So, essentially, you pay people money to lock you in a room and not let you out. You would think that experience would be as expensive as committing a felony, but what can I say? People are finding all sorts of ways to get their kicks these days.

As an experienced player of games, lover of puzzles, and cousin of the creator, I was tasked with creating an alpha team of the best code breakers Cape Breton had to offer. I just went with people from my Dungeons and Dragons group because I'm lazy.

Alpha Team: Clayton "The Beard" D'Orsay, Mark "The Other Beard" Delaney, Jenna "No Beard" Lahey, and Rory "The Third Beard" Andrews

So codenames aren't my strong suit, okay. On a side note: beards are totally in! I didn't ask their permission to post this picture, because I didn't. Anyways, we were the first group to go through Cape Breton's new Escape Room last night, and here's what you and your team can look forward to.

SETTING

Picture may be a bit out of date.

You really couldn't ask for a better place to lock people in a basement. The Escape Room takes place on the bottom floor of what used to be a sizable convent, Holy Angels. Some of you might be saying "That place isn't creepy. I went to High School there!" Well, in response to that, here is where you ring the doorbell to begin your Escape Room experience.

Don't mind the creepy guy in the hood. He's just going to lock you in a room and make you feel like an idiot for an hour.

Once you enter, the metal screen door slams behind you as you question your life decisions. Paint peels off exposed piping, as you turn the corner to see this.

So this is where Steven Rolls murders me. Somehow, I always knew it was going to end this way...

As for pictures of the room, I'm not at liberty to share them. What I will say is that the setting successfully adds a lot to the experience, and is effectively tied into the narrative. And yes, there is a story. It's not just a sadistic stunt. Some of the more theatrical elements of the of Room were not yet in place, but Steven and Rob have planned a fully immersive experience for you and your team.

The Room

I stole this picture.

I've only done one Escape Room before this one, which by no means makes me an expert, but does make me 100% more experienced in Escape Rooms than the creators. For Rob and Steven, these two rooms were mostly an academic endeavor, where they cobbled together sparse resources on the internet to learn about, design, and build a compelling Escape Room, and they achieved it.

Before entering the room, the creators labeled us the Seal Team 6 of Escape Room teams, which immediately made the less arrogant members of my team (Jenna) uncomfortable. They informed us that they expected us to finish in around 30 minutes, and the room would have a total success rate of 60% - 70%. That's right folks. Just because you pay doesn't mean you win. It wouldn't be a challenge if people didn't lose. We actually defied our high expectations and finished the room in 35 minutes. Take that, High Expectations!

So at this point, 35 minutes is the time to beat for "Bad Habits are hard to Break", the first of two separate Escape Room experiences. As I don't want anyone to beat my time, here are some

Tips and Tricks on how to escape the room in over 35 minutes:

1. When you first enter the room, look for the coffee machine. There is always free coffee.
2. If you find the toilet, use it! It doesn't work.
3. If you come across a stack of books, make sure you read them cover to cover. If there is nothing of interest in the books, it's because life is meaningless, we're all going to die, and someday the last star will burn out, leaving the universe a barren void of eternal darkness.
4. If a solution to a puzzle isn't immediately apparent, quit, go home, and face the failure you see every morning as you look into the mirror.

Great. That should keep my team on top.

Before we entered the room, I had a strategy to write down all the puzzles and clues in order to connect the dots and keep track of what was solved and what wasn't. This lasted all of 30 seconds, at which point every member was effectively ransacking the room looking for things that stood out or looked out of place. In hindsight, no puzzle required a PhD to solve, but it was some of the most bonehead, obvious clues that we overlooked. At 20 minutes in, Clayton found one of the weirdest and most interesting clues of the whole experience, which was sitting in plain sight the entire time. It was an idiotic case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. This, unfortunately occurred more than once.

Other puzzles required a bit more of a cognitive leap, but I'll not spoil that for you.

As far as the Room goes, the puzzles were smart, diverse, and they cleverly tied into the narrative of the challenge. There were surprises, and always enough locks and mysteries to keep 4 people separately busy. If I were to give any piece of advice, it's to communicate. We spent some time afterwards wondering if one person could solve the room. The general consensus was no.

People do not create an Escape Room to make millions of dollars. As far as business plans go, these Rooms are not scalable, and actively deter repeat business. The reason Escape Rooms exist is because people want Escape Rooms to exist. It's a labour of love and sadistic revelry, and you can honestly  feel both emotions coming through during your time scratching your head and attempting to decipher the smirks on the faces of Rob and Steven. 

If you didn't know these rooms existed, and you wish to book one of the rooms after reading this review, there are only two spots available as of the time of this writing. Most of the openings were booked weeks ago, with little promotion or fanfare by the creators. Hopefully this is a sign that Cape Bretoners are hungry for more offbeat recreation, and we will see new diverse entertainment opportunities to come. 

I'm certainly up for it.

- The Cape Breton Escape Room -