New escape room comes to Garden City

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This article was published 18/03/2022 (1635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

GARDEN CITY

After many iterations, a venture into acrylic costume jewelry in the 1980s has evolved into a multi-themed escape room, with Winnipeg-designed and made fixtures and electronics.

John Wardrope, the owner of Acryl Design Ltd. in the North End, started with five dollars worth of coloured plastic, which he painted, pressed, polished, and sold at a Christmas craft show.

“It was an interesting time because no one knew about Plexiglas forty years ago, so it was sort of a whole new substrate,” Wardrope said.

From there, he grew his plastic product business into — at its peak — a 15,000-square-foot, 20-employee manufacturing hub. Over time, Wardrope amassed a collection of computerized numerical control (CNC) machines and AutoCLAD software capable of designing and cutting everything from menu holders to parts for the up-and-coming escape room industry.

Six years ago, a client came to Wardrope looking for custom modular elements for an escape room. Soon after, Wardrope went into business making and selling these games, which he now ships across Canada and the United States.

“The electronics are completely consuming mentally. It’s great,” Wardrope said. “You can put your art into the electronics; you can put your art into the puzzles. It’s sort of coming full circle — a much larger concept of manufacturing.”

EscapeXchange, Wardrope’s first public-facing escape room, located next to the food court inside Garden City Shopping Centre, is a testing space that allows Wardrope and his buyers to see how a particular escape room performs.

Since EscapeXchange’s launch in mid-February, it’s been home to three distinct human-scale puzzles. The Gingerbread Man room, the easiest to solve of the bunch, invites players inside a space that looks like an oven — complete with illuminated convection coils. Here, Jazzy the Gingerbread needs the audience’s help to get some decorations, which the jealous baker omitted.

Since time flies when you’re having fun, participants had better keep an eye on the clock. Players have one hour to solve the puzzles and exit the room (one of which has a bonus room).

The second escape room is called Aunt Dottie’s Estate. Players must complete puzzles in the space, detailed with vintage wallpaper and antiques, to find Aunt Dottie’s will, to the chagrin of her devious lawyer.

Chroma Heist, the final room, is done up with acrylic walls, lighting, and control panels that resemble the inside of a spaceship. Inside the futuristic puzzle, participants must solve a series of word and pattern games to restore balance on Earth.

“We consider this one expert level,” Bruna DeFreitas, EscapeXchange’s games manager, said.

EscapeXchange will have a rotating lineup of escape rooms in the future. Wardrope and his team are set to release a 5-minute mini-game called Quinary 5 later this month.

EscapeXchange is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 10 p.m., Friday from 4 to 11 p.m., Saturday from 12 to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 10 p.m. To book an appointment, call 204-338-6404 or email escapexchange@gmail.com