Welcome to the April 2017 edition of the London-focused monthly escape rumours post. The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that I skipped the March update and, more generally, stopped publishing blog posts over the last six weeks. The good news is I’m already to step back into the fray and start publishing again. I’ve got one hell of a backlog though – over a hundred games to write about across three different countries and the little matter of Red Bull Mind Gamers to update you on (first post already published). As always, I’ve got notes on all the games I’ve played, so don’t worry too much and if you’re after an opinion then feel free to drop me an email and I’ll try to help.

Note that this update is about London (and a little further afield), if you want to know about games further afield then follow exitgames.co.uk where I publish a weekly update on the UK scene.

Plans

So, what have I have been up to in April? Well, the number of games hasn’t dropped off with 14 up in the North West (Clue HQ Warrington, Rooms Quest, Escapism, Breakout Chester, The Escape Room Manchester and No Exit in Bolton) plus, as you’ll have seen if you’ve been following the blog, 25 games in Prague. Finally, I slipped in a game up at Room Escape MK which keen readers will recognise as the company that produced two of the worst games I’ve ever played – keep your eyes peeled for that review!

In theory, I’m trying to cut back on the escaping and concentrate on blogging for the next couple of months but life seems to have other plans: We’ve got 25 games booked in Brussels and Amsterdam booked for May and it’s off to Gravesend for the Panic Room in June. As you’ll see below, there are a lot of rooms coming to London and I’ve still got a fair number to catch up on so I’ll be buckling down and playing catch up close to home as soon as possible.

News and Rumours

Escape this Room have launched in Shoreditch. A single game to start with, entitled London Bank Heist. Early bookers get a 30% discount with the code INTRO30. Pictures on the website certainly look intriguing with some high tech looking puzzles.

Escape from the Room, the enthusiast-run venue in Sutton has launched Cabin in the Woods. The main game lasts 60 minutes but there’s also an optional bonus puzzle trail to complete which is expected to keep even the most experienced teams occupied for the full hour. Completer-finisher? You’ve got the option of purchasing another 30 minutes in the room to allow you to complete everything.

Claustrophobia got in touch to let me know that their rooms in Essex Road are progressing. The current plan is to open in the Summer with two games Tesla’s Mystery and Artificial Intelligence.

Aftermath the Game are a mobile company running a game for 5-20 people around London. They come to you, bringing the game materials and a host with you just providing a space. From reading the website, it appears the materials arrive in a suitcase so hopefully still plenty of escape room elements (minus the searching!).

Another company that have been talking about opening for a while is City Mazes. They’ve now confirmed a venue in Shoreditch and launched their first game, the Professor’s Predicament. Like their games elsewhere, maximum team size is 10. They’ll be following up with three more games: The Lost Cabin, Steampunk Train and Jigsaw’s Escape.

Last month saw Handmade Mysteries finally open Poppa Plock over in Islington. First reports are reasonably positive but the main London reviewers are yet to play so watch their blogs over the next couple of months to see what the word on the street is.

Usually I don’t advertise rooms other than just before they open and during their first month but Clockwork Dog are a bit special. First, their run is due to end in June, so if you’re going to play you really need to get your act together. Secondly, they’ve been getting rave reviews from all the London bloggers so we need to get as many people to experience the game as possible.

Escape Rooms launched their new games last month up in Angel. The two games, apparently imported from China, are both sci-themed: Project D.I.V.A. and the Dark Side of the Moon. I’ve heard reports from customers of significant faults (probably related to the electronics in the room) so I’d hold off booking if you haven’t already signed up.

Fans of Escape in Time‘s game, Secret Studio, probably won’t have noticed that the website stopped taking booking last month. If they had, it might have been a bit of a worry but good news: it was only a temporary hiatus and they’ve now reopened slightly further east. They’re still well within striking distance of the city, so it shouldn’t dent their customer-base too badly and hopefully the new premises will mean new rooms!

That’s all folks

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect then let me know via email or in the comments below, or equally if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!