If you Google Maps the location for EXIT Calgary, it will take you to a little inlet in the middle of Inglewood. You’ll have to walk around and pass by pubs until you hit the building at the end of the street. There’s no visible sign from the outside indicating that EXIT Calgary is inside. However, as soon as you descend the stairs and get to the right place, you’ll find yourself amazed by their intricately designed lobby.

Usually lobbies are bare, and not a priority in terms of design with escape room companies, but I will unabashedly say that EXIT Calgary has the best-looking lobby in all of Calgary, maybe even all of Alberta. There are lots of cushions to seat your friends, as well as board games to pass the time. There’s also a cafe in the corner to satiate your thirst. Best of all, the receptionist is the nicest and friendliest angel. We got there and she was the only one working, but she still made sure to provide an excellent customer service.

I think Paulie covered it.

This was our first time at EXIT Calgary, so we had no expectations. When we did this room, we had only done around four escape rooms, but we still got on the leaderboard. To me, that means the puzzles were too easy, and I prefer being challenged. You just feel more satisfaction when you’re faced with a difficult puzzle and be able to solve it. The puzzles were a mix of logic and searching puzzles, and most of it was skewed towards the younger or less experienced demographic, but that didn’t take away from our enjoyment.

In keeping with the Japanese minimalistic look, the puzzles here were a bit simple, but they were pretty well done! Like Paulie, I also prefer being a little bit more challenged.

The rooms were small, and one was a little too bare for my liking. I do acknowledge that this is a Japanese-themed room, so there’s a certain sense of minimalism there. At the same time, Japanese culture is expansive, so they could have done so much more.

Unlike Paulie, I actually appreciated the minimalism! I thought it was well done and very tasteful.

EXIT is a franchise, and one of its greatest, most consistent strengths is the creating that feeling of immersion, particularly their use of bombastic music and total darkness. I always appreciate these two factors, because implementing both is the easiest way to suck escape room participants into another world. In this case, it’s done appropriately.

I loved the music in this room. The atmosphere in this room created a certain sense of calmness that was very different from other rooms we’ve been to, and I thought that was really interesting to experience!

Japanese. Sushi. Sake. Ninja. Samurai swords. Stereotypical? Yes. Different from other escape room themes? Yes. Done well? Yes.

This was a fun new concept that we hadn’t seen anywhere else and was also well done!

This room gets a  #gold. There weren’t any major hiccups or frustrating puzzles. If you’re bringing novice escape room friends, this would be the perfect one to do.

I give this room a #gold. Because the room is pretty straightforward  in terms of puzzles and décor, it’s a good one to do as a first escape room. If you’re an escape room veteran looking for a challenge, I would recommend The Lost Ship here at EXIT!