Guest post by  William Dixon Escape from the Bank, the newest Real Escape Game event from SCRAP Entertainment, and Company & Company comes to Toronto’s Great Hall in late April and early May.  Escape Rooms have been played out across the globe in Japan, China, Singapore, Taiwan, the U.S. and now, Canada. Escape from the Bank challenges you and your fellow thieves to escape from a bank vault during a heist gone horribly wrong. The Great Hall will be transformed into a bank vault and players will have to piece together clues to solve mind-bending and logic-based puzzles in order to escape within the hour-long time limit. The game was inspired by a genre of video games aptly named, Room Escape, wherein players need to put together hidden clues and make their escape. “It’s important that these games aren’t too difficult, but not super-easy either,” said Steven Waters, one of the room managers at the Real Escape Game. Canada’s first large scale Escape Room, 17 teams of six (102 players in total) will try to solve the puzzle simultaneously. Single players are welcome, but invite your friends to work with you as a team—it’s easier and more fun with a group you’re already comfortable with. Players are advised to show up 15 minutes before the starting time and refunds are not offered, so make sure you can commit. “Participants don’t need to bring anything,” said Waters. “Everything they need is provided,” he paused for dramatic effect, “and in their mind.” In order to win, players must solve the puzzles, and ultimately, escape. A fun challenge for everyone The Real Escape Game Toronto will soon celebrate its first anniversary. The first game, Escape from the Mysterious Room, still runs at its location on Bathurst Street. Only three percent of its challengers have escaped. The second game, Escape from the Time Travel Lab, is also still running, challenging Torontonians and tourists alike at its Stafford Street location. Check online at their website to reserve your chance to tackle one of these mind-blasting games. “ The Time Travel Lab is our sweet spot,” said Waters, adding that he sees more people making it to the end than he does with Escape From the Mysterious Room. “We’re doing pretty well,” said Waters. “We’re sold out almost every game.” The Real Escape Game offers people something new and different from their ordinary lives. Solving fun brainteasers in a surreal environment offers a challenge and a sense of excitement without any actual danger. That desire for the surreal led Takao Kato to create the games in the first place for SCRAP Entertainment in Kyoto, Japan. Watching a friend play a Room Escape PC game, Kato was inspired to adapt the game for live action. The Real Escape Game team’s interaction with players varies from game to game. In Escape From the Mysterious Room there’s very little involvement from staff, but in Escape From the Time Travel Lab there’s more because in the lab, the story and plot are being played out, explains Waters. In the bank, he adds that interactions with players make sure teams aren’t lagging far behind. “I find the biggest issues are communicating properly,” says Waters. He says most groups work well together, but they don’t always communicate the finer details. A great team-building exercise Escape from the Bank is almost completely sold out for its first run starting April 23, but spots are still open for the adventurous from May 1 to 3. Waters says it will most likely make a return if they receive enough positive feedback. The game can also be set up as a private event for a group, provided that there’s enough space or as a corporate teambuilding event. From boardrooms to ballrooms, Waters says his team can turn all kinds of rooms into mind-bending puzzle games. Even characters in  The Big Bang Theory were put to the test during an episode in season 8: [HTML2] On The Real Escape Game’s Facebook page, fans are chomping at the bit for more, with over 120 reviews, and more than 110 being positively glowing. While Waters and his team haven’t created the games themselves (they were developed in Kyoto, Japan and San Francisco) he says his team is currently working on its own ideas. But his lips are sealed, he says, “or they’ll kill me.” You can find the Real Escape Game on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.  

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