Richmond is the nexus of province’s escape-room venues

The heart of escape room outlets in Metro Vancouver is Richmond.

From themed-room challenges to strictly puzzle-oriented versions, major players include Exit, Xcapevancouver, lockdownescape and others.

Burnaby’s Krakit has done specialized holiday themes such as its Valentine’s Day story The One Night Stand.

Time spent online puzzle-gaming seems a common background of owner/operators. Richmond’s Escape Key is run by math and music major Tim Nicolas Tang. Tang is the creator of the Tim Tang Test, a 250-level online puzzle challenge. Attempted by more than four million visitors, the puzzle remains unsolved.

“In 2010, I visited an escape New York room and thought is was pretty cool and decided to put together my own incorporating a computer technology theme,” says Tang. “My approach is to let people learn solutions and point them towards the website (timtang.com) for future puzzle hunts and other challenges. They keep in contact and can come back to the room every three to six months when I have created a new puzzle.”

Each escape room tries to provide an addictive and unique experience to keep business returning. Operators all admit that you have to continuously tweak and change the challenges. Smarty Pantz’s Dan Civiero notes how fast new rooms are opening throughout the region and across Canada. His company opens its Edmonton location soon.