Exit games does an excellent blog on UK wide escape rooms, with regular news updates. If you’re not already a reader, then I highly recommend you sign up. I still think it’s interesting to have a page dedicated to London’s scene though, that can talk in a bit more detail about what’s going on, and occasionally, shamelessly, throw in a bit of unsubstantiated rumour.
The aim is for this to be a monthly publication, keeping track of all the news in the London Escape Room scene. Apologies in advance – I may leave some elements on for several months running if I still think they’d count as news to non-regular readers.
Competitions and special offers
Hidden Rooms are running a Groupon offer at the moment. £25 for THREE people in an escape room in London? That’s ultra good value. Even the early bird tickets at Enigma Quests weren’t that cheap. At under a tenner a person I’d be taking advantage if I hadn’t already played both games…
Lies, damned lies and statistics
- Escape room venues: 15
- Escape rooms: 22
- The Logic Escapes Me reviewed: 19 (plus 4 outside London)
- Next reviews:
- Escape Plan Limited (September)
- Enigma Quests (October)
- A Door in a Wall – Appetite for Murder (October)
News and Rumours
Enigma Quests were successful in crowdfunding their upcoming escape room, “School of Witchcraft and Wizardry“. It was particularly interesting watching the ebb and flow of backers over the week, where two things made a significant difference: TimeOut London tweeted about them on 11th August, and then on 18th August they appeared in the physical TimeOut. How much of a difference did this make? Well, take a look at the kicktraq page and I think it’ll become apparent… Lesson for the future – if you want a crowdfunding campaign to be successful then you need to get it advertised widely by a major publication such as TimeOut. Note that due to some water damage after the recent rain, they’ve delayed their opening by a few weeks to late October.
Secret Studio look like they’re going to be opening up a second room. Or rather, the same room but for returning players. If that’s right then it’s definitely interesting, because it’s not a model I’ve seen operated before. They were already unique in London in having a room that could be set up on two difficulty levels, so I’m intrigued to see them pushing the boundaries even further.
Still no word from Lock’d on their next room, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion we’ll see it open in September. Watch this space.
Still no date from clueQuest for the official opening of their next room “Revenge of the Sheep”, but they did take it out for a test run earlier this month. I’m still thinking late November, just in time for the Christmas rush.
AIEscape continue to tease with photos of their installation, but no firm word on their opening dates. I’m guessing October given what I’ve seen so far, but I think we should get a firmer idea in the next few weeks.
One site that’s been sitting under the radar for a very long time is containment.zone. They’re looking for a very different market from other escape rooms, so I’m keen to see them exit their test phase and go live.
While not strictly inside the M25, Room Escapeist seems likely to be close enough for this site to make a trip. I’m still piecing together clues that I’ve seen so far, but if the most recent thing I picked up turns out to be true then they could be hosting their games from a very secret location indeed, and, if I’m right, then I’ll be very, very excited!
Good and bad news from the Crystal Maze after their crowdfunding campaign. The good news is that they’ve started fulfilling the non-event rewards. The bad news is that they’ve shifted out the opening of their site until the new year. Perhaps not all bad news though – it’s more important that they get it right than they make it quick.
That’s all folks
That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect then let me know, or equally if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, and I’ll include updates in the next edition.
Thanks for reading!