Clued Up! Escape Rooms Norwich: The Bank Heist

I admit it's hard to write an objective review right now, because it's hard to know how much enjoyment is due to just being able to play a real-life escape room for the first time in over a year, but this was just an absolute joy to play.

Well-structured, lots to do, and with a nice scoring system that meant that you don't just "escape" or "not" - rather you decide how much risk you're going to take by stealing as many valuables as you can from the bank vault, right up to the last minute before making your escape (we *just* got out with seconds to spare, but with a perfect score 🙂 ). We played as a family with two adults and three kids (8yrs, 10yrs, and 13yrs), and there was something for everyone to do.

Attentive gamesmaster was on-hand to deliver hints if necessary, but doing so incurs him taking a cut of your earnings and therefore affecting your post-game score, which is a nice risk-reward mechanic. The theming for a "bank" scenario is not particularly tricky, but it was done nicely and utilised a range of suitable props and knowledge that you might expect to find.

The whole experience felt well-managed, very Covid-safe (hand sanitiser inside and outside the room, masks worn (although that actually helped with the "bank robber" theme...), some props placed in additional plastic wrapping), and was just an hour of thrilling puzzle-solving fun.

If I had to be critical, I'd say that the gameflow was fairly linear, so if you *did* get stuck on a puzzle, you might find it hard to proceed - but then, that's what the hint system is for.

Recommended.