I've done a few rooms now at various companies in Calgary, but this was the first hosted room I've done.
We did the Christmas Caper and escaped with 32 seconds left. This room has a 50% success rate. The Christmas Caper is a re-branded and slightly changed version of their dinner party themed room.
Let's start with the negatives:
1. The waiting area is open (as with many places) so it can be tricky if a group is leaving the room you're waiting to go into. People coming out are excited and want to talk about their experience, but the people waiting to go in don't want any spoilers.
2. Two of the things in the room weren't reset properly. Nothing was ruined by this, but we just had to pretend that the items were still locked until we found the key/code to "unlock" them. A little bit of time was wasted by this though.
3. Booking online let's you book up to 9 people for this room. I paid for 9 people, but ended up only getting 6 of us to go. When we got there to do the room they said that you didn't really want more than 7 people anyway and they usually cap it at 8. So why allow for 9 people then? I didn't expect a refund or anything as their policy clearly states they don't give refunds but it's a little misleading, especially if you've never been to this location and don't know how big the rooms are.
The good:
1. While a couple people in our group had never done an escape room before, doing a hosted room was a first for all of us. There was an actor in the room who played the role of the bartender. He gave out a few vague hints here and there, but nothing that gave anything away. He had some good quips and one liners to keep things interesting too.
2. The room was non-liner which is great for a larger group. It's tough to do a room where you have to go from puzzle to puzzle with a ton of people. We were all able to split up into pairs and work together on different things.
3. At the end of the room the host did a little review of the room with us. He told us some of the things he found interesting or of note in the way we took to solving the puzzles or on things we missed at first, but eventually figured out. He also asked for our feedback on what we liked or didn't like about the room.
This was a fun time and I'll definitely be back.