Vancouver Mysteries

Vancouver Mysteries is a company that offers a series of outdoor adventure games in downtown Vancouver where players work in teams and solve clues.

The main games are like escape room adventures, only you play them outside with your friends or family in downtown Vancouver. The games have superhero, detective, secret agent and ghosting-hunting themes. They are lots of fun, and challenging too! They make you think.

There are also special events sometimes, including Murder is a Drag shows which include dinner and an interactive theatrical performance. There is also The Case of the Hotel Detective which is a new murder-mystery game which can be played at a hotel in downtown Vancouver or from the comfort of you home. As of early 2025, there is also The Legend of the Gastown Gold.

(TIP: With Vancouver Mysteries’ games, if you use the promo code BESTPLACES you can save 10%. The discount is valid with all their outdoor adventure games, but not the dinner shows, The Case of the Hotel Detective or The Legend of the Gastown Gold.)

Visit the vancouvermysteries.com website for full details about the games and to book your adventure!

In this article you’ll find the following information about Vancouver Mysteries:

Detective, Secret Agent and Superhero Games with Vancouver Mysteries

With Vancouver Mysteries you can solve a Murder Mystery, go on a Spy Mission, go Ghost Hunting, or be a Superhero and defend the city from a supervillain. It’s akin to an escape room – where you have to solve problems and interpret clues – except that it’s outside and your “room” is downtown Vancouver. Most of the games are for adults and older youth. There is, however, a family version of the company’s very popular Heroes & Villains Game that adults can play with younger children.

As of the last time we checked, games cost around $38 per person and last approximately two hours. Most of them finish near Waterfront Station and cover around 2 kms of downtown Vancouver. All the game options are a blast!

In addition to the outdoor adventure games, there is also The Case of the Hotel Detective. You can play it at home with your friends and family, or at a more formal event at a hotel with your friends plus whoever else shows up. Click Portable Hotel Detective Game or Downtown Hotel Detective Game for details about each of these.

SAVE 10% WITH PROMO CODE!

Vancouver Mysteries is offering 10% off for groups that use the promo code BESTPLACES and book their games with a minimum of three people. The offer is good for any one of the company’s outdoor Vancouver adventures as well as for its three Virtual Games.

To book your spot, go to the Vancouver Mysteries Website and use the promo code BESTPLACES just before the end of the registration process.

(Note: The promo code isn’t valid for indoor games and the company’s dinner theatre shows [i.e., The Case of the Hotel Detective, The Legend of the Gastown Gold, and Murder is a Drag Dinner Theatre.])

Playing Vancouver Mysteries Secret Mission Game — Playing the Secret Mission Game

Mystery Game Options

Vancouver Mysteries offers multiple different game scenarios. It used to offer three outdoor scavenger hunt-style games, plus an additional family version of its Heroes & Villains game. During the COVID 19 pandemic, the company also started offering virtual games you could play online via Zoom. In the past couple of years, Vancouver Mysteries has added another outdoor adventure game, plus a few indoor games including one that’s also a dinner theatre show.

Games happen rain or shine. Costumes are encouraged, but not required. All you need is a group of friends and a taste for adventure. Vancouver Mysteries provides all the materials, including a game kit, artifacts and maps.

Below are descriptions of all the various games.

See the Vancouver Mysteries website for tickets and full details.

Secret Mission

Secret Mission is a spy game where you get to be a secret agent, decipher a coded message and save the city from the evil BLACKOUT organization. The game happens in downtown Vancouver. The cost is $38 per player and its level of difficulty is rated “intermediate.”

See our article about the Secret Mission to learn more about this game. In the article you’ll learn about our adventure and what we experienced. You’ll also find a video showing scenes from the game.

Check out the following short video clip of scenes from our experience doing the Secret Mission adventure for an idea of what to expect on a game.

Heroes & Villains

Heroes & Villains is a superhero adventure where teams of friends protect Vancouver from the notorious Muck Monster. It’s slightly easier than Secret Mission and Crime in Downtown, but costs the same ($38 per person). Costumes are encouraged, but not required.

Heroes & Villains (Family)

Vancouver Mysteries has a Family Version of its Heroes & Villains game. The original is recommended for people ages 12 and older. The family edition is good for children ages 8 and up to work on along with their parents or at least one adult.

Both of the above games are played around the Vancouver Convention Centre and Coal Harbour Seawall.

See our article about Heroes & Villains to learn about our experience playing the adult version of the game.

Looking for the Muck Monster — Heroes & Villains Game (and the Muck Monster)

The Case of the Hotel Detective

The Case of the Hotel Detective is a game that you can play at home, unlike the others offered by Vancouver Mysteries. The company delivers the materials for this game to your house, hotel room or place of business.

