SmartyPantz

This. Place. Is. So. Much. Fun. Such a fun alternate activity to many things in this city — and I’m not typically the type of person that likes puzzles. We’ve tried submarine room and the murder one, and have gotten so close but no cigar. My favorite thing is picking who I think to be the smartest people in my group of friends (he he) and see if we can figure out those things. It really gives you a great idea as to who is good at what, which is another great way to get to know your friends.
The rooms are very creative, and the actors stay in character very well. I don’t want to give anything away, but they’re all so creative and geeky, it’s definitely a mind challenge to try with friends of family. I was, however, very frustrated the last time we lost: P Words of advice — don’t waste your time on one task, you only have 45 minutes to figure it out — really think outside the box!

Pretty radical escape room. Top notch staff, classy rooms with high quality set up, challenging puzzles and great variety to bring you back for more!
First off– KNOW THE PASSWORD.
Secondly, the waiting area is so cool. You are taken out of the present and transported into a room that could be described as a cool mix of science world, hair salon and adult play pen.
Then based on the escape room you choose, a staff comes into character to help guide you to your escape room.
Inside the escape room (I tired spies and lies) they give you 45 minutes to figure out all the puzzles. You can radio out for only max 2 clues, otherwise the rest is up to you and your brains.
Great fun, I want to go back and try alllll the rooms because I had fun trying to get out. Ahhh! Even you may need to stay in character :0)

We went to SmartyPantz spontaneously with 3 other friends as we all wanted to try out an Escape Room! Our experience was AMAZING. We waiting for about ten min (because WE were early) in the waiting room and they have lots of little games and such, like Jenga! So that was fun. The staff was friendly and welcoming. We picked the Murder room and it was simply a blast. The leader of the escape room, she called herself «beetle» was AWESOME. She was soooooo fun, so energetic, she stayed in «character» and just made the experience so fun! The Escape Room was really cool, the props and everything were so detailed and very realistic. The escape was really fun. Really interactive and just a really cool experience. I thought it would be really scary but it wasn’t. It was just fun and cool! We are definitely going to go back again. ¹⁰⁄₁₀!

I went here over the weekend with some coworkers for a holiday outing. I had quite high expectations because I’ve been wanting to try an escape room for a long time and I was super excited.
We did «Morning Never Comes» because it was listed on the website as being one of the easiest, but one of the scarier rooms. The theme is a paranormal investigation. Our hostess (she has a great name but I’ll call her R.G. for the purposes of secrecy) was just great; she did such a good job of introducing the story and game to us and she was right in character the whole time.
The room itself was beautifully set up; ours was supposed to be a room in an old abandoned house and it was perfectly done, including dust and cobwebs. Excellent job on that, guys.
We solved the game in about 30 mins.; this room has about a 50% solve rate so we felt pretty happy with that! We only used 1 hint but actually didn’t really need to use it if we had thought a little harder about one of the pieces of information we discovered. I don’t think any of us thought that it was too easy (we were definitely stumped for a while at several points) but we would certainly like to try a harder one next time. And we’ll be back for sure since we all had a whole bunch of fun.
Really the only reason that I haven’t given SmartyPantz a 5 star rating is that, since the website says that this particular room «ranks higher on the scare factor», we were expecting to experience a few scares or jumps along the way. This didn’t happen at all, so I guess it’s just the story and setting that are supposed to be frightening. During her introduction our hostess mentioned that the ghost «might do» this or that. We all thought that if there could be a few actual jump scares like if a book or two suddenly fell off the shelf, or there was a mysterious loud bang, or the lights flicked right off for a few seconds, that would have enhanced the scary atmosphere.
Overall I would highly recommend SmartyPantz as a super fun experience for a group, and well worth the money, especially if you’re into puzzle solving and like to use your brain to figure things out.

«Dream Room, more like Boredom Room!»
1 of 5 stars Pending review
We had a birthday party for 8 – 10 people and were trying to book a room, we exceeded the capacity for morning never comes and so they suggested we do Dream Room instead of booking 2 seperate rooms.
I’ve done 2 escape rooms before at different companies and had a blast. This Dream room there was 9 of us my cousin is going to be a doctor no lie so we couldn’t all be that daft. And couldn’t barely figure out the clues. That would’ve been better if all the lights weren’t on so brightly and no music at all. We just came from dinner and drinks and wanted to have fun.
This room took the funometer from 10 – 2 really fast.
I called and voiced my concern and they didn’t offer for us to try a different room sorry about that nothing…
They really should have a questionairre or staff should ask what kind of room are you seeking, fun exciting, or hard challenging questions…
Very disappointing feel like we could’ve done something else or different rooms!
Visited December 2015

We came here for a team bonding experience and had a blast. I along with 7 other colleagues challenged a room with a sleep/​dream theme and unfortunately we weren’t able to escape.
Some of the puzzles were really easy and we solved it within a few minutes but other puzzled us for the entire 45 minutes. We solved 5 out of 6 puzzles and were so close with the last one that at the last minute we were scrambling because we suddenly caught on to a clue. At least we didn’t feel so bad since the room we were in accommodates 16 people and we only had half the capacity.
This was a really fun experience and I’d definitely come back again.

