The Escape Room Thread

[Davsto]

Did one with some mates in Staffordshire. The location had 6 different themes to choose from and we went for a homicide investigation one - great fun, we barely finished within the hour timer (literally seconds left) and the puzzles were (mostly) creative and unique. Only issue was the pacing - the first three rooms had around 4-6 puzzles in each, so we had only ten minutes left and thought we couldn't make it, but then the last two (or three? Can't remember) rooms only had a single puzzle each which felt rather odd. However, it was undeniably great fun, and I haven't felt adrenaline like that in a while.

Definitely planning on returning in the near future.

[Davsto]

Have done a total of 7 escape rooms over the past couple years:

In Newcastle-under-Lyme Escape Rooms (now known as "Break Free"):
The aforementioned homicide investigation
Prison break - was fun since we started off all handcuffed together and the theming and puzzles were good, however we somewhat ruined this one for ourselves - hot off the heels of the homicide investigation's 6 or so rooms we assumed this would be similar so asked for hints way too early since this only had two rooms but we didn't know this - so we only spent about half an hour in it.
Sherlock Holmes - did this one with family, was considerably harder than the others and is the only escape room we've ever failed (blame it on spending about 15 mins stuck on one little puzzle) - the final puzzle is figuring out who did the murders and how and why, which gives a four digit code for the last door - we had seconds left and sadly had one digit wrong. Was still the most fun at this location.

Overall this location has well themed rooms and good puzzles, but the rooms are very linear; the first two I did with six people and it felt way too crowded with all of us trying to solve the same puzzle at the same time almost the whole way, and all the clashing ideas made them less fun. The Sherlock room with just four of us was much more enjoyable.

Manchester, Lucardo:
School of Magic: Did this with scummers Postie and wgeurts, was great fun with some really clever and intriguing puzzles and some puzzles requiring teamwork which is always great. Theming was great too. Not an "escape" room as such as the goal was to pass a test by reaching the final room and making a potion but that just made it more interesting. Would very much like to come to this location again if Manchester wasn't just a bit too far out.

Oxford, Escape Hunt
Wild West - was a very interesting escape room in that it was incredibly non-linear; there's about a 15 min main linear path to reach the train engine, with the main aim being to get all the gold bars then enough coal to allow the train to carry it all - this culminates in a large room with an absolute ton of little, interesting puzzles which get you coal and searching every nook and cranny of the room to get the last pieces which was really fun and a different dynamic than I'm used to from escape rooms - was just me and gf doing this but this seems to be one that would be great with large numbers or people wanting a break from "typical" escape rooms
Last Samurai - and the complete opposite in a very linear room with only a few times where there are multiple puzzles that can be solved at once (thought better than the Newcastle location's so I reckon this would still be good with many). The theming was exceptional (the wild west was good too but this was so good) and the puzzles were great.
Honestly this is such a good location for escape rooms and I'm looking forwards to going through more in the coming years


Then at Eastermeet we did a prison break room, with six of us. Was fairly non-linear with lots of little puzzles providing parts for the main flag puzzle, as well as lots of other puzzles not leading to this resulting in an interesting room. The puzzles themselves were a little by-the-numbers and the theming was not the best (the room felt very bare unlike the other locations I've done) and I wasn't a big fan of the hint system where you had a Walkie talkie and often the guide gave help unprompted and very soon, but was still a lot of fun as escape rooms are.

[Davsto]

Done another at Escape Hunt in Oxford. Pirate-themed. Was really fun and well-themed for the most part as is the place's high standards with some very interesting puzzles, but I'd still probably consider it the weakest there. One of the cooler set-pieces (a big cabinet-sized pachinko sorta thing) was out of order because apparently the object had a habit of getting stuff. Also an early puzzle

has about 3 different clues pointing to it - meaning that twice we figured out a cool clue only to find it pointed us to something we'd already done

. Plus, a later puzzle relied on

sense of smell. And in a "specifically think about smelling these objects" sorta way as opposed to noticing a smell

, it was a cool idea and I appreciated it afterwards but also knew there was near no chance we'd figure it at the time without hints.

Then at Other World Escapes, Portsmouth. Pub-themed. Was a real treat tbh had some really interesting and hands-on puzzles. A bit more time than your average room and had this real great moment where

you think it's all over - you've used all the keys and codes and clues and everything in the main room and solved what seems to be the main mystery. Then you read a letter which gives you one clues and tells you it's not quite over. Then - heavy spoiler for the actual puzzle - you realise you have to push an arcade cabinet into the wall to open up an entirely new room that was incredibly hidden and unexpected. Only a few puzzles in that bit but it was a cool surprise

. I'm looking forwards to hopefully doing another room at that location in the future.