Category Archives: UK

Live Escape Salisbury: The Brig

Salisbury, Dec 2022

Live Escape’s original game Spectre remains much loved by enthusiasts, so I’d been looking forward to trying their second full physical game. This one is at a different and more central address, and is distinctive in its play style – you could almost… (more)

Enigma Quests: Mission Wavebreak

London, Apr 2022

The third game from Enigma Quests opened shortly before the pandemic, with the result that I was still thinking of it as a new game and was surprised to realise that it’s already over two years old. The scenario here is that you’re trying to defuse a… (more)

MoviEscape: Merlin’s Magic Academy

Stockport, Apr 2022

MoviESCAPE’s boast is that for extra realism and immersion, they use items taken from real haunted houses and movie sets as part of their room decor; with the magic school game we played, that was presumably less of the former and more of the latter…. (more)

Pier Pressure: Modrophenia

Brighton, Sep 2022

I know close to nothing about the Mods, and certainly don’t have any nostalgic resonance with the sub-culture. Even so, the exuberance and ubiquity of the Sixties patterns and designs were irresistible.

If you’re not familiar with the history, the M… (more)

Pier Pressure: Loot The Lanes

Brighton, Sep 2022

Loot The Lanes should need little introduction. It’s occupied the #1 slot on this site’s rankings of UK games for far longer than any of its rivals, and it was the highest ranked UK game in the TERPECA awards in 2019, 2020 and 2021. As a result it’s … (more)

Pier Pressure: Smuggler’s Secret

Brighton, Sep 2022

The latest game from Pier Pressure is the first to be based at their Paradox Parlour shop, which had a highly tempting array of goodies for sale and which also offers their museum of illusions – which we didn’t have a chance to explore this time but … (more)

Compendium Escape Rooms: UI-55

Bury, Apr 2022

Of Compendium’s (currently) four games, UI-55 stands apart, right near the top of enthusiasts’ rankings for best U.K. games. It’s also very different in style: where the others are well suited for an experienced pair, UI-55 is a score-based game wher… (more)

Compendium Escape Rooms: The Laboratory

Bury, Apr 2022

Compendium Escape Rooms: Wrong Turn

Bury, Apr 2022

In a great example of how not to get your escape room sponsored by the US tourist board, Compendium’s horror room starts with the premise that you impulsively take a side trip into Alabama and shortly thereafter find yourself searching the house of a… (more)

Compendium Escape Rooms: Bedlam

Bury, Apr 2022

Visiting Compendium to binge all four of their games as part of a larger schedule, we started with the insane asylum theme, which I guess is rather suitable for anyone trying to do eight escape rooms in a day. All the rooms in the venue looked good, … (more)