Escape Mail is a hands-on, interactive escape room experience delivered right to your school. We offer 3 games to choose from, each with different features for your students. All of our games make for fantastic educational tools to combine fun and learning seamlessly.

The main benefit of playing Escape Mail is that students will have fun while building essential skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration. Secondary skills also include reading comprehension, basic algebra, pattern recognition and recall. Plus, our newest game The Shackleton Series is historical fiction with an entire section of the game dedicated to making historical connections.

The Family Secrets Series is a 12-episode adventure designed for 1-4 players aged 10 and up. It is our flagship, original series. Each episode takes 1-2 hours to complete and follows a continuous storyline about uncovering hidden family treasures with the help of your long-lost cousin JJ. Through mysterious letters, photos, videos, and website clues, students solve puzzles that promote problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork.

The Shackleton Series is our newest game and is historically accurate. It features a 6-episode adventure designed for 1-4 players aged 12 and up. Each episode takes 1.5-2 hours to complete and follows the incredible true story of the 1914-16 Imperial Transantarctic Expedition. Through maps, documents and photos, as well as various 3-D constructed elements, students will be immersed in this icy tale of heroism, leadership and resilience.!

Shinobi is our most repayable. It features a real metal key, canvas and wooden scroll, as well as high quality yardstick materials. There is only one asset that is consumed during gameplay and this item can be re-printed at your convenience. It is a single episode adventure designed for 1-4 players aged 12 and up. It takes 2-3 hours to complete and follows a light narrative of ninja lore.

Yes! Check our special bulk pricing based on the size of the group playing.

If you’re playing simultaneously we recommend having one copy for every 4 students.

The following discounts will be automatically applied at checkout. 

• Order any 10-24 games and get 20% off
  
• Order 25-49 games = 25% off
  
• 50+ games = 30% off
  

If you’d like to receive a PO or Invoice instead, or have any questions, simply email us at info@theescapemail.com
 or fill out the form on the bottom of the page.

Our games are simple to understand (not a lot of rules) but challenging to solve! Getting started is simple:

1. Open your game (usually in an envelope) and examine the items. Aside from an internet-connected device, everything you need to get started is inside!
2. Scan the QR code to receive a bit more guidance on how to begin the adventure, as well as access hints, soundtrack, and more.
3. Use curiosity to solve the puzzles! If you get stuck the hints are right there in the companion web app. Usually you’re looking for a number or a word and the narrative helps make sense of what you need to find.
4. Continue to the next episode (unless you are playing Shinobi), until you reach the grand finale at episode 6 (for the Shackleton Series) or episode 12 (in the Family Secrets Series).

Yes! We have carefully crafted tiered hints inside the companion web app, starting from a nudge all the way to a detailed solution for each puzzle. They can all be accessed by scanning the QR code in your game.

We have a few shipping options for every destination, including fast, tracked shipping for anywhere in Canada and the United States. When reaching checkout, you will be prompted to select your preferred shipping method. All orders are shipped on the following business day and we ship worldwide!

No. Both of our Series games (Shackleton and Family Secrets) have options for getting started. You can purchase 1 episode and try it out. Each episode has its own objective and conclusion (although some episodes have some pretty good cliffhangers!), so even a single episode is a great experience. BUT the larger storyline of tracking down your family's hidden treasure (or traversing Antartica) spans across multiple episodes. If you start with just Episode 1 and want to know what happens next, you can continue the adventure starting from Episode 2 with a subscription or bundle.

We suggest our games be played by strong readers, usually 10-12 and up. But you can go younger if you are solving together with an adult. All the content is family-friendly and PG. There is no foul language, romance, or drug/alcohol references.

Yes! It encourages collaboration and diverse perspectives. We suggest anywhere from 1-4 players.

• Playing solo: While it is not required to play in a group, if your student is playing solo it can be very challenging, as we have designed the puzzles in each episode in a way that it requires a variety of ways of thinking, so being able to lean on other perspectives is helpful.
• Playing with more than 4 players: The puzzles in some episodes are quite linear (meaning one puzzle must be solved before the next) and other episode are more non linear (meaning you can have multiple people solving different puzzles simultaneously). You can certainly play with 5-6 players, but be aware that there will be times that it is difficult for everyone to be actively participating.

Most of the game happens right on your table top using the physical assets in your envelope or package. There is an online portal which will help guide you through the story by watching the occasional video or chatting with JJ (the fictional cousin character sending you envelopes). The online portal is also where you will input your answers and get hints, so an online connected device is necessary to solve each game.

Most of our games can be reused. Shinobi is fully reusable with a re-printable answer sheet. Shackleton has a refill kit available for purchase. And The Family Secrets Series is not designed to be replayable, however, Episode 1 can be replayed without too much difficulty. That being said, once you know the answers and how to solve the puzzles, it is not meant to be replayed by the same person. But next year’s students can enjoy the games again!