Happy New Year and welcome to the January 2018 edition of the London-focused escape rumours post. The eagle eyed among you may have spotted that I skipped over the December release – things have been pretty quiet in London so I didn’t think it was worth the update.

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

I’m continuing to catch up on my review backlog but if you’re after an opinion, feel free to drop me an email and I’ll try to help.

Plans

So, what have I been up to in the last couple of months? Well, in November I visited Escape London and City Mazes in London before taking a trip over to Hamburg for some 30+ games including some of the very best I’ve played. Come December, I took a quick trip up to East Anglia, dropping in on Cryptx in Cambridge and several venues in Peterborough, before heading back to London for Adventox. Towards the middle of the month, I had some early Christmas presents playing great games at Clue Adventures in London, Co-decode in Swindon and Time Trap in Reading. A quick trip to Vienna saw a cheeky game being added where I got to play with the bloggers from Two Bears Life plus a couple of local escape room managers from Crime Runners and Fox in a Box.

During Christmas itself, I had visits to Bury, Warrington, Oldham, Derby, Huddersfield, Brighouse, Leeds, York, Selby, Halifax, Hull before finishing the year off in style at the Secrets of South Lodge in Wetherby. Thanks to all the owners who shuffled their times and helped us to squeeze in every last game possible as we headed towards the end of the year. Still can’t quite believe that I ended the year on 396 games. One for every day and a whole month’s worth to spare…

As for the future, I’m, as ever, in the middle of organising my calendar. London-wise, Escape Plan is at the top of my list but a couple of the new entrants are definitely of interest and Inside Out is long overdue a visit. In terms of the UK, I need to sort out a visit to Kent – some new Panic Room games have opened since my last visit and Ctrl-Alt-Esc has moved high up my list. As of yet, though, the only games I have booked are at Escape Colchester. Further afield, I’m off to Berlin in February, Cologne in April and the Netherlands in May plus a bunch of smaller visits.

Obviously it’s not all about escaping though – I’ll be trying to squeeze in some immersive gaming too, most notably A Door in a Wall in February but also a trip to the Vaults Festival if possible.

News and Rumours

Exciting news this month – Unlock Parliament is a thirty minute game in association with Agent November where you’re set the task of moving Agent N’s bill through Parliament. Act now or you’ll miss your chance – last bookings are on Saturday but there are still tickets left!

Next up a new actor-led escape room is coming to Bethnal Green. Inkwell Investigations launched late last year with a single game, Murder History, and a suggestion that more will follow in 2018. It’s an unusual game in that it may be played indoors but they can’t yet guarantee that. If it’s a dealbreaker for you, then I recommend getting in touch to see what they say. I’m certainly curious about what they’ve produced – my interactions with them on Twitter lead me to believe they’ll have created an interesting and humorous game.

Meanwhile, No Escape London, open their doors right in the heart of the city a few feet away from Escape Land. Escape the Dentist launched yesterday and, unsurprisingly, I’ve not heard anything about it yet. The website makes it look like the game will be horror themed and with no Facebook or Twitter page that I could find, I can’t really tell you much more.

Komnata London looks like it will be launching in London in the not too distant future. They’re a Russian brand with venues in several countries already. Based on their website, they plan for four games to open here including the well-respected, and adult-oriented, 7 Sinful Pleasures (Room Escape Artist reviewed the NY version if you want to know more).

No official updates on Claustrophobia or Fox in a Box.

Discounts

Interestingly, quite a lot of companies have dropped off the Groupon list this month. I’d be curious to know whether that’s random chance or Groupon have changed tack. From a quick skim I think these are the ones that remain:

• Adventox
• Breakin’
• City Mazes
• Escape London
• Inkwell Investigations
• Inside Out
• No Escape

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!