Category Archives: UK

Exit Plan: Svengali’s Lair

Edinburgh, Apr 2017

Svengali’s Lair has a great start, a memorable finish, and plenty of nice touches in between. The theme is a little more tongue-in-cheek than their other two games, with a vaudevillian bad guy taunting the players over the audio system as they attemp… (more)

Exit Plan: Framed!

Edinburgh, Apr 2017

A killer is loose, and the players have an hour to identify them and clear their names, searching for evidence inside the victim’s house.

Like Exit Plan’s other rooms, there’s a bit of a sense of the puzzles having been combined ad-hoc, with no part… (more)

Exit Plan: The Tesla Cube

Edinburgh, Apr 2017

This game is a contender for a record for sheer things to do in a room. Insofar as the satisfaction of playing an escape game comes from successfully solving puzzles, this one provides a continual stream of small victories.

The titular Tesla Cube is… (more)

Can You Escape: Operation Odyssey

Edinburgh, Apr 2017

Operation Odyssey is one of two games at Can You Escape, and got off to a good start when the operator gave the surprisingly detailed initial briefing in character. The level of costume was simple but the effort adds to the game. The briefing include… (more)

Enigma Room: The Bank Job

Sheffield, Apr 2017

Whilst checking out which rooms to try in Sheffield during a quick visit to the Snooker, we stumbled upon Enigma Rooms. A three-venue franchise outfit based initially in Doncaster, but now including Sheffield and Retford.

Handily located on Sheffie… (more)

Handmade Mysteries: Poppa Plock’s Wonky Workshop

London, Apr 2017

During our introduction from Wynne, a mechanical toy / human, he asked us “Who’d pay real money to get locked in a room, just to get out of it again? With strangers!”. He has a point. I’d suggest he was a wind-up merchant, but he was, quite literally… (more)

Adventox: Mission X

London, Apr 2017

This game was originally listed as ‘Terror Alert in London’, and the operators made the sensible decision to rename it when real-world events made the original name appear in questionable taste. In either guise it’s a variant on the common bomb defus… (more)

Adventox: Alcatraz: No Way Out

London, Apr 2017

It really lifts a game when the physical location has been decorated with care and skill. When the designers have put in the work to include clever, creative ideas that not only go beyond just ‘solve a puzzle to get the code for a padlock’ but also s… (more)

Escape London: Escape Casino

London, Apr 2017

Casino is in many ways a fairly traditional escape game, but with the twist that you may have the option of escaping without solving everything in the room. Players may therefore find that they’ve opened the final door, but choose to delay their exit… (more)

Ex(c)iting Game: Project: The Diamond

Oxford, Mar 2017

Ex(c)iting Games’ second room is refreshingly well-lit, a relief after Warehouse. It also has a novel twist: in the briefing we were warned that a security guard might sometimes look into the room, so when we heard footsteps we had ten seconds to hid… (more)