Ottawa has some seriously good escape rooms. Jigsaw in the Byward Market puts an incredible level of detail into its builds, Escape Manor’s storytellers are some of the best around at setting the scene, and Unlocked Adventures is a nerd’s delight with brain teasers to keep you busy before your game even starts. Between them you’ll find ghost pirates, ancient tombs, a trip to Wonderland and a vampire murder mystery.
This list is ranked by our own review scores, highest first, and only includes rooms that are still open.
1. The Pirate’s Code
Our score: 9.3/10 · Jigsaw
Once a month, on the full moon, a ghost pirate who plundered the Seven Seas comes back to life and walks among the living. This is one of the best rooms we’ve ever been in, packed with modern technology that’s so well hidden it never breaks the immersion. The puzzles are a great blend of physical, riddle, spatial and memory challenges, and it works for anywhere from two to six people. Get there early and enjoy a beer with your friends first.
Read our review of The Pirate’s Code
2. The Castle
Our score: 8.3/10 · Jigsaw
The land of Elmir is in danger, and your detachment of knights has to defeat the darkness plaguing it. Jigsaw checks all the boxes here, with attention to detail in the space, props, story, puzzles, lighting and audio, and staff whose excitement is contagious. It’s a huge, solid medium-difficulty room that could easily hold six or even eight players. A few items lean a little cheesy and some puzzles feel more magical than medieval, but we happily let it go.
3. The Tomb
Our score: 8.3/10 · Escape Manor
You step into an abandoned excavation site, someone clearly left in a hurry, and then you hear a voice. Escape Manor’s storytellers set the scene before you go in, and inside is a detailed, well-crafted room filled with ancient treasures and good quality props. Hints come over walkie-talkie, which keeps you in the story. It’s an older room showing some wear, and the giant sand hourglass timer wasn’t working when we visited.
4. The Recruit
Our score: 7.8/10 · Escape Manor
The Syndicate is back, and your team of recruits has to solve its way into a career in cyber security with the CSE. This is a big space with several unique areas, from the board room to the server room and beyond. The puzzles are challenging, largely technology-based and analytical, which would make it a great challenge for a work event. We’d rate it hard, with little to no physical puzzles, and you’ll want at least four players to finish in time.
Read our review of The Recruit
5. Wonderland
Our score: 7.8/10 · Escape Manor
You’ve tumbled down the rabbit hole and grown gigantic, and the only way back to person-size is to grab the Queen of Hearts’ tarts before she returns from croquet. This fun, youthful room is a nice break from the usual pirates, mummies and horror. The props are great, we didn’t run into a single bad or broken puzzle, and it’s good for all ages. The tiny furniture can make it feel a bit like a toy store showroom, and a few exposed technical elements hurt the immersion.
6. Shipwrecked
Our score: 7.5/10 · Unlocked Adventures
You’ve spent decades hunting for the ancient Red Rock ship, and now you need to grab as much treasure as you can before the real archeologists show up. It’s the only room we’d done where your score counts the treasure you recover as well as your time left, and the belly of the ship is believable, with lots of immersive pieces. One tricky puzzle just doesn’t make sense and can be the difference between getting out or not. It’s medium difficulty and best with four players.
Read our review of Shipwrecked
7. The Darkness
Our score: 7.0/10 · Escape Manor
A deal that was too good to be true has you caught up in a secret society. The room offers a great combination of locks, decoding and physical puzzles that all make sense in the different areas you explore. It’s an easy-medium room that two experienced players can handle, though four or five will fit comfortably. Some of the decor is a little beat up, and some ambient audio would help cover noise from other rooms.
Read our review of The Darkness
8. Victorian Vampire Mystery
Our score: 7.0/10 · Unlocked Adventures
The vampire Patrick Bones has been found dead in his living room, and it’s up to you to work out who did it, with what, and why. Colour-coded puzzle streams let up to six people work on different paths at once, which makes this a great pick for a larger group of newer players. Moving between your office and the crime scene breaks the immersion, and a light pentagram puzzle near the end needs to be reworked.
