Escape Hour Edmonton - "Bank Heist"

Updated: Mar 13

LOCATION:  Edmonton, AB, Canada

Photo above is property of Escape Hour Edmonton

Photo above is property of Escape Hour Edmonton

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: Bank Heist
📅 DATE PLAYED: February 18, 2023
🎬 GENRE: Heist
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 Adults, 2 Childre): 9/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-9 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: CAD $27.50/PP (Room Min $75)
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: No

📖 THE STORY

Getting arrested after your last bank heist, a crooked cop has offered your team a chance at freedom if you can pull off one last job for them. The only problem is the cop also has their own agenda and is ready to double cross you and your crew when the job is done. Knowing about the double cross, your group has a plan of their own to get out of their with the money and freedom.

Video above is property of Escape Hour Edmonton

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

The tech props that we used to solve the puzzles were authentic and set up for perfect use with the puzzles.
The hints that were provided stayed in the theme of the game which helped with immersion (ex: Rather than saying “Check under the table”, the GM would say “The banker would like to keep reminders under the table”).
The vault that we had to break into was a nice touch as well as the puzzles around opening it made us feel like true safe crackers.
The puzzle flow would alternate between non-linear and back to linear a few times, allowing people to work on multiple puzzles and bringing us back together for key parts of the game.
All the puzzles were themed well, keeping inline with the bank ambiance.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

The room did seem bare, which did help remove any doubts on red herrings but could have had more of a bank feel to it.
One tech prop needed to be reset after we tried other logical uses for it as well as another prop, we had a lot of difficulty using which could have had more guidance on. We did bring this up to our GM afterwards who was open to feedback.

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

"Bank Heist" was a solid room with some great puzzles. All the puzzles and props were top quality and fit well into the bank theme. This was a tough room to complete in only an hour though. At Escape Hour, they offer 3 ways of giving hints, normal, organic, and hardcore. Organic is where they will give you hints automatically along the way if it seems like you are falling behind on time. Normal is they will ask if you want a hint if it seems like you are behind on time and hardcore is where they sit back and wait for you to ask for hints. If you are a beginner or someone looking to complete the room to see the full ending, we would recommend getting the organic hints. If you are looking for a challenge, we would still recommend the normal hint system to at least see how far along you are. For people who like challenging puzzles with some nice eureka moments, this game would be for you. We played as a family with 2 adults and 2 kids but feel that up to 5 enthusiasts would enjoy the room.