Athens, Jun 2018
It’s 1719 and you’re hunting a secret tune which is rumoured to grant all who hear it eternal life. Willie the pirate stole it from some natives (who cursed him), and no-one since has come back from his lair alive. Whilst searching for the tune the natives capture you and force you to find and return the tune to them. You have an hour before the curse of Willie captures you forever.
Entering the room, it’s immediately obvious that a huge amount of effort has gone into the decoration. There were several beautiful custom made props and puzzles all on theme, that were not just beautifully crafted but also had clever mechanisms that really added to the experience.
One of the interesting features about the room is the use of multi element puzzles. These are very well designed and bring a real element of challenge, particularly for smaller groups due to the quantity of information. Beginners or smaller groups may struggle as a result, particularly as some of these had fairly long sequences.
There were a few flaws: in an otherwise brilliantly decorated room, having a few modern locks detracted from the rest of their great decorative effort; having two identical locks we “just had to try” always annoys me; there wasn’t even a basic hour glass to track time; and above all, having a very search heavy room made deliberately dark was unnecessary.
However those are niggles – it’s a must play in Athens. 