Missing Finger

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Our day trip to Niagara Falls wasn’t complete without a stop to Adventure Rooms Canada. Much like The Crux Niagara, Adventure Rooms Canada (Niagara) is their first expansion outside their initial location in Waterloo, Ontario. Fortune was smiling for us to review Missing Finger having just reviewed The Mayor’s Office at their Waterloo location, which we enjoyed quite a bit. Because of its close proximity to our previous reviews, the location was easy to access and not difficult to find. Street parking is available during evenings and weekends but if you should find yourself without a spot there are plenty of parking lots within a short walk.

We walked to the front door and noticed a sign that stated the outer doors are locked until the scheduled time of the participant’s escape room. We were a bit worried considering we showed up early to chat and get to know the staff a bit more. Thankfully we were allowed to enter ahead of our scheduled time. The lobby was very modern and resembled the atmosphere of a furniture store with leather couches, potted plants, and a large, elegant, reception desk. No refreshments were available, but a variety of small box puzzles, puzzle books, and fun little gadgets were laid out for people to warm up their brains. At one point it was a bit awkward sitting in the waiting room as another group was locked outside and could see us inside waiting. As is ARC’s philosophy, there was no pre-story element to the room, so we cannot comment except to say we were there and ready to get going!

The room quality was decent with an interesting collection of items, furniture, props and such. Everything was neatly arranged, in good condition, and no wires or poor construction areas were visible. We found it to be eclectic in nature and design, which ordinarily would have us scratching our heads, but for some reason worked really well here.

The immersive aspect of Missing Finger is probably the Achilles heel of the experience, mainly because of ARC’s philosophy of not including story nor story development in their room experiences. This of course is also a benefit in some ways as it allows the participant to create their own who? what? when? where? and why? of the room. As we mentioned in our review of the Mayor’s Office, some may even be surprised to find they prefer having a story left to their own creativity. Oddly it seems to work well for us, even if we do crave a good story most times. We suspect it’s because we appreciate the atmosphere which suspends a sense of reality even if there’s no story guiding it… In some ways, this room taught us a bit more about what we value in an escape room. We’re excited when learning new things about room design and ourselves even after several hundreds of rooms!

From weakest to strongest, let’s talk about puzzles now… We REALLY enjoyed the selection of puzzles in Missing Finger! ARC has a pattern of starting off with a good team building challenge which sets the tone for the rest of the room. A nice variety of puzzle types, skills used, and creative thinking had us smiling from start to end. Most puzzles were inclusive, straight forward, and well suited for our group of three, but we suspect a group as large as six would still feel included because of the clever design of the puzzles. What was particularly enjoyable for us was seeing puzzles being used in ways we haven’t previously seen.

Having said all of this, would we recommend this room, and is it fun? Yes, but as is usually the case, there are some provisions… Missing Finger is definitely going to be enjoyed by most people. Experienced players who like being surprised will like the clever twist on puzzles they’ve seen elsewhere, and inexperienced players will enjoy the straightforward design and simplicity of the room so they don’t feel lost. So who might not enjoy this room? Most likely story enthusiasts and/or certain escape room enthusiasts who don’t look for different experiences outside of their norm (note: we previously thought ourselves to be among this category, but we’ve come to realize this may not apply to us as much as we thought…we REALLY enjoyed Missing Finger, and previously The Mayor’s Office)!

We want to hear your thoughts! Be sure to comment in the section below or send us a message via ERA’s email, Facebook, or Twitter… As always, happy escaping!