Category Archives: UK

LevelUp Escape: Mission: Abducted

Shrewsbury, Mar 2024

LevelUp are inside a shopping centre, and since they were kind enough to open early to accommodate our schedule, that meant we had a slightly surreal entry through a closed and deserted mall. That would have made a very appropriate start to a zombie … (more)

Clockwork Escapes: The Creep

Telford, Mar 2024

With my usual disregard for reading about rooms before I book them, I’d assumed Creep was some kind of serial killer theme, purely based on the name. But no – it’s a lot closer to a sci-fi lab room, and although there’s peril it’s not of the human ki… (more)

Clockwork Escapes: Professor Clockwork’s Mind Palace

Telford, Mar 2024

Of the three rooms at Clockwork, Professor Clockwork’s Mind Palace is the one that’s least likely to wow you on entry. First impressions may be of a relatively basic style of set design. This is misleading, in that it’s actually quite a striking and … (more)

Clockwork Escapes: The Legend of Foole’s Gold

Telford, Mar 2024

Any visit to Clockwork Escapes is likely to leave you talking about the host. Becostumed and behatted, with an instant dry wit that could put Richard O’Brien to shame, with the presence and elocution of a circus ringmaster, he sets the tone of the ve… (more)

Escape Nation: Incognito’s Secret Lair

Stafford, Mar 2024

Incognito opened not long after my first visit to Escape Nation, and I’ve been meaning to play it ever since, on the strength of their first room, so was delighted to finally get a chance.

This is a light hearted secret agent game, decorated in brig… (more)

Escapism: Legacy

Plymouth, Mar 2024

I’m very overdue a proper trip round the escape rooms of Devon and Cornwall, but in the meantime I’ll take whatever brief chances I get to try them. So on a fleeting visit to Plymouth I picked a room at random at Escapism and booked in.

In Legacy yo… (more)

Enigma Rooms Wakefield: Séance

Wakefield, Oct 2023

Of the UK’s scary games, Séance is one of the most highly rated by enthusiasts, so we were always going to include it on any visit to the area; it was pure coincidence that we found ourselves there on Halloween. The premise is classic supernatural ho… (more)

The Escaporium: Area 51½

Halifax, Oct 2023

It seems like Area 51.5 has been tantalisingly under construction ever since I first visited The Escaporium, many years back; it’s been through quite a catalogue of setbacks, but is finally open and receiving considerable acclaim. In it, you’re tryin… (more)

Escape Quest: Henry Fortune’s House of Illusion

Macclesfield, Oct 2023

There are vanishingly few occasions in which I’ve replayed an escape room, and I’m not sure this counts as one of them. This new version of Henry Fortune is part of Escape Quest’s Chapelgate Mysteries, an overarching time travel setting that now incl… (more)

Escapable: The Great Loudini

Wakefield, Oct 2023

When rating escape rooms I’m not exactly generous, and I’ve sometimes been asked before, by the owners of exceedingly good games, what persuades me to give a 5* score. My usual reply is that it needs something beyond just all-round excellence: some w… (more)