Category Archives: International

Hint Hunt: Pirates

Paris, Oct 2018

Just over five years ago I played my first escape room, at Hunt Hunt in London. I played my second with them as well, since at the time no other U.K. venues existed. Although I loved both games at the time, they were primitive by modern standards and… (more)

Escape Lab: PC Sécurité – Base B423 (Central Security Post – Base B423)

Paris, Oct 2018

Escape Lab is a curious experiment, a shared space where numerous different escape room operators can run their games, a business model that I could imagine succeeding elsewhere. PC Sécurité is from a design company named Oneway (previously Hydre), a… (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)

Get Out: The Curse of Horus

Lille, Jun 2018

Compulsively looking for another game to squeeze into our schedule before heading back to the U.K., we found Get Out happy to find us a slot at short notice, and also friendly about advising us on which of their five rooms we should play. On their re… (more)

Omega Agency: La Planque d’Ali

Ghent, Jun 2018

I tend to assume that any hint of an Egyptian theme in a game’s description means an Indiana Jones style tomb adventure, but this one is very clear that that’s not the case: you’re attempting to retrieve an artifact from the office of an egyptologist… (more)

John Doe: Casino Magnifico

Lille, Jun 2018

Our second game at John Doe had us on the trail of another missing agent, this time in the VIP lounge of a casino that might be a front for a nefarious drug gang. Your briefing instructs you that a particular celebrity is involved and you need to ide… (more)

John Doe: The Prison of Blue Castle

Lille, Jun 2018

John Doe’s company name comes from their overarching story device, which is that they’re a secret agency whose entire agent roster has recently been compromised; since their professional agents have all been outed, they’re reliant on you, promising m… (more)

ANTCollectief: De Kelder (The Cellar)

Ghent, Jun 2018

ANTCollectief’s website plays its cards close to its chest with an intriguing lack of information about their game’s theme; something about discovering the secrets of a cellar, and little more. It does indeed take place in a cellar, a found space tha… (more)