Houdini’s Escape Room Experience Southampton: Escape From Alcatraz

A fun room, though it has a few hidden items that we missed on searching - it seemed like these were deliberately sneaky. The puzzles were solid and pretty clear, though I think we needed a few hints.

The GM was really full on which split our team - you'll either love her or loathe her. 

I actually thought this was better than Titanic. The puzzles are clever and flow with the rooms and transitions. A more difficult game than Titanic which makes it more satisfying to complete. 

The Prices Are Criminal

I came with friends as a group of 6 to Escape from Alcatraz. The instructional video at the start of the game went on far too long and basically repeated everything our host told us. Speech in the next video introducing the story was too quiet to hear.

Story

Escape your cell in Alcatraz before you’re taken to the electric chair.

Puzzles

Some of the puzzles and their solutions were far too tenuously linked: there was one in particular where I was just like…well how on earth would you know how to do [that] with [that]. None of them were particularly innovative, either. Our host, Claudia, was lively, invested in our experience and offered hints in the best way. Whenever we asked for one, questions like “Do you want to know what to do with X” or “Would you like a riddle?” were posed to us, so our team could choose how much or little assistance to receive.

Mise-en-scene

Sure, Escape from Alcatraz is a solid (but generic-themed) break-out-of-jail escape room, but £25 per person- a price that doesn’t change whether your group is a 2 or a 6- is unjustifiable. Take a good luck at the discount page before paying, as there’s lots. We got money off with Blue Light Card, but it was still £21.25 per person.

Final Comments

I may be giving a harsh critique here, but my point is that, for a room priced at £150 per play, jaws should drop, and minds should be blown. While this didn’t happen, we still had a fun time.

Good fun room, but cant help but think we were delayed on some of the puzzles by the GM laying it on a bit thick regarding your "cellmate" in the briefing. Maybe we took this bit a little too literally... lesson learnt! Phone torches were needed as the mini ones provided are crap.