Jigsaw Escape Rooms — Attraction in Ottawa

Our group has now done all the rooms that they offer, and our overall experiences have been just okay.

While the rooms are clearly very well designed, with puzzles that make sense and novel elements in some of them, our experiences in them were unfortunately quite disappointing on more than one occasion.

This was mainly due to broken props and malfunctioning technology, which we encountered a total of 5 times throughout our visits, 4 of which prevented us from moving forward in the games. While it's understandable that things break down, at no point did a staff member notice and offer a solution to the issue, and when we pointed out that the broken props had hindered our progress, we were either met with a response of "oh well" or even a rude response of "even if it wasn't broken, I don't think you would have escaped anyways".

We were offered discounts to return (after pressing a bit) when things malfunctioned, but the demeanour of the staff clearly suggested that they didn't really care that our experience had been lessened. Honestly, this organization needs much better customer service training and more attention to maintenance and oversight of their technology.

While they have a lot of potential, there are definitely better escape rooms to visit in Ottawa, so I'd suggest going to them before coming here, at least until they fix their current issues.

EDIT: Thank you for taking the time to respond to my review. To be clear, my rating of 3 stars is primarily not based on the technical difficulties we experienced in our rooms (although 5 times in 6 rooms does seem like a lot, especially if you're testing the props between each play).

My issue was mostly with the staff's response to these issues, and is echoed in your comment that perhaps there was no technical issue, and we were simply not precise enough. We also thought this might be the case when we encountered something that we seemed to have solved, and therefore tried again and again with the same and different possible solutions. Sometimes, we eventually called for a hint, which lead to the staff member also struggling with something clearly broken, and not being able to trigger a response at all. In cases where we didn't call for a hint, we did not escape the room, and were told by a staff member afterwards how the response should have been triggered, despite their demonstration of the correct solution not leading to the trigger either. At this point, rather than apologize, we received "oh well" type responses, as if it hadn't been frustrating for us to know that we should have been able to move forward.

If your players solve the puzzle and obtain the correct solution, it is never their fault if entering that solution correctly does not lead to a response by your technology. If this occurs, staff should intervene without being asked to, as players have no way of knowing whether something is wrong or if they have the wrong answer.

Staff should also always be sympathetic and apologize if a player is disappointed by an experience, regardless of whether it was the fault of the player or not. Under no normal circumstances should players be blamed or told they "wouldn't have escaped anyways" when a puzzle can not even be demonstrated by a staff member to be functional. This is poor customer service and it is clear from your response that it extends to you as well.

My rating of 3 stars and recommendation to go elsewhere in...

We did the Last Resort escape room with our family of four. My husband and I had done escape rooms before, but it was the first time for our teens, so we chose an easier room. The décor was great and the first room had a nice balance of challenge and fun. However, the introduction could have been better — it was just instructions on how the hint system worked, with no real scene-setting. It was also hard to hear the general explanation in the noisy common area; this would work much better in a quieter space. In the second room, one puzzle ate up most of our time. We actually understood what needed to be done, but there were two possible ways of thinking about it: ours, and the game designer’s. The hint given worked for both approaches, so we kept going with our method. We got 3 of the 4 steps right, but the last one never clicked. When we called for help, it took a while, and the response came in French even though we’d been speaking English. The help just repeated how to use an item we already knew, which didn’t help us move forward. I also wish the timer paused during hints. By then, our teens started to lose interest. The game master eventually opened the third room (which looked amazing), but we didn’t get to experience much of it. Overall, the rooms were creative and we had fun, but I wish the intro set the scene better and that hints were more direct so players can actually progress. We’d come back, but hope for a smoother...

Really disappointed. I was here once, before the pandemic, and it was awesome. Today, not.

The room and scenario seemed well put together, but there were issues. Spending 10 minutes on a single clue only to find out it's giving the wrong answer is a bit maddening. Maybe something had become misaligned? Maybe check the rooms periodically to make sure things still work? Maybe there were points of alignment I didn't check, but it seemed way off...In any event, that's why hints are available I guess. I could move beyond it.

Getting to the end of the time, and being really close isn't unfamiliar to me. That said, I've played these games all over town, and in 4 different provinces, and this was the first time the staff couldn't demonstrate the solution. That's just bad form. I can only assume it was solvable (I was told as much...), but when the host says "you got really close, you're at the last step", but can really only point to the unresolved locks, and has no idea how they are opened, that's unacceptable.

I have a hint for you, rather than blowing off the obviously displeased customer, the correct answer is, "I can't remember, I'll be right back with the solution." Just because you already have my money, and there are other customers there doesn't mean your off the hook for decent...