanterns to navigate the otherwise entirely dark series of rooms, which somewhat annoyingly constrained our ability to explore our surroundings. Moreover, a few of the puzzles just didn’t seem like they could be solved without a hint – partly because of the leaps of logic they required us to make, and partly because the physical construction needed improvement. But hey, too hard is better than too easy.
Overall, there are worse ways to spend $ 25. I’d totally come back for another go in the future.

The first escape rooms I ever tried were at the E-​Exit location in Richmond. I’ve since been to to a number of other escape rooms around the Lower Mainland, Toronto, and Edmonton, though I still hold a bit of a soft spot for E-​Exit so I was curious to try the rooms at the new Broadway location. My friends and I tried the Transylvania-​themed room. They wear their 1% success rate with pride, so it’s hard to fault them for being too hard, but I found the «a-​ha!» moments few and far between. It felt nearly unsolvable without liberal use of hints. In our final few minutes, we burst into a new room and gazed in awe at all the new puzzles, though of course ran out of time. They have a system in place where we can pick off where we left off within 2 weeks at 50% admission and another 45 minutes & two hints. So we came back for a second attempt, though struggled nearly as badly the second time. The leaps in logic for some puzzles seemed a bit far-​fetched and even with the hints, we often needed to be explicitly told what to do. So through a combined 90 minutes and 4 hints, we barely made it to the last puzzle. We were on the right track for what we needed to do, but though we missed some details and in the final minutes, tried brute force guessing the final code. I think they opened the last door for us out of pity, a hollow victory.
I think my dis-​satisfaction this time around was after having had such a great experience last weekend at a different company’s escape room, where it was challenging but we weren’t hitting a brick wall every few minutes. Also, the other place was completely well-​lit, instead of having your team fumbling around in the dark with more people than lanterns. Having dealt with this situation at two other E-​Exit rooms, it feels like lantern management detracts from the puzzle-​solving, adding an artificial layer of challenge. It was novel at first, but I think I’m over dark escape rooms.
All that said, there were a few clever puzzles that stood out. The staff there are friendly and the set decoration seemed an improvement over the Richmond location (from when they first opened a few years ago). I feel it’s important to have a variety of themes and difficulties across all across all the city’s escape rooms, so I’m definitely willing to give one of their other rooms a shot (maybe the «easiest» one).

Last Friday, perplexed by the recurrent question, «what are we doing tonight?» popping up in group chats, a couple of friends and I decided to try the room escape at Exit-​West Broadway.
If you’re not familiar, it consists of real-​life play-​Sherlock-​Holmes puzzles in order to escape rooms set up in different themes. Typically, you find a clue, that leads to another, and another, until you’ve discovered some sort of key (figurative or literal) to exit the room, all within a 45-​minute time limit. Sound difficult? Actually, it’s a fun challenge and there’s no need for any specific knowledge; all you really need is a curious mind.
On Friday night, very impromptu, we got a room escape after checking online availabilities. (Highly recommended so you won’t have to wait around for another group to finish.) The staff were friendly and professional about explaining the rules. You’re given two hints to use anytime throughout the game. Bathroom breaks are also allowed but it’ll just eat into your time.
We were given two tube flashlights, fit for the theme of looking around, solving this man’s illusion. The props and décor were relevant but seemed a bit on the sparse side. That said, it made sense to keep it uncluttered as it allows up to six adults in one group to move about and look for clues. Game play at West Broadway was relatively linear but I really appreciated the build-​up of the difficulty of the game. The first clues were relatively easy to find. Then, necessary thinking skills ramped up to get to the next steps.
Ultimately, our group came close, getting 80% of the way through the game. Nevertheless, solving the problems gives you a deep sense of accomplishment. (The success kid meme pops into mind.)
At Exit West Broadway, the price was 25/​person. With a check-​in on Unilocal,you can get a 20% discount. For a night out with friends for a bit of fun that’s not the usual ol’ movie and popcorn or drinks at a bar, it’s an engaging option for a social outing – if you feel up to it.

