Questions we get at the desk

Fifteen minutes before your booked start time. That covers check-in, lockers, the waiver and the washroom. Start times are fixed because the next group is booked right behind you, so a team arriving ten minutes late plays a fifty-minute game. Late by more than twenty minutes and we may have to treat the booking as a no-show, though we will always try to fit you into a later game the same day if one is free.

No. Every booking is private, from a pair up to eight people. If two of you book Orbital Station Aurora on a Tuesday afternoon, the eight-person room is yours alone. We never combine parties, which is also why the per-person price goes down as your group gets bigger.

Per person, before HST: $42 for a team of two, $36 each for three or four, $32 each for five or six, and $29 each for seven or eight. Every room costs the same, including the 75-minute Last Chapter. A group of four pays $162.72 all in. The pricing page has a full table with tax worked out.

Not in the haunted-house sense. There are no live actors and nothing jumps out at you. The rooms are atmospheric: the Vault is dim and has a ticking clock, Lab 44 has a siren and strobe (both can be switched off), the library is lit like candlelight and Aurora hums. Ten-year-olds regularly play Lab 44 and Aurora with a parent and have a great time.

Players under 14 need an adult playing in the room with them. We recommend Aurora and Lab 44 for groups with kids aged 8 to 13, and the Vault from about 12 up. The Last Chapter is heavy on reading and Victorian vocabulary and is not much fun under 16. There is no upper limit; our oldest regular is 84 and plays the Vault twice a year.

Thanksgiving weekend (October 10–12): open all three days, closing at 9 p.m. on the Monday. Christmas Eve: 10:00–17:00. Christmas Day: closed. Boxing Day: 12:00–20:00. New Year's Eve: 10:00–20:00. New Year's Day: 14:00–21:00. Family Day (February 15, 2027) and Good Friday: open 10:00–21:00. Victoria Day (May 24, 2027) and Canada Day: open 12:00–21:00. All other days follow the regular schedule.

Lab 44 and Orbital Station Aurora are fully step-free, with wide corridors and turning space. The Vault of Bay Street is step-free to the vault door and has an alternative to the crawl space on request. The Last Chapter has one 18 cm step into the hidden reading room; we have a portable ramp. The building has an elevator to the second floor and an accessible washroom. Service animals are welcome in every room.

Three hints are included in every game and are delivered on the screen above the door, so nobody has to leave the room. Ask out loud or hold up the hint card; your game master is watching and listening. In the Vault, Lab 44 and Aurora you can ask for more than three and we will give them; in The Last Chapter each hint beyond the third costs five minutes off the clock.

Cancel free up to 48 hours before your start time for a full refund. Inside 48 hours the booking is non-refundable, but you can reschedule once, free of charge, to any time in the following 90 days. Team-building packages have a longer window: free changes up to 14 days out. If we close because of weather, a TTC shutdown or a fault in the building, you choose between a refund and a new date.

St Andrew station on Line 1 is a one-block walk; the 504 King streetcar stops at University Avenue, two minutes away. Union Station and GO Transit are ten minutes on foot. The nearest Green P garage is on Richmond Street West at Duncan; evening rates after 6 p.m. are cheaper than the Adelaide Street meters. There are ring-and-post bike stands out front and a Bike Share dock on the corner.

Not into the rooms, but the lounge is yours for a few minutes before and after the game and you are welcome to bring a cake or coffees. The birthday add-on ($45 plus HST) reserves the decorated lounge for 45 minutes with plates, candles, a photo wall and a speaker. No alcohol on the premises, please; the Entertainment District has that covered.

Yes, by email, in any amount from $50 or as a 'room for four' voucher at $162.72 including HST. They arrive as a PDF within an hour and are valid for 24 months. Vouchers can be spent across several bookings and topped up at the desk if the group grows.

Absolutely. Groups of nine to sixteen usually split between Lab 44 and Aurora at the same start time and compare times afterwards. Book both on the form or phone and we will line the start times up. For groups that want a debrief and a room to gather in, the team-building packages start at $690 plus HST for up to twelve people.

Anything you can crouch, reach and walk quickly in. Flat shoes help in the Vault. Leave heavy coats and large bags in the free lockers; the rooms are kept at about 21 °C year-round, which feels warm after a January walk from the streetcar and cool in a July heat wave.