Cryptology Nottingham: Cypherdyne v1.5

By | March 20, 2019

by Cryptology Nottingham (website)

107 Upper Parliament Street

​0115 686 0778

Nottingham

2-6 players

60 minutes

You and your team have been selected to take part in a legendary Cypherdyne interview. A challenging and disarming hour long test that is rumoured to not just separate the wheat from the chaff but discard the chaff entirely.
Unsure what to expect, the promise of a great job in this dire economy is enough for you to face whatever challenge the CEO has set for you, your career may be about to explode with opportunity!
The bright lights are clinical, the desk pristine, but something is odd… this isn’t just an office.
Can you become part of Cypherdyne’s elite security team? Or will you bomb and be swept aside just before the next candidates arrive?
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Overall rating

Rated between 2.5 and 3.5 out of 5

based on ratings from 29 users
combined with 5 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Tatticorn rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
Catherine K experienced rated this:
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendly

A good solid game.

🌵Juliette B expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 18/08/2019 Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed 🙁

This room ended up not really grabbing me, having loved both of the other offerings at Cryptology. Somehow we just did not gel with it and ended up needing a fair bit of prompting, with a real struggle to understand one particular puzzle even when essentially being told the answer. Last puzzle is well placed to ramp up the tension but by that point we had all but given up. Office setting does feel a little dull although there are some touches later on that add to this a little. I understand other people have fared better so perhaps we were just not on our A game for this one, but of the available offerings at Dreamscape I would definitely pick the other 2 first. 

🔐James Bloodworth expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 30/06/2019 Team size: 2 Time taken: 49:33 Outcome: Successful escape!
A re-working of their previous game (I never played the previous iteration) this room sees you applying for a job at the mysterious Cypherdyne corporation but its not the normal kind of interview.  This is a fun room with a nice mix of puzzles that flowed nicely.  It's also set in a normal office style environment and we played this at the height of summer so the windows were open and the sun was shining in, considering how often we play rooms in minimal light this made a nice change.
🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Arjay Henshall expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 04/03/2020 Team size: 3 Time taken: 49:22 Outcome: Successful escape!
SiSitAndWait rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 4 Time taken: 49odd Outcome: Successful escape!

This was our first game here and starts in a standard setting where we all thought it was a but plain. However this leads you into a false sense (in a good way) and the finale is still probably one we talk about the most!

Moosehead expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 4
hi-techoriginalgreat hosting

Another awesome game from the Cryptology team!  We had loads of fun in this game.  There's some really cool tech involved that I've never seen before and some funny nods for the sci-fi geeks out there.  

flyingoctopus expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techfamily friendly

Great fun with a solid theme throughout. 

Some interesting puzzles. Needed a little help along the way. 

Sabrina (The Overthinkers) expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 18 Apr 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 38:34 Outcome: Successful escape!
Jemileh experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
matt_keds expert rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Played: 1 Jun 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50:09 Outcome: Successful escape!
illogicalplain

#65

Unfortunately we just didn’t gel with this one. Puzzles seemed a bit boring and illogical but that may have just been our expectations.

Jess_keds expert rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Played: 1 Jun 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50:35 Outcome: Successful escape!
plainunoriginallow-budgetquite easy

Was such a shame to start our 2 day trip with such a plain room. When we were taken to the room, I genuinely thought the GM had taken us to her office, but no, to my disappointment we were in the room. The puzzles were uninspired and honestly frustrating at times. 

Adam Bravery expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 6 Jun 2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 28:44 Outcome: Successful escape!
funnygreat hostingintensequite easy

Solid game with some fun puzzles and an exciting ending. Our GM James was really chatty and talked us through the small hints we'd missed after the game. Some funny references in game gave us a chuckle. 

Mrs G expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 3 Time taken: 46.27 Outcome: Successful escape!

An unusual theme which was far less immersive than the other games here but enjoyable all the same. 

🤘The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2
The Monkey expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
plain

I just didn't like the room which is unusual for Cryptology who Re usually amazing

TheSinger expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
plain

A very plain looking room in comparison to others at the same venue. It’s almost like you were playing an escape room from years ago… office setting, plain furniture… nothing particularly amazing about it. Luckily this was our first of three in the same day at the venue and suffice to say they got better throughout. 

MightyMidds experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 12 Aug 2022 Team size: 4 Time taken: 41 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendly

Found this one quite plain when we first walked in but we soon got into the swing. Puzzles weren't linear and we managed to get a little ahead of ourselves at one point and hit a stumbling block. Small prompt got us back on track though. 5 and 8 year olds enjoyed it too and even though they maybe slowed us down a little, we placed in the top 2.6% of teams by time taken so pretty proud of that!!

jakea256 expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 17 Sep 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 41:54 Outcome: Successful escape!
funny

Some really amusing geeky jokes elevated the experience of the room. Even though this is Cryptology's oldest game, the puzzles are all good fun and the framing is also entertaining. 

essentialatom experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 27 Aug 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 43:53 Outcome: Successful escape!

Creative puzzles and a lovely endgame. 

Wesley Mead expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 13 Feb 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 54m Outcome: Successful escape!
great hosting
Spartabantam experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 15 Feb 2023 Team size: 4 Time taken: 39:30 Outcome: Successful escape!
clevergreat hostingquite easy

We did Cypherdyne and then Daylight Robbery back to back, and I'm glad we did them this way, as this got us into the right frame of mind to tackle the mountain of puzzles in Daylight Robbery!  Cypherdyne has lots of nice puzzles and some nice techy elements that appealed to a geek like me.

Lucy (The Detol Crew) experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 5 Mar 2023 Team size: 3 Time taken: 43:01 Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivenquite easy

Some good puzzles to work through including some riddles, which I hadn't really come across before in an escape room. Quite techy with a nice hands on puzzle at the end, and intriguing use of space - never been in an escape room set in an office before!

arandzom experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Jen Wells (Get Wells Soon) expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 9 Sep 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hosting

A solid offering with some decent puzzles. It's looking a little tired now and doesn't quite have the razzmatazz of their more recent games but everything made sense.

Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 5 Nov 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50:56 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalfunnyquite easy
Pegz241 rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 24 Jul 2021 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
Gavin B rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5

Reviews by escape room review sites

I believe the ‘v1.5’ in the name is because Cypherdyne underwent a significant revision a few years back, revamping many elements though not quite to the extent of making it a wholly new game. Even so, it’s one of Cryptology‘s older and more traditional rooms. The setting is a job interview with the titular corporation - which turns out to involve plenty of puzzle solving with some unusually lethal stakes.

Being a modern day office setting, for the most part the decor is fairly plain. However, ...

Cypherdyne v1.5 may be Cryptology’s first game, but it’s also is an excellent example of everything an escape room should be: clever, exciting, and most importantly - fun. It’s perfect for new players and enjoyable for enthusiasts. With this as their first game, it’s no surprise that Cryptology has become a venue everyone seems to be talking about.

Cypherdyne’s interview felt like what those ‘think outside the box’ questions Oxbridge candidates get challenged with in their interview processes… there was no obvious interview task, that was for us as the candidates to figure out as part of the process. We had to crack security codes, find hidden doorways and mess with the computer hardwiring to stand a chance of being hired by Cypherdyne.Thankfully we had our heads screwed on and managed this all!

We braved an interview at Cypherdyne on our most recent to Cryptology Nottingham which could have been potentially explosive! Find out what we thought of this big tech office escape room!

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