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Bewilder Box (Bright): Judgement D.A.V.E.

A thoroughly enjoyable experience with humour, strong characters, fun sci-fi decoration and good puzzles. A room that manages to appeal to enthusiasts with stronger-than-average puzzles and first-timers with calm-inducing humour, plus a cluing system that feel like it’s just part of the experience.

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Pier Pressure (Brighton): Modrophenia

A wonderful homage to a part of Brighton culture that I knew little about. Decoration-wise it’s impressive and there’s a decent story as well. A great option if you’re looking plenty of varied challenges.

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Pier Pressure (Brighton): Pavilion Perplex

From the grand entrance right to the finish, a visually impressive game with chunky, thematic decoration. Expect a few weak puzzles but not enough to spoil the experience.

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Prison Island Benálmadena (Málaga, Spain)

A collection of repeat-as-often-as-you-want games that challenge mentally and physically. A really fun experience that I think will become more prevalent over time.

Trends: Team challenge arcades

Thoughts on one future direction of the ER industry where teams play many entirely separate individual games as part of an overall experience.

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Pressure Point Escape Rooms (Ashford): Murder on the Dancefloor

An absolute joy to play. Interesting theme, beautiful execution, good, logical puzzles and plenty of humour thrown in. I don’t know what Pressure Point’s magic is, but they make games that just seem to flow really well and where you come out on a high.

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Pressure Point (Ashford): The Accused

A very solid prison escape game at its core with a few twists that made it more interesting. A couple of novel puzzles, some humour and a slightly more interesting story led to us coming out on a real high.

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CTRL ALT ESC (Margate): Spacescape

A high-quality game that I’d recommend playing. Fun puzzles, but the real stand-outs were the sense of exploration, the humorous interactions with a game character and an interesting start and finish.

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Get Lost Escape Rooms (Dover): The Abandoned Cottage

A fun and pretty game with good puzzle structure and a subtle story running through the experience. A little heavy on the search and a few too many padlocks, but still a good game.

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Get Lost Escape Rooms (Dover): World Fair Hotel

A fun game with a fantastic sense of exploration. For me, there was a bit too much searching and fewer puzzles than I’d like to see, but that didn’t dent the core enjoyment of the experience.