Breakout – Calgary
(Closed)

Breakout was the first franchise to hit us having been from a different location (Edmonton having their original location) but still hit us pretty early on in terms of escape rooms popping up in Calgary. They usually have enough spots for parking despite sharing the lot with other stores in the mini-strip mall they’re located in. Not hard to find, nor too far just being north on Centre Street from Chinatown. The one thing that was carried down from Edmonton was their 45 min time limit, which sometimes made things a bit more difficult. The rooms were all about presentation, quality and innovation. All three of their rooms all have lots of detail and work going into them to make it immersive as possible in terms of decor. The waiting area has a wide couch for seating while you wait. Unfortunately, it can get a bit tight if more people are waiting as well people finishing up and taking their victory (or failure) photos.

They aim to be more difficult of an escape room with lower success rates for their rooms to challenge and encourage repeat playing to finish the rooms. When playing a room for a second time (usually with a second group I do the rooms with) they recognize me and give me a discount as to not charge me full price for a room I’ve already played before. There IS a leader board set up in their main area for all three rooms, on a chalkboard that changes themes in its presentation from time to time which is neat. The staff is friendly and can hold a conversation if you want to. The problem with the place is the amount of space they have. They came to Calgary pretty early so we did them right away, and then their Vortex room when it opened up, but other than that we haven’t gone back in a while. Which may be a downfall of a lot of the escape rooms in terms of keeping things fresh and interesting. They only have three rooms and I’ve been there seven times; a guy can only do so much.