Author Archives: escapethereview

Rami Hansenne: Codex Enigmatum

Room-in-a-box, Nov 2018

Puzzle books and magazines have always had a loyal following, as shown by the puzzle sections in almost every newspaper and the various puzzle magazines seen in newsagents. The boom in escape rooms appears to have had a welcome spill-over effect in e… (more)

Lock Academy: Très Cher Lock (Little Miss Lock)

Paris, Oct 2018

Lock Academy currently operates six escape rooms, and of those Très Cher Lock is the one I’d heard of first, the one that comes up most frequently in discussions of which games to play in Paris. However, that’s because it’s one of their earlier games… (more)

Lock Academy: L.A. Confidential

Paris, Oct 2018

Despite the name this is nothing to do with the 1997 movie starring Russell Crowe. The L.A. stands for Lock Academy, the detective school that provides a common setting for all this venue’s games, and your task is… to relax in the Academy’s recreat… (more)

Lock Academy: Le Casse de la Siècle (The Heist of the Century)

Paris, Oct 2018

First of three games I tried at Lock Academy, Heist of the Century was also the first escape room I’ve tried playing in a different language. Due to a complicated series of booking problems that were entirely my fault, I ended up having to find a sub… (more)

Epsom Escape: Operation Sealion

Epsom, Oct 2018

Located in the main clubhouse at Horton Park Golf Club, Epsom Escape’s games are from the same enthusiast designer as Escape From The Room in Sutton, and now hosts that venue’s Old Maid Milly game. Golf and escaping wouldn’t have occurred to be as an… (more)

Epsom Escape: Mystery Express: Inspector Graves’s Secret

Epsom, Oct 2018

When looking to book this game, you might be briefly confused as to whether it’s called Mystery Express or Inspector Graves’s Secret, and the reason is that the room is Mystery Express, but the game is Inspector Graves’s Secret. That’s … (more)

Epsom Escape: The Challenge Chambers

Epsom, Oct 2018

I knew before playing Challenge Chambers that it was a competitive ‘versus’ game where two teams can compete in identical copies of the room; what I hadn’t realised was that it also has a variable score system. Each copy of the room has a wall of puz… (more)

Fun Times Immersive: The Lift of Doom

London, Oct 2018

Escape rooms designed specifically for two are a rarity, but Lift of Doom is unusual in other ways. For a start, it’s only 17 minutes long (plus some time for an audio introduction). And where most venues frown upon players who’ve been drinking, this… (more)

AIM Escape: Hangover Déjà Brew

London, Oct 2018

Stag and hen groups are a reliable source of custom for escape rooms, so perhaps it’s surprising how few games in the UK have a risqué theme – I’m aware of four in the country, and six months ago there was only one. One of those four is Hangover Déjà… (more)

AIM Escape: Spy Heroes

London, Oct 2018

After playing AIM Escape’s first two games on an earlier occasion, we took advantage of a pre-Halloween offer to try their other two on a Friday lunchtime. First up was Spy Heroes, the sort of super-spy story where the bad guy is called Mr. Supervill… (more)