Awesome experience. Went in with a group of 7 people and we did the Thirst for Murder room. The cast was all in character and the guy who walked us into the room had a beautiful moment with my friends sideburns. The room itself was a lot of fun, we’ve done the Spies and Lies room before, but weren’t able to finish, luckily this one was a success, probably because we had more people. The clues were smartly laid out, and nothing required ridiculous leaps of logic to achieve.
The staff was super nice, and all seem to enjoy themselves. Will definitely be going again,

Last week we had our staff event at SmartyPantz and it was a total blast. There were 7 of us and we choose the Morning Never Comes room, the theme of which is a paranormal investigation in Victorian times, and we had 45 mins to solve the mystery to escape the room. There was a staff person dressed in character that gave us the story of the mystery and told us that we could have 2 clues via walkie-​talkie whenever we needed a little help, and then locked the room. We also had to lock our cellphones into a drawer in the room before starting, so no cheating or taking pics inside of the rooms.
We then all did a mad dash looking through all the items in the room for clues as to how to start off, which once we found the first key things went relatively straightforward from there in that most next steps were a logical progression. We did use the clues at around the 15 min and 30 min mark, as we were kind of floundering at these points, so a good tip for people is to make sure to access the clues early enough that you don’t waste a bunch of time. We were able to solve the mystery just under 40 mins, but this is also the easiest room available. Fair warning, apparently the hardest room Doomed Submarine has a 7% solve rate according to our guide, so maybe it’s less fun if you can’t find anything and are just frustrated.
Everyone really got into it and was having a great time and it was an excellent team building exercise, as people really need to work together well to solve the clues. I’ve been planning staff events for years, and I have to say that this was by far one of the best and also conveniently located downtown (near Abbott and Cordova). It was also not really physically challenging (just mentally), so most people could manage it.
Since our group was small it was an ideal event, I think 7 – 8 people per room is probably the max, but they also have a larger room that can accommodate up to 20. They said that they have had larger companies rent out all the rooms and the do a challenge in smaller groups, assigning points per room based on difficulty. The cost is $ 25 per person, which I thought was more than fair considering how cool the rooms look and the well thought out puzzles to solve. The only downside if that 45 mins goes really fast. Also the booking process was super easy and they emailed all the info and receipts promptly, great service overall.

We came in as a walk-​in shortly before closing on a Monday and were treated very well. This was our first escape room experience, so I guess I can’t really compare, but we had a great time. At $ 25 a person, why not? Although, I realize, if you do finish too early it might feel like a gyp. We chose the easiest room and made it out using one hint when we panicked that we were running out of time. The host stayed delightfully in character and the whole thing was a fun activity and we would go back in a heartbeat. Also, they offer deals where if you bring in a receipt from a video arcade bar nearby you get a discount, or if you bring them your receipt from here you get a discount, which is cool. Wish we had known before we had dinner!
Try this place out if you get the chance!

This was a great experience! I went here today with a group of 4 others for my brother’s birthday. None of us had ever done an escape room before so we read up ahead on success rates and decided not to try one of the hardest ones. We chose Morning Never Comes. This was a really great room — the story was that a woman had been decapitated by her husband and her body was never found, and we had to solve the mystery. The décor was old and creepy. Our host was awesome and in character the whole time. He started off by telling us the rules, then telling us the background story for our room and our mission to escape. Then he left us in the room to figure it out.
It was interesting figuring out where to start and how to proceed. It was a very good activity for someone like me who is quite Type A and likes structure, because we didn’t have a list of instructions to follow once the host left the room — it was just open to exploration. It forced me to think a bit differently than usual and it was totally fun and novel! We found a hint and started followed it, and one clue led to the next and the next. There were a few different clues that we solved along the way to solving the whole mission and each mini solution was a little mini victory that kept us excited to keep going.
You are allowed 2 clues from your host over the course of your mission, and they are watching your progress on video so they know what you’ve figured out and what you’re doing. We got exactly the right clues at exactly the right times when we requested them, so our host was obviously paying good attention to us. And we were able to solve it! (Although I think he gave us about 3 extra minutes because we were so close to finishing — so technically we did not solve it within the allotted time frame.)
We also found a couple of red herring clues that totally threw us off, but in a fun way. This was a great experience and I would love to go back and try another room next time!1

