Escape Hunt Kingston: Alice In Puzzleland

By | May 10, 2021

by Escape Hunt Kingston (website)

Unit 2/6, Alderman Judge Mall, Eden Walk, Kingston upon Thames KT1 1JB

Kingston upon Thames

2-6 players

Languages: EN

60 minutes

The Mad Hatter is in trouble. Save him from the Queen of Hearts without losing your heads.
Step into Wonderland, where the Hatter has been accused of stealing the Queen’s Tarts. With Alice nowhere to be seen, it’s time for you to fill her shoes.

You find yourself at the Hatter’s cottage. The table is set but no one is around.

A sign on the lawn reads ‘Tea Party Cancelled by Royal Decree’. Curiouser and curiouser…

Find and return the Queen’s Tarts in 60 minutes, or it’s off with the Hatter’s head. Chop chop.

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Overall rating

Rated between 3 and 4 out of 5 (estimated, based on ratings for other versions of this game)

estimated score
not from direct reviews

Your review

Player reviews

Cat.P rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: Feb 22 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulmagical
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
illogicalbroken tech

Probably due to manhandling and overuse, a lot of the puzzles were broken. It was very frustrating to be told, "You're doing it right, just try again" multiple times. This game needs to be closed, repaired and reopened. The game itself isn't a bad concept, but the flaws drag the experience down.

Chloe Lyman rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
funnyfamily friendlybroken tech
Jasmine Barrett rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendlybroken tech
Chris Tongue rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Sam Carr experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulfamily friendlybroken tech
coco974 rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hostingfamily friendly

Firstly, our host was brilliant. Very in character as the Cheshire Cat - really entertained us. 

In terms of difficulty, this room wasn't that hard - a lot of the puzzles/tasks were clear. Although one task involved lying on the floor, which we definitely weren't expecting 😂

The theme was unmistakable - Alice in Wonderland (Puzzleland!). The whole room set up was completely on theme, as were the tasks/puzzles. 

We had a great time playing this room and can't wait to go back and play the others at Resorts World.

Anonymous experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulbroken techpoor hosting
Nathan Williams rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 22 Dec 2021 Team size: 4 Time taken: 54
immersivegreat hostingoverpriced

Not bad, good fun and challenging.

Hosting very good.

Shame about the pricing per person rather than room cost.

More than 3 people for this game probably not worth it. 

abooth expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 5 Time taken: 48 Outcome: Successful escape!

It was fun and the theming is very good.

Jen Wells (Get Wells Soon) expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting

This room is so much fun. We had lovely hosts at the Manchester Escape Hunt and all the tech in the game worked beautifully. It wasn't challenging so we powered through it, even as a two, but it was incredibly enjoyable.

Mark Greenhalgh expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 07/04/19
Zuzi rated this:Rated between 15 and 15 out of 5
Played: 30 Dec 2021 Team size: 4 Time taken: 37
broken techoverpriceddangerous

Have been to many escape rooms but this was awful by comparison. You turn up and there's noone there to great you for so long you wonder what on earth is going on. Eventually when they come they usher you into the room as fast as they can. So many parts were broken. 1 fell on my daughter's head causing a bump. The clues were Illogical & did not link together at all. All done in a tiny room with poor lighting.  Nothing to Wow you. Absolute rip off! 

Alice Lucy rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 10 Oct 2021 Team size: 4 Time taken: 38:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hosting
Team Tonks experienced rated this:Rated between 15 and 15 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 58 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken techpoor hosting

This is not a well run Escape Hunt. The rooms were very tired and need maintenance. In this particular game, we were told to ring the bell if we needed help or a clue. There were several times where we were requesting a clue and we received no response. This was frustrating and ran down the clock. A lot of the tech was broken, one particular puzzle required us to line up several valves in the correct order. We did this correctly the First time and nothing happened, we requested help from the GM and they weren't able to override the puzzle so we were stuck for a significant amount of time. At this point we'd kind of given up. The experience here was poor. 

TeamHawley experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivemagical
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: 22.08.21 Team size: 2 Time taken: 58:20 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulillogicalbroken techvery easy

Overview: Good looking game with easy, but illogically linked puzzles, some disrepair/fixes needed with poor lighting & temperature control.

