Deadlocked Escape Rooms Reading: The Time Machine

By | November 30, 2019

by Deadlocked Escape Rooms Reading (website)

122 Castle Hill, Reading RG1 7RG

Reading

2-4 players

Languages: EN

90 mins
The Wexell Corporation have designed a Time Machine, but unfortunately the first group to head into it never returned. Their actions have left rifts in time, altering history and the future in ways that we cannot fathom. The only way to save the world as we know it is to fix the Time Machine, but you’ll only have one minute to do so. If you fail, the machine will need to charge up before you can try again. Your only help is a small friendly robot called Wexie, and the Time Machine herself, who will try to spit you out in different timezones to try to teach you how to fix her.
A 90 minute adventure suitable for those that want to savour an experience, and fans of Doctor Who and sci-fi will love this.
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Overall rating

Rated between 3.5 and 4.5 out of 5

based on ratings from 56 users
combined with 6 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Cheesehund rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
Played: 23 May 2023 Team size: 4 Time taken: 72:09 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hostingquite easy

Really cool concept in a room that I’ve never seen before! Amazing hosting as well and the room blew us away!

Four stars only because 95% of the experience is linear - this makes it difficult with groups of any size as a lot of the puzzles aren’t really accessible to more than two people at a time

DoctorPB experienced rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
SupertrampEcho experienced rated this:Rated between 4.5 and 4.5 out of 5
Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techoriginalimmersive
Brandon experienced rated this:Rated between 4.5 and 4.5 out of 5
Played: 18 Mar 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 48 Outcome: Successful escape!
originalimmersivestory-driven
nearlyflippin experienced rated this:Rated between 3 and 3 out of 5
Played: 16 Feb 2024 Team size: 3 Time taken: 55 min Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivenfamily friendlyquite easy
escapeartist1212 expert rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
beautifulimmersivestory-driven
A Blacksmith expert rated this:Rated between 3.5 and 3.5 out of 5
Played: 27 Nov 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 46:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting
pipityk rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
Team size: 2
originalimmersivegreat hosting
Rreally enjoyed this game! The GM was amazing and in character from the moment we arrived which really got us geared up for the game!The changing of time zones worked so well and a concept I've not seen before (played 40+ games)
🤘The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Team size: 2
originalgreat hostingfamily friendly

This was one of the best overall experiences we have had doing an escape room in a while! From the moment we were greeted by our games master Charlie, we were transported into the adventure and I can't wait to play the new game when it's all ready to go! Great mix of puzzles and a lot of attention to detail in the room - if you are in Reading, you should check these guys out! 

🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 3.5 and 3.5 out of 5
Played: August 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendly
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Reviews by escape room review sites

Time Machine is definitely the first game I’ve seen that claims a 60 second time limit - but of course there’s more to it than that. The time-warping plot actually has a 90 min limit in total; I won’t spoil details of the 60 second thing, but it’s a smart idea that provides the backbone of a game that is structured as a series of shorter vignettes.

For disclosure purposes I should make clear that the owners of Deadlocked are good friends of mine, and knowing that Time Machine is their pa...

Allons-y, time travellers, it’s time to save the world! For a short walk from the Reading train station you will find this little gem of time adventure. After a short debriefing at the HQ you will be tasked to fix a time machine and you will have exactly 60 seconds to do so … errr … yes, you are very likely to fail … your failure will cause a time anomaly and the time machine will spit you out in a different time and space. Luckily, you will keep in contact with your friendly robot companion, Wexie, who will help you to collect instructions to fix the time machine. It’s all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey really!
With only 60 seconds to fix the time machine, this isn’t your ordinary room. Technically a 90 minute experience, sci-fi fans will likely find lots to love about The Time Machine (we did)
Great Scott! This game was fun. Structurally, Deadlocked did something utterly genius with Time Machine. While it was functionally a 90-minute escape room, narratively it was a 60-second escape room. Because time travel. It’s the kind of idea that’s so good that I know tons of creators will read this and wish that they had come up with it.

We have just 60 seconds to fix a broken time machine before rifts in time change the world forever. Can we, and our robot helper, succeed?

We took to Escape the Review to find reviews to see which rooms in Reading got good reviews and The Time Machine at Deadlocked Escape Rooms had great reviews. We checked out the website to see what the room was about and it peaked our interest. Its a 90 minute room where you have 60 seconds to fix the time machine otherwise you would be spat out into a random time period each time. The concept sounded pretty original and so we booked as a group of three. We arrived at the building and the confirmation email told us what to do but I was just replying to some messages before our room begun as I didn't want to use my phone inside the building but our host appeared at the door. I'm going to be honest, he was completly different to any games master or host we've had for any escape room we've played before. It was almost as if he was new and unsure of what to do but he was left on his own and he just had to do it. He was quiet and distant and I couldn't quite work out if it was a character or not. We decended down the stair case and at the bottom we were told to put out belongings in a box. He then told us to go in this room and watch a video about the room we would be experiencing. We were told that we would have 60 seconds to fix the time machine but if we failed to fix it in that 60 seconds we would be kicked out into a different time period. The video finished and we were led into the room.



Lists

This game is part of the following user-created game lists:
  • Best UK escape rooms 2022 by Escape the Review virtuoso
    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2022, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 
  • Best UK escape rooms 2021 by Escape the Review virtuoso

    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms (out of 1600) in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2021, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 

See also