I was looking for an activity to do for my birthday and an escape room was suggested to me. I had done a quick google search and stumbled upon Smart Pantz. I thought it would be a great activity to do before our dinner reservation. I was VERY impressed by the service I received prior to booking. I had a lot of questions since this was my first time doing an escape room and I was also organizing this for 7 other people. Cody was great, able to answer all of my questions to my satisfaction and and very prompt with his responses.
With Cody’s guidance I chose to do Dreamscape. This room is great for a large group. The puzzles engage everyone in your group. I had a lot of beginners in my group so you may want to book this room if you have about 10 – 12 people instead of the min. 8. I felt like we could have used a few extra brains.
I’ve never done an escape room before but after talking with other people Smarty Pantz is one of the better ones around.
The only negative thing was that we didn’t escape the room :(LOL but that only motivates us to do another one!
Oh and a tip is if you go within 7 days of your birthday you are free!

We did the Doomed Submarine room in July and won it.
Theme– storyline was straightforward and made sense. All activities are consistent with the theme.
Production quality– Really great. It was very realistic and nothing broke immersion.
Puzzles– no lockboxes. Every puzzle logically followed the theme and made sense, better than any other room, and on the same level as Guess HQ. A couple of quibbles: 1) there was a mechanical issue with one of the final puzzles. We did the same thing over and over for almost 10 minutes, and finally called in for a hint and it turns out we were doing it correctly, but it wasn’t properly registering. 2) The puzzles were a good challenge level, but it felt like there were too few. Having a some more small puzzles to ‘win’ keeps some momentum and makes it more fun.
Staff– pretty friendly and helpful. Staff that introduced the room were in character the whole time, including when giving hints.
Pricing– Standard $ 25 per person for 45 minutes.
This one was hard for me to rate, in ways. I can’t fault the theme and logical approach and puzzle level, but the lack of frequent ‘yay! we solved it!’ moments made it less fun than some more poorly designed rooms.
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

Escape the room type of entertainment, with 5 very different scenarios to choose from… and I’m sure they are looking to update and add to them as well.
This is a a great family activity when in in town, extremely close to the cruise ship stops and right in Gastown.
My family of 4 (the parents were newbies to this type of thing) walked-​in on a Monday and 3 rooms were available. Online reservations are also easy to do. A giant group came in after we finished so it looks to be a pretty happening place.
15min prep /​safety time, where numerous brain puzzles kept us aptly entertained. 45min was given to escape. On the shorter side, but I feel it was appropriate for the complexity of the puzzles.
We decided to tackle the submarine room. I think more than 4 people would feel cramped. We very much appreciated the A/​C and the hint system (rather than having someone in the room babysitting us).
Supposedly the hardest, but my dad insisted that since our family was 75% engineers we should be fine. We did not escape. We became a statistic. Unfortunate.
Don’t want to give away too much, but I would have enjoyed more smaller puzzles rather than a few big puzzles. More smaller wins for more encouragement.
If I lived closer, I’d look to buy a package deals (eg buy 2 get 1 free) because I can definitely see the potential in more fun adventures!

Maybe I’m biased as this is my first physical escape room experience (other the online browser ones), but wow, what a thrill.
Parking is pretty awful around here. Best bet is to take SkyTrain and walk the few blocks over, or park a few blocks away.
There is a nice (1900s) themed waiting room where one can keep oneself entertained with things like Jenga, or small mechanical puzzles. Waivers have to be signed, as the experience can get a little too real for some. More on this later.
The room we tried today was Thirst for Murder. Our hostess was a giggle «master’s helper», who told us we would only have 45 minutes to escape a dungeon-​like autopsy room before we would all be chopped up. Without giving away too much, wow, this was freaky. The severe lack of lighting (a flashlight is obtained as part of the puzzle) definitely made things a lot more intense. Even though we didn’t all know each other, the thought of the timer really got my heart rate going, and kept the participants collaborating. They also gave us a walky talky where we were allowed to receive 2 hints from the helper. This proved to be helpful when we were on the right track but were slightly in the wrong direction.
Everything was almost flawless other than a slight glitch in one of their systems which allowed us to accidentally bypass part of a step. With that said, we managed to escape with only some 7 minutes left. Phew!
That was quite the experience. I will definitely be back to try another of these rooms. Larger groups are recommended (at least 4 people) as people can work in the different puzzles simultaneously. I don’t think I would’ve escaped within the time limit if working alone.
Highly recommended.