With this game, you have 90 minutes to solve the case. It isn’t a “murder-mystery party.” It is a mystery game, though, but one that is more like a portable escape room than a scavenger hunt. It’s also very challenging and a lot of fun.

All the other games are recommended for people ages 12 and older (or 8 and older in the case of Heroes & Villains Family). This last game, though, is just for adults.

Whereas the other games all cost $38 per person, with this one the price is $500 total (for up to ten people, and $30 to $40 per additional player depending on how large the group is).

Click The Case of the Hotel Detective to learn more about this activity or to book your game.

Getting the Vancouver Crime Mission Details — Crime in Downtown Game in Gastown

Crime in Downtown

In the Crime in Downtown game, participants have to solve the murder of Jimmy Capello. It’s a whodunit mystery where clues lead teams of detectives all around Gastown.

This game costs $38 per person. It has an “intermediate” level of difficulty and is recommended for players ages 12 and older.

The Crime in Downtown game involves a murder that took place years ago. The victim, Jimmy Capello, was not only strangled, but also stabbed and poisoned! Who was the murderer? You have to wander around Gastown looking for clues to solve this puzzling cold case!

Below are details about our experience with this game to give you an idea of what a Vancouver Mysteries adventure is like.

About our Crime in Downtown Experience

We checked out Vancouver Mysteries’ Crime in Downtown game with a couple of grade 12 teenage boys and we all loved the experience.

In the game we had to show up at our starting time at a specific location, say a secret code and then receive our mission details. We were given our sticker detective badges, our detective kits and basic instructions. The clock then started and we had just 120 minutes to solve the crime and be back.

In our detective kit we had a map, pieces of evidence and a series of clues to find and solve. We had to go to different addresses and look for specific items. We had to decipher codes, measure things and think outside the box in several cases. Some of the clues were easy and others more challenging.

By the end of our two hours we had deciphered most (but not all) of the clues, but still managed to solve the crime. We got a score of 67 out of 100 which gave us a ranking of Senior Detectives. We also had a great time and recommend the game.

See our article about the Crime in Downtown game to learn even more about this offering.

Outside the West Cordova Crime Game Start — Costumes are Optional!

Ghost Patrol

Ghost Patrol is another outdoor adventure game by Vancouver Mysteries. Players become paranormal investigators and visit four different hauntings in downtown Vancouver. The game is also a fun way to learn about what Vancouver was like in different decades of the 1900s.

As you can imagine, Ghost Patrol is a great game to play during the Halloween season with its spooky theme. In fact, during Halloween Mystery Nights in October, there are even prizes up for grabs.

Ghost Patrol is the most difficult outdoor game that Vancouver Mysteries has to offer. The game is recommended for ages 12 and above and takes up to 2.5 hours to complete. The game costs $38 to play.

See our Ghost Patrol article for more information about the game.

See the Vancouver Mysteries website for tickets and full details.

Tips, Clues & Secret Agent Advice

Below are some tips and suggestions to help you make the most of your Vancouver Mysteries experience.

Suggestions on How to Solve the Clues

TIP #1: You get a detective kit (or superhero kit or secret agent package) at the start of your game. In it are materials to help you solve the case or save the city (depending on which adventure you’re on). Look through the kit carefully so you know what’s inside. The evidence and tools you have in your kit are all important. Also, be careful not to drop and lose any of the pieces along the way.

TIP #2: Don’t look at the contents of the detective kit only at the start, but also again every once in a while to remind yourself of what you have. Also, make sure that every member of your team knows what’s inside. When we did our game, at the end we found out that there were a couple of things that not everyone was aware of (which explains why we didn’t manage to solve all the clues).

TIP #3: Don’t expect to solve every clue and challenge. You might, but, like us, you might not. If you get stuck, don’t get frustrated. Just move on to the next clue. You might also have time to go back and try again later.

Tips About Costumes

TIP #1: Costumes are encouraged, but not mandatory. Most people just wear their regular clothes, but some participants are keeners, go all out and make this a serious event.

TIP #2: If you’re ever in downtown Vancouver and see people running around in secret agent costumes or looking like superheroes in tights and capes, don’t worry. And don’t panic! It’s probably just a group of people on a stag or stagette party having fun on a Vancouver Mysteries adventure.

Other Suggestions and Things to Know

TIP #1: The games can be played with teams of two to six players. We did it with three and it worked great. The more players you have, though, the better your chances of one of your team members being able to think outside the box and solve the more challenging clues.

TIP #2: If you need eyeglasses for reading, take your glasses on your adventure as you’ll need to read the instructions and look at a few things in detail. If you forget your glasses you can either listen to someone else reading things out or look inside your kit and hope to find a magnifying glass.

