December 2016

- Overall rating:
The Panic Room (Harlow): The Panic Room

A fun game with plenty of puzzles but felt a bit lacking in theming and story. A reasonable introduction for beginners but experienced players may find it a little on the easy side even with small teams.

- Overall rating:
Bewilder Box

That rare gem – a room genuinely worth travelling for. Excellent introduction, games masters, puzzles and theming combined to make this a really enjoyable game.

- Overall rating:
Escape Game Brighton: Laboratory of a Madman

A short and simple game which would have been entirely unmemorable were it not for a couple of higher tech puzzles. Not enough to redeem it but enough to make me feel it wasn’t entirely without merit.

- Overall rating:
Trapped In: Crazy Clown's Carnival

A small, well themed game with a shortage of true puzzles and an emphasis on searching, observation and, in particular, skill challenges. The finale is extended and likely to be something that teams love or loathe.

- Overall rating:
Trapped In: Ruby Factory

A fun game where you’ll definitely get your money’s worth – most likely playing almost the full sixty minutes. A wide variety of puzzles, a fun scoring mechanism and an inevitably stressful finale made this a joy to play. The only drawbacks were a safety issue in the room and some temperamental props but in spite of those I’d heartily recommend.

- Overall rating:
Mission Breakout: Codebreakers

A game that really gets you into the spirit of the Second World War codebreakers. If you can cope with a slightly claustrophobic couple of minutes, some loud noise early on and a little bit of frustration in a later puzzle then I think you’ll have an amazing time. If you’ve interested in the work at Bletchley Park during the war then I think this is a must do. Oh, and it’s inside a disused Underground station!

- Overall rating:
Do Stuff: Hostage Hideout

A game that took escape room logic to a whole new level with me continually feeling a disconnect between the very specific storyline they’d chosen and the nonsensical puzzling we performed. If you ignore that, there are a variety of enjoyable puzzles with one or two that you’ll find novel as well as one that you might find incredibly frustrating. Beautifully hosted with clues provided at appropriate moments.

- Overall rating:
ClueTrace: Mind Crime

A cleverly themed room that did a wonderful job of evoking the mind in a physical space but that was let down by a collection of puzzles that felt more like they had been randomly thrown in than careful collected to allow you to flow through the game.

- Overall rating:
Escape London: Area 51

A decently themed game which was generally enjoyable but was badly let down by a flawed puzzle and a broken lock.

- Overall rating:
Escape London: da Vinci

A solid but uninspiring game from the Escape franchise. While there were no big negatives in the room, ultimately there was nothing that got me excited.