Unilocal brought a group of us here to try various rooms. Each team got to try one of the six specialty rooms.
This was SooooooFun I wish I could have tried more rooms. What a supremely UnilocalY team effort to solve the puzzle of our room — très tricky.
This was my first experience of an escape room game. I could see going back for sure to give other rooms a whirl. We were allotted 45 min to escape ‘solve’ the room’s puzzle. The clues were almost entirely missed by me so VERY glad for the team effort. We held off on asking for 1of2 allowed clues but in the end seemed to need a fair bit of help as we were kinda misdirected by a clue.
I liked the puzzles of the waiting area setting the mood and the road trip to a cocktail prize at CLOUGH CLUB was at one of the many drink choices on the same block.
My group was so passionate about solving the puzzle it was a real wowsa experience.

Never tried one of these before, but it was a good and frantic experience.
Something really nice is the in-​character «briefing» you get as an introduction to the room, giving you backstory and context. It is best if you can get into that spirit. Unfortunately there isn’t enough time to fully role-​play your whole room experience in character, but it helps set the mood from the get-​go.
As for the puzzles, they seem straightforward after it’s solved of course but with the time limit you do have to work at them.
The hardest part is probably just getting a lead on the very first one because each step leads you toward the next one.
TIPS: Don’t jam too many people in one room. Coordination gets harder and you waste time on that. They recommend 4 persons minimum, and for their smallish rooms this is a good number.
Besides, if you are 8 persons (for example), for the same price you can split into two teams to do two rooms instead of just one.
The particular haunted-​house /​ghost hunter room we were in also had good use of lighting to further set the ambiance, and when you have too many people, that sort of ruins the spooky fun. So keep your teams small!
The current price is $ 25 per person per room experience, which isn’t bad considering their overhead and the number of persons involved and the clean-​up they have to do afterwards to reset the room.

I have to say I didn’t know what to expect from this experience but was really impressed!
Everything from staff to the décor of the room was impeccable and made you feel like you really had travelled in time. Our in-​character guide did a really good job portraying a ghost hunter and made us feel like we were really in the presence of one!
The challenges in the room were challenging, tested our team work and how quickly we could think while under time pressure!
Overall I had a great experience and look forward to trying out more rooms.

I tried this yesterday with Ed L and 8 others who were strangers. I hadn’t done any «escape room”-like puzzle like this since Myst in the 90’s. Our room «guide» was in character the whole time, a slightly hysterical girl who’s trying to escape her servitude under a crazy cannibal professor. The room was challenging and well-​designed, although there was a tiny mechanical glitch (as we later found out) that led to us skipping a step in solving it. We exited the room with 7 minutes left, thoroughly satisfied! The 2 clues provided by our guide were spot on… just a tip for others entering the rooms, if you ask for a clue, make sure you tell the guide exactly what parts of the puzzle you’ve already solved, then make the question to them really clear.
Just a warning to some, if you are claustrophobic, deathly afraid of the dark, or basically can’t tolerate haunted house-​like props, this experience may not be for you! Although you can exit the room anytime, once you exit they don’t allow re-​entry.
Overall, I’d do it again!

[Get Smart]
Smarty Pantz is the newest (downtown) addition to the escape game craze that has overtaken the lower mainland. While the majority of them are located in Richmond, Smarty Pantz occupies the the second floor of a rustic low-​rise in Gastown next to the Woodwards building.
Our eager group of sleuths set out to complete the Spies and Lies room. You’re a team of Nazi-​hunting investigators in a post-​war era. We were given a rather theatrical monologue by an employee (dressed the part) setting the stage before leaving us to our 45-​minute espionage mission. The room itself was intricately decorated and it really made me feel as if I had just stepped back in time.
This particular puzzle room was one of their easier ones and we were able to solve it with moments to spare. There were two things that could’ve improved the experience. First, there was no timer in the room. We had no idea how we were doing for time and would’ve helped manage when and if we were to use our hints. Second, we had to put everything back where we found them. It made sense as part of this theme but the last 5 minutes were spent cleaning up versus solving puzzles.
Spies and Lies can accomodate upto 8 players though personally, that’s too many cooks in the kitchen. (We were allowed 9 as part of a Unilocal-​sponsored event). Despite this, we had a blast.
So how does it stack up to the competition? Décor-​wise, its top 3. They do a great job of setting the tone with people in character — it felt authentic. The puzzles themselves are straight forward and formulaic but still fun to solve. At $ 25 per person, it’s also one of the priciest. All things considered, I’d say it doesn’t quite make it into my top 5.
The euphoria of working as a team to solve puzzles is addictive — even if you don’t end up escaping the room. If you still haven’t tried it yet, do it. Do it now.

I was in the submarine room, it was pretty hard! Good luck to the next group. We were soo close though it was killing me! argghhh
I wasn’t sure about this at first, it seems so simple and stupid, but it’s really a lot of fun and totally takes you’re mind off anything you were thinking about.
You have to escape the room, but really the rooms are an escape.
The more people the better though! These puzzles are hard.
I would have stayed all night if I could have :)