If only the room had looked half as good as this…

Outside the room

A couple of weeks after my last visit to Escape Hunt I was back again, with the biggest group of players I’d ever organised. I’d booked EIGHT rooms for 37 people, so half the group were playing this room, and half the one I’d played a couple of weeks earlier.

Unsurprisingly, the venue hadn’t changed, but we had different hosts, which was interesting. They weren’t as confident, and gave pretty much identical spiels for both rooms, which was disappointing. The least they could do is pretend they’re different and give them to us separately.

Background

There’s been a kidnapping in the living room, and you have to solve it. That’s pretty much the whole story.

Inside the room

So this was a massive disappointment. The room was ridiculously similar to the other Escape Hunt room we’d played, to the point where I had to excuse myself from a couple of the puzzles because it was obvious what the answer was.

Talking to other players later, there seemed to be massive variation in the amount of clues we were given, so some people got out really quickly having (spontaneously) been given several queues, while others got out later having been given just one. It seemed like they didn’t have a clear plan of when you’d get clues, which makes comparison (which are fairly meaningless at the best of times) nigh on impossible.

Again, nothing particularly memorable about the room, other than one very difficult to solve puzzle and another puzzle which was identical to one in the Bedroom game.

Result

All eight teams got out with between 25 and 10 minutes remaining, and for the vast majority of people, this was their first game. We’re bright players, but I think this suggests the rooms are too easy.

Verdict –

If you’re going to organise a company visit to one of these, with 20+ people, then this is a great venue. The two waiting rooms are fantastic, they’re set up to cope with large numbers of people, and it looks professional.

If you’re going with a few friends, don’t bother – it’s too easy and lacks the excitement and wow factor of other venues.

Eating

We ate just round the corner in the Counting House, a very nice pub that specialises in pies. It also happens to have various nooks and crannies that you can book, so perfect if you are organising a large trip. Food was great, although drinks service in the private rooms left a lot to be desired.

Detailed Room Ratings

Venue
Host
Wow! factor
Immersiveness
Difficulty