TIP #3: At the end of your adventure you report back to where you started. There, an agent or other character checks your findings, gives you a score based on what you did right and explains what you did wrong. It’s fun to learn what you should have done in cases where you had an incorrect answer or none at all. Be sure to ask if they forget to tell you everything.

TIP #4: You don’t have to race around or run to solve the crime within your two-hour time limit. The faster you go the more time you’ll have to go back to places where you couldn’t solve a clue, the quicker you’ll finish and likely the better you’ll do. You don’t have to be ultra-fit or an athlete though. When we did our adventure we just walked at an average walking pace.

See the Vancouver Mysteries website for tickets and full details about the games.

The Legend of the Gastown Gold

The Legend of the Gastown Gold is an escape room-style game where you don’t actually have to escape from anywhere. Instead you solve puzzles, decipher codes, uncover clues, open locked boxes and solve the mystery of some missing gold.

The game is set in the present day, but the gold was hidden in Gastown in the late 1800s, around the time of the Great Fire in Vancouver.

The game is played in the lobby of the Delta Hotel in downtown Vancouver. You have about 90 minutes to solve the mystery. With this adventure, instead of having to run around the streets of the city, you can sit comfortably at a table, with a drink in your hand, while you munch on some food.

Visit the Vancouver Mysteries website to learn more about the game.

Murder is a Drag Mystery Dinner Series

Vancouver Mysteries puts on some special events throughout the year, including the Murder is a Drag series. Murder is a Drag is a classic whodunit murder mystery where the audience is part of the action. The show takes place at a restaurant and patrons eat a three-course meal while also trying to solve clues and puzzles to uncover who did the grisly deed.

If you arrive early enough then you could potentially be given a special role to play in the show. The cast includes drag artists who sing and perform over the course of the night. Murder is a Drag shows are only for those who are ages 19 or older.

See our Murder is a Drag article to learn more.

Online Zoom Games

The following three games all take place online, so you can play them from home. This is especially good for those who want to have fun with family and friends in a comfortable format. (See our article about Vancouver Mysteries’ Online Games or visit the official Vancouver Mysteries website to learn more about these games.)

Big Top Werewolf Online Zoom Game

In addition to the above adventure games that people play in-person in downtown Vancouver, Vancouver Mysteries has a family-friendly virtual game that people can play via Zoom. Circus-themed Big Top Werewolf involves acting and tricks like magic, weight lifting and dancing. It’s a lot of fun.

Whereas the downtown games involve walking, deciphering codes and activities that challenge your brain, Big Top Werewolf involves light-hearted silliness, mini skits and laughter.

The online game is great for children and multi-generational families and friends. Corporate groups also find it good for team building and social events. It’s played with six or more players who work in teams.

See our article about Big Top Werewolf or visit the VancouverMysteries.com website to learn more about the circus-themed online game.

Zoom Trivia Games

Vancouver Mysteries offers a Zoom Trivia Game. This virtual game is more like a game show than it is a mystery game. However, it still makes for a competitive night of fun.

Participants play as individuals or form teams and compete against friends and family members to score the most points. Each game is private and can include between six and 300 players. A host guides everyone throughout the game.

With a variety of trivia categories available, everyone can play this online game show more than once. Prior to each game, groups vote on which four trivia categories they wish to play. All categories offer numerous types of questions, including multiple choice, ordering, video clues, audio clues and more.

Unlike the Big Top Werewolf game, the trivia game is recommended for people ages 14 and older. This is due to the level of knowledge needed to answer most questions. Games last between 60 and 90 minutes, and cost $25 per player.

Click Zoom Trivia Game to learn more about this game.

Black Skull Murder Mystery

The newest virtual game offered by Vancouver Mysteries is Black Skull: A Pirate Murder Mystery. Similar to in-person murder mystery parties, this online version is also a role-playing game. This means each player is given a character to play, and one character is the murderer.

Black Skull runs for about 90 minutes and can be played in groups of six to 12 participants. Each game is fully hosted by a guide, and all players are given their own objectives worth points. The main goal for each player is to complete all of their objectives and finish the game with the most points.

All participants are asked to play from their own computers (so sharing one screen with a competing family member is not recommended). The game gets competitive and is intended for people over the age of 13. The cost to play is $25 per person, and games are booked in two-hour increments.

Click Black Skull for more information and to buy tickets for this game. See our article about Black Skull Pirate Murder Mystery to learn about our experience when we played.

About Vancouver Mysteries

Vancouver Mysteries is a Vancouver-based company that offers outdoor adventure games in the heart of the city. Started in 2014, it was the first mystery game company of its kind in Canada.

Below is a brief video of the owner of Vancouver Mysteries talking about the company, its games and history.