Negatives:

- Hint system wasn't greatly integrated. An audio feed from the GM in character didn't fully translate. There wasn't much in the way of signposting to the next puzzle and we had to rely on asking for help whenever the next puzzle was unclear. The puzzles themselves were quite easy, so little sense of achievement.

- Way too hot (and unable to be adjusted), to the point where my throat went dry and I just wanted to get out to have a drink! The lighting was also so poor that it made reading or seeing any pattern/colour differences impossible for me.

- Quite a bit of disrepair: For example, at least 3 of these led to us wondering if we needed to use a broken piece, not use it or fix it somehow (distracting from the real puzzles) One puzzle was supposedly colour coded, but the paint was so dull and worn that it barely appeared coloured at all (especially in the very low light) Another had broken completely requiring narrower than most adult-sized hands areas to be accessed - not fun. For a company this size with people dedicated to upkeep of the rooms, this seems poor.

Positives:

- Our host, Grace was welcoming, helpful (before, during and after the game) and happy to discuss everything (without her, it possibly would have been a lower score)

- It was well themed, very clearly in Wonderland/Puzzleland. Visually very pleasant - Nice props & artwork throughout and soothing background audio throughout.

- Though the puzzles weren't that well linked, there were some good ideas and we enjoyed the wordy ones.

Emma Macedo experienced rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 9th April 2019 Team size: 3 Time taken: 51:34 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivestory-driven
MightyMidds experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
🦡cipherdelic virtuoso rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
family friendly
Ellie experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 2020-12-19 00:00:00 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!

Our favourite of the Escape Hunt games played so far. Gamesmaster was friendly and the Cheltenham venue is open and welcoming. Lovely props, decent puzzles and good links to the Alice in Wonderland story. Only complaint would be that there were some bits were a bit stiff or not in the best condition (one was sticky :->), which is surprising for such a newly opened venue.

Anonymous rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 2019 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!

We played as a team of 4 to bring back the pies to the afternoon tea of Alice and her friends. the whole room looks superb and the design of the puzzles and props are absolutely amazing! Our host, Michael was purely amazing as well. Highly recommended.

Brit Of An Escape Habit blogger rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Sharon Nowik experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Played: August 2020 Team size: 2 Time taken: 39 Outcome: Successful escape!
Richard Holtby rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
imrahil experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
Anonymous expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 1 Jun 2022 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hostingbroken techoverpricedquite easy

Great GM, room looks great, some good ideas but at least two puzzles were broken and one rather dangerous position of an opening cupboard which we hit our head on numerous times. Enjoyable but let down by broken elements and for the price of the game we felt disappointed

c2creviewer experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Riot Games rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
great hostingfamily friendlybroken techquite easy
Hosting really made the experience for us - super engaging and very helpful. The room itself was excellently themed and had some surprises! I’d recommend particularly for families, I think this would be a fantastic room to get younger family members involved. Good fun!
jakea256 expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
beautiful

Excellent theming with some really good puzzles. A couple felt a bit obtuse / could have required further signposting but was still enjoyable. 

fraggle42 experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 29 Mar 2022 Team size: 5 Outcome: Successful escape!
shatters rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Played: 15 Jan 2024 Team size: 2 Time taken: 60 Outcome: Failed 🙁
beautifulillogicalbroken techquite difficult
Beautiful room, but that's where they put the thought in this room. The puzzles were nicely themed but not well telegraphed / logical. When we did complete a puzzle it was hard to figure out what we had achieved. We do refuse all clues and normally get out in 45' but this one beat us. The tech aspects didn't work and even defeated the host who basically waved us through one bit. Frustrating because we lost a load of time looking at things that didn't respond because of fiddly tech. Simple buttons would have been more reliable! We were at the end of the day and the hosts were clearly tired. The room wasn't set up correctly either. Disappointed. 
🔐SpontaneousIllusion expert rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
story-drivenillogicalbroken techquite difficult
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 45 and 45 out of 5
Played: 01/06/2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 45mins Outcome: Successful escape!
hi-techcleverfamily friendlyquite easy
Stevie Davies expert rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: September 2021 Team size: 2 Time taken: 29m 34s
family friendlyvery easy
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 3 Time taken: 56 Outcome: Successful escape!
Adrienne Ward rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendlyquite easy

Hated the tablet clue design. One of the props was broken so had to be fixed when playing. Nice hosting though

JoeRaymond experienced rated this:Rated between 15 and 15 out of 5
Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
plainunoriginalquite easy
piratechaek experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 17 Aug 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 52:42 Outcome: Successful escape!
funnycleverillogicalquite easy

Great theming and props. Some enjoyable puzzles. Extremely illogical, especially with certain puzzles.  

