by Escape Coalville (website)
2-6 players
Languages: EN
60 minutes
For many years Coalville has been a coal mining town until the closure of the final pit in 1983. Records document the town’s history and found that, at one point, there were 3 main collieries across the area.
This seemed to be correct until we unearthed what could be the entrance to a fourth location. Having worked with local historians, it has become apparent that there are some artefacts still undiscovered inside, 8 mining lanterns to be exact. It is your job to find as many of these as you can.
But, the mine has been locked away for some time. Due to its age, there is no light inside so it’ll require your sense of touch, hearing and smell alone. Meter readings also suggest a high level of Carbon Monoxide. It’s safe enough for you to stay inside for 60 minutes at most.
Overall rating
based on ratings from 17 users
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Player reviews
A very unique concept, executed brilliantly. Very enjoyable game
Just a marvellous concept. I don't know why this kind of thing hasn't been done elsewhere (according to the GM it's the only pitch black room in the country). It's really immersive and hands-on, you have to think differently and buy into it and it's massive fun to do so.
We absolutely loved this room! Communication is one of our team's strengths so we found the puzzles in this room fairly easy, having found 5 lanterns in about 15 minutes and all 8 by the end. However, it's probably one of the most fun rooms we have done. It is really unique and makes you think in a very different way to your standard room. It's worth mentioning that this is not a scary room; there is nothing at all in this room that is meant to be even remotely creepy other than for anyone who would have a fear of the dark.
We had a lot of niggles which almost ruined the experience for us.
We had the brief, where the host unenthusiastically read from a crumpled A4 piece of paper.
We then entered the room and to start off with, the room WAS completely dark, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. But then over the hour, your eyes have time to adjust and you start noticing even the slightest bit of light, which kind of ruined the immersion slightly.
During the brief, we were told not to touch the wooden panel on the wall, which is hard instruction to follow when the game consisted of feeling around in the dark. At one point during the game, he kept telling us off for touching it, but we still have no idea which one of us was touching it, so every time we were told, we just kind of all had to stop what we were doing.
Then a little LED kept illuminating on the ceiling, which we thought we were making happen so we focused on it for a while until the host told us to ignore it because it was just the microphone or something. (How hard would it be to disconnect the LED).
While trying to avoid spoilers, there was this 'type' of puzzle we've seen often enough, usually quite a pleasant and fun puzzle (and the perfect puzzle for a fully dark room), however, this version of the puzzle had us all gagging. It was not pleasant at all.
The venue was easy to find, with free parking right beside it, which was very handy.
This is such a unique concept. It's not spoiler that this game is played in the complete darkness - and it really is darkness! Your eyes do not adjust at all. It heightens all your senses and forces you to visualise the room and remember where you have "felt" things previously etc. A very clever concept, not the easiest thing to do, not being able to see but absolutely acheiveable. You need to communicate and trust yourself and your team mates. I really enjoyed this challenge.
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For those who want to get together for some games. Try and keep them north of Oxford and south of Manchester but outliers are ok if we all want to do them!