[Psychedelic Saturday]
E-Exit’s original location on Garden city is one of my favorite room escapes in the city so I had high expectations for Exit’s new location on West Broadway. We had our choice of themes and opted for the «Illusions» room as it was the least frightening for the 2 scaredy-​cats in our group. (Side note: none of these room escape games involves anything jumping or popping out at you — it’s only the eerie music and dark room).
Illusions puts you in the role of a Spy who’s been captured and drugged with some sort of hallucinogen. (Sweet!) They do a good job setting the stage and leaving you with 45 minutes armed with a pair of hints. The puzzles were fun to solve but are a tad formulaic and lock-​heavy — not unexpected since this is my 18^th or so room escape. A few of the first few puzzles were a little too simple and somewhat unsatisfying but the later ones were good. This was the «easiest» game of the bunch but we got stuck on the final door after wasting our final hint on a massive yet simple blunder. The room décor was quite creative and fit the theme well though I’d thought being drugged would result in seeing bright rainbow-​like colors and unicorns versus dimmer surroundings.
The staff here are accommodating and friendly. One of our teammates has a tardiness problem and was allowed to join us halfway through. Since we were the last group of the evening, they also allowed us a few extra minutes to solve the room while they cleaned up outside. Bonus!
The Illusions room is a great intro to room-​escape games and I’d recommend it to anyone. Exit Broadway has a lot of potential but it doesn’t quite have the wow-​factor that I’m starting to see in some of the newer lock-​shops. As of right now, this place sits in my top 10.

Just got home from our first ever «escape room» experience and I think my husband and I are hooked!
We were able to walk-​in and get into the «Circus Room» right away — probably not typical for a Saturday night but the power was out all over the city due to stormy weather and Exit’s online booking system was down which worked in our favour.
The staff were all super friendly and helpful! Thank you Geordie and Jan (hope I got that right) and the nice girl whose name I didn’t catch! You are all awesome people and it shows! Since it was our first time we had lots of questions and they answered them all for us before the game started and were very helpful with the «hints» while we were solving clues.
No — we didn’t escape the room (it’s our first time!) but we had a lot of fun and will definitely take advantage of the checkpoint deal where you can return for half price and start from where your game left off.

Went the other night with my husband and his family and we had an absolute blast! It was all of our first experiences with an Escape room.
The staff were friendly and helpful, Geordie did a great job explaining the rules as well as the back story for «Butcher Shop». We were told that was their most difficult one at the Broadway location, another friend had recommended it. While the intro seemed rushed the a bit we were fine with it because we wanted to get to into the room and get started. The puzzles were all lockbox style and while difficult they were certainly achievable. When we took our hints, we tended to be on the right track but just missing something little.
Don’t expect to finish the escape in the 45 minutes given. Because of this they have a check-​point feature which allows you play on (immediately or within the next two weeks) for half price. Bit of a cash grab but also a great feature if you want to keep playing.
We are already planning our next trip back!

This place was so much fun! I brought my little sister here for her birthday (she’s 14) and she loved it as well (she got a free admission because it was her birthday!). We actually went twice in one day because there was a deal that we could begin the same place we left off the first time and receive 50% off the second time around (my sister didn’t have to pay for her second time as well).
We chose the ‘Illusion’ room and there are several rooms; each requiring a key pass to unlock after solving the puzzles in the room. The puzzles were a bit over the top in my opinion and nearly impossible to get (hence the 1% success rate!) but the brainstorming process was still super interesting and fun for us. The room’s décor was pretty awesome and interesting to look at as well.
The people working there were super friendly and helpful. The cost per person in my opinion regularly is a bit high, $ 25 per person, but it is a fun experience so it depends how much you would like to spend.

We did the Transylvania room in July as our first escape room. Of the 5 facilities I’ve done, this is the only one I definitely would not return to or recommend. The others may appeal to one type of person or another, but this one did not do anything well.
Theme– The website says you’re on vacation and wake up in a mysterious place. The pre-​game speech said we were Dracula’s friend trying to solve a mystery. We were confused, but it turns out it didn’t matter since the story and theme have nothing to do with the puzzles anyways.
Production quality– Pretty solid, probably helped by the fact that it’s windowless pitch black with 2 LED lanterns. Some cool props, and generally nice looking and solid.
Puzzles– Almost exclusively lockboxes. We hated these puzzles. Some made no sense whatsoever. Challenging is fine, but these were ridiculous. Even when the puzzles were explained, they still made no sense. It felt like they were just set up so that you’d have to return to finish, given only 2 hints per session.
Staff– Mixed bag. Some were very friendly and helpful. One time when we asked for a hint and showed the staff member where we were on a puzzle she looked at the chart we were working on, tried to puzzle it out, then said– Oh, you should just try every combo on the lock. Because SHE couldn’t figure out the puzzle.
Pricing– the standard $ 25 per person for 45 minutes. If you don’t finish a room they give you a checkpoint then if you return in 2 weeks with the same group you can start from your checkpoint with 2 new hints for ½ price. We thought this was a cool option, until we did the room and realised this pricing structure meant that they designed the puzzles to require a return trip. They told us success rate for first timers for the room was less than 1%. We got to the last room on our first try and finished it 15 – 20 minutes on a return trip, making us feel like the room was rigged that way.
Rankings for the rooms we’ve done so far:
Overall experience/​fun:
1. Guess HQ
2. Lockdown Richmond
3. Locked Canada Kingsway
4. Smartypantz Gastown
5. Exit Canada Broadway
Theme/​Production Quality
1. Guess HQ (by a landslide)
2. Lockdown Richmond
3. Smartypantz Gastown
4. Exit Canada Broadway
5. Locked Canada Kingsway
Puzzle Quality:
1. Locked Canada Kingsway (all lockboxes, but fun level/​type of challenge, at least for our group)
2. Guess HQ
3. Smartypantz Gastown
4. Lockdown Richmond
5. Exit Canada Broadway

