Escape the Danforth
Escape the Danforth
- Played August, 2015
- Toronto
- 60 minutes
- 2-8 players
- $25 Adult | $15 Children
- Unlimited Hints
- All ages. Requires one adult.
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Looking Glass Adventures is located just east of the heart of Greektown on the Danforth. The signage is not visible from the street, but they are located just below “Bell’s Martial Arts Studio.” Parking is available on the street or at the Green P parking.
Upon entering, our team was greeted by Christine who is an enthusiastic escape room runner and one of the friendliest owners I have met thus far. The waiting room is small but cozy with a generous selection of free refreshments. There are no lockers for your belongings; however there is the option to bring your stuff with you.
Before beginning our adventure Christine explained the basic rules and stirred us away from rummaging through some props to avoid wasting precious time.
The pre-story: You receive a troubling call from your Uncle Robert asking for your help. He asks you to go to his office and retrieve something for him, but is this all or is there more to this story? You have 60 minutes to find out.
As you enter the room your team is instantly faced with a combination of searching and puzzles incorporating many elements. The rooms have a good linear flow and are designed specifically with families in mind. The rooms are spacious and include many props that have been thoughtfully purchased from estate sales, adding genuineness to the story line. You really feel like you are in your uncle’s home office.
The puzzles were challenging but not difficult so if you are looking for math logical challenges you might be disappointed here. Nonetheless we really enjoyed the quality of puzzles. Hints are unlimited and can be called in if needed.
We didn’t run into any troubles completing puzzles except when one of our team members overthought a puzzle (which tends to happen with more experienced escape room enthusiasts). Without giving too much away, the room also has an impressive well-disguised tech feature that our team really enjoyed.
This room is perfect for parents with school age children, but I would not hesitate to recommend Looking Glass for a fun night out with friends or a corporate team building exercise either.
Christine is also very generous with allowing extra time for those who need it, and doesn’t book back to back appointments to allow groups to chat about their experience afterwards.
Final Verdict: | 8.3/10 |
Team: 2 adults, one 10 year old. 1st room ever (review written after having done several more)
Pre Room & Customer Service: It’s an office downstairs off the street. The owner was very friendly and welcoming, and allowed us a bit of extra time since we had no one booked afterwards, and that extra 10 minutes meant we could finish the room. The waiting room is nice and comfy, but it’s not like many of the board game cafe style ERs. Thankfully there’s Face to Face games down the street which was great for board gaming afterwards.
Room Quality: We continue to go back to this room as having set a high bar for all our future escape rooms. There is a lot of detail put into the props and decor. We were actually pleasantly distracted looking at the antiques – show your kids old fashion radios and cameras! It was also clean, not dingy or musty, which is always appreciated. It was a pretty comfortable yet large space to move around in.
Immersion: The story line suited the atmosphere of the room. The ‘office’ was full of time period appropriate pieces and things that tied into puzzles. I don’t want to ruin any of the surprises, but the decor and props stayed in theme throughout.
Puzzle Design: There was a variety of different types of puzzles, almost too much to get through within the time limit for our 3 person team. We had one minor technical issue with a light, but there were enough to go around so that’s extremely minor. There was searching involved. The clues were pretty linear so that you could go from one to another, but there were a few that could be worked on simultaneously, thus keeping larger groups busy. Based on the old fashioned look of the room, we were pleasantly surprised by the hidden tech that definitely lead to some ‘wow’ moments.
Overall: This room set the bar really high for us. We’ve yet to go to a room that has as much ‘wow’ factor, but we are still pretty new. Part of the appeal was the sheer number of puzzles we needed to solve. Some rooms we’ve been too have only had 3 puzzles, this one has considerably more than that – which would make it great for a group of new players. I would highly recommend this for a group of adults looking to try something new, or a kids party 10+ (maybe younger if you have bright kids). The discount for kids also was appreciated.
I’d give it a 9/10 (especially compared to Luci’s room, which I’d give a 8/10)