by DreadLock Escape Rooms (website)
Waterside Resort, Old Coach Road, PL30 5JJ
2-8 players
Languages: EN
60 minutes
Overall rating
based on ratings from 3 users
combined with 2 pro reviews
Your review
Player reviews
We did this classic boardgame themed escape room with our 8 & 5 year-olds. As a family-based escape room, this is brilliant. They even have a special puzzle (on request) that keeps under-7s entertained throughout the game (even though they can participate with some of the other puzzles with a little assistance). It was brightly lit throughout and our 5 year-old, who was a little nervous having done a couple of other rooms with some darker areas, was instantly at ease and had a great time. Our 8 year-old could join in with all the puzzles and really enjoyed it too. The puzzles were high enough quality and fun enough that I think it would also hold up pretty well for an all-adult group too.
Reviews by escape room review sites
Spreading our wings down to Cornwall, we were recommended to visit DreadLock by other escape rooms owners in Devon and we are glad we did. We booked all 3 rooms and took on Let the Games Begin first.
The location was easily signposted at the back of a holiday park and has plenty of parking onsite. We were greeted by one of the owners and received our brief in the small waiting area. There are refreshments available and a small selection of games.
Let the Games Begin doesn’t have a story of any description and we were simply told to escape within the time frame. We think this is the only room to date that we have done like this and it was a refreshing change. We often find that some places don’t put enough emphasis own the story that they are trying to get across so this room was a triumph for what they re trying to achieve. There was an extra puzzle to solve during the game itself which is a Cluedo style game and you can attempt to solve it during the game or if you escape within the time, you get the rest of it to have a go at winning the extra little prize.
Room impression
As mentioned, the game had no story. It was simply put together in homage to classic board games. The room was not a masterpiece of set design but what had been done was simple but effective. You quickly slot back into your childhood seeing all the old games you used to play decorated across the whole room. The lighting was very good with no darkened areas anywhere at all and was all on one level so no problem for access.
Puzzles
The room hasn’t had a huge pot of money thrown at it to make the puzzles ultra high tech but this is not a complaint at all. The puzzles are a mixture of searching, simple maths, words and observation. We all really enjoyed the game and all of the puzzles in it. From memory, we think we received one hint on one puzzle in particular that we just couldn’t quite polish off. We had all the components to solve it but we all drew a blank. Apart from the little blip that ate a chunk of our time, we flowed through the majority of the puzzles with relative ease.
Game Master Clues
There is a TV in the room where the timer is showing throughout. When we did need the help on the one puzzle, there is a doorbell to push and the hint is displayed on the TV. This made a nice change from having the standard walkie talkie in most rooms we visit.
Round Up
This room will certainly challenge professional teams and most enthusiast teams in terms of difficulty. In saying that, one puzzle that we couldn’t solve took a big chunk of our time and made it a bit close to the finish time, then it probably should have been. However, we all really enjoyed the simplicity of the room and it was an hour of fun. We didn’t quite manage to solve the extra puzzle and missed out on some Harribo. If you are visiting Cornwall then all 3 rooms at Dreadlock are definitely worth a go and this will be the easier of the 3 to take on.