They must have really upped their game in the past month, because Exit is one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had in quite a while. When you walk into the waiting room there are couches to sit upon and a large TV screen that plays scary-​looking trailers of the rooms you’re planning on going into. The whole place is painted black with neon green bits running through, and the staff is friendly and patient. Our friend was running late, and they gave us about 10 minutes to wait, even though we would start later than our expected time. It didn’t cut into our playing time either– we still had 45 minutes.
The six of us picked Illusions, which is one of the ‘easiest’ rooms to crack. The lady explaining the rules was funny and extremely informative, giving us two HINT boards to use in case we needed help. She answered all of our questions with ease and locked up our belongings in secure cases before bringing us towards the room, which was hidden behind an inconspicuous black door.
There is a large clock on the wall to let you know how much time you have left, and we began in a pitch-​black room with only our flashlights to guide us. The music is terrifying– I think I wanted to pass out each time it reached a certain point in the melody. The clues were relatively hard to crack, or perhaps it was just because we tended to overthink? Anyway, we had to use our hints rather quickly in the game– one of the answers, however, was so simple that the lady gave us back our HINT board and said we could re-​use it later, which was very thoughtful of her.
We ended up failing, and they gave us funky props to take a photo with at the very end such as flower leis. They will post it on their facebook page later and will tape it on their ‘Wall of Shame’. There was a group waiting right after us to enter, so we had to scoot pretty quickly, but they were very patient with us as we scrambled to retrieve our bags.
I would definitely return to try out another room, but only if I had a discount– $ 25 is a rather steep price for an escape game. I have not played in other locations, but the staff was helpful and patient with well-​thought out puzzles, detailed props and mood-​enforcing music. (Bonus– the whole place smelled divine. The washrooms all had reed diffusers that wafted throughout the game centre!)

Let me start off by saying, I’m addicted to escape games. I’ve tried almost all the rooms in vancouver, and all the locations (my friends and I have also escaped from most of them). I’ve done them in Calgary, Edmonton, Las Vegas, and I’ll probably do them where ever I travel in the future.
I’ve tried some good and bad. Most all locations have good and bad. Unfortunately, there was only 2 good things about this location (on Broadway)
1) I could walk in, cause there were no bookings
2) they had peppermint patties and chocolates
Me and my friends went and did the hardest room. When we play we always start off with the hardest room and work backwards to the easiest.
The staff was not knowledgable from the very beginning, struggled to print our receipt. They struggled with the story — and by struggled, I mean this is what they said «the story will reveal itself as you play». I totally get it, but common, a little background would have been nice.
The room wasn’t set-​up properly from the get-​go. The first «puzzle» made NO sense whats so ever, and i’ve seen some pretty wayward puzzles before. And we spent more time receiving hints from confused employees than playing the game.
When we asked for our first hint this is what the employee said «I can’t remember how i explain this to the last group so it made sense.»
I understand they are relatively new, but your staff need to shadow the owners/​story creators more before they are unleashed if they want to be successful.
I will say there was one girl that was knowledgable and helped us, also gave us an extra 15mins because of their mix up with one of the clue boxes. She was fine, sad to say she wasn’t the person we dealt with the whole time.
Disappointed to hear that the Richmond location had set up everything for them, including puzzles. Makes me question the quality of the puzzles in their other franchise locations. It also makes me very wary to try their other franchise locations that are open/​opening.
Bottom line, I’m very disappointed and would NEVER book another appointment at E-​Exit broadway and i would DEF suggest other places to anyone that asked. This location would be in my bottom 2 for sure.