Chris Metcalfe experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 5 Outcome: Failed 🙁
story-drivenfamily friendlyquite difficult
theworldescapecrew blogger rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 24 Jun 2023 Team size: 4 Time taken: 36.25 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulplainquite easy
Emma Heath rated this:Rated between 50 and 50 out of 5
Played: 22 Jul 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 59 mins 52sec Outcome: Successful escape!
funnyimmersivegreat hosting

First time doing an escape room and we absolutely LOVED it. Very friendly and helpful staff, especially Nicole our games master. Can't wait to book another adventure!!!

Catherine K experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
family friendlybroken techpoor hosting

Some original puzzles and a beautiful set let down by broken tech. We found the system of solving a puzzle, hearing a bing noise to say we were successful but then having to hunt throughout the room to find out what had opened a little frustrating. 

We had a problem with a chain sticking meaning we spent the whole game going through a small gap, we didn’t pull the chain hard as we all know the ‘no excessive force is needed’, the host came in at the end and pulled it really hard to free it, why didn’t they tell us during the game to do this instead of watching us struggle?!

Clefairy rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Played: 14 Feb 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 42 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken techpoor hostingno atmospherequite easy

Our host was very nice but admitted no one had watched our game for 18 minutes due to being too busy and they were surprised how well we did without help! Also hated the clue system of GM’s talking to you. And no music made no atmosphere. No padlocks but this just led to baby puzzles. I liked the roses puzzle and plant but overall…disappointing.

Alwaysablast rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Failed 🙁
illogicalpoor hostingquite difficult

This room had a really good set and should have been good, but the puzzles didn't really flow and the games master seemed quite distracted, which meant we waited a long time if we got stuck. 

Natasha Lawrence rated this:
Played: 11 Feb 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken techpoor hostingdangerous
We have been to several escape rooms run by different companies and this was SO disappointing. After 10 minutes (after our start time) of no-one greeting us, we approachee a member of staff who was very rude and after an additional 5 minutes came back to tell us, they were running late -( thanks for stating the obvious) but she had no idea when it would start. A full 25 minutes (after our start time) someone came out  and then we were rushed through. There were so many broken parts, I cut my finger on one of them. 10 minutes into the game they had to reset a part as it had opened before it should have done. The host didn't respond to most of our requests for clues and when we asked if something was broken (as we weren't sure anymore) they gave us a clue. An absolutely awful experience from start to finish. There is nothing positive to say about it 
Mighty Oaks experienced rated this:Rated between 40 and 40 out of 5
Played: 8 Sep 2019 Team size: 2 Time taken: 42:28 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivemagicalquite easy
RedPandaPepper rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
family friendly
roberts0502 experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Played: 6 Nov 2022 Team size: 2 Time taken: 50:00 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivemagicalillogical
MerseyMarauders expert rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5
Team size: 3
great hostingbroken techquite easy
Anonymous rated this:Rated between 20 and 20 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
broken techpoor hostingoverpriced
RR_Duo+ rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 1 Jul 2020 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
Steph Norchi experienced rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 24 Apr 2022 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
Scotus0 expert rated this:Rated between 35 and 35 out of 5
Played: 21 Sep 2021 Team size: 4 Time taken: 45:30 Outcome: Successful escape!
funnyimmersivemagicalquite easy

Filling In for Alice

This was my first venture down the Rabbit Hole for an Alice in Wonderland-themed adventure. Escape Hunt offer concessions for students and seniors.

Story

Find and return the Queen’s tarts before it’s off with the Mad Hatter’s head, for he has been accused of stealing them.

Puzzles

Interactive, with a far bigger focus on magical mechanics rather than coded locks, which suited this particular room.

Mise-en-scene

Quirky and colourful, the scenery is artfully linked to Lewis Carrol’s novel. It’s compact but this adds to the immersion. An eccentric Hatter provided the odd verbal clue when needed.

Final Comments

We retrieved the Queen’s tarts with 15 minutes to spare. Take no more than 4 people to this challenge, otherwise it’d be too crowded.

Mia Rabone experienced rated this:Rated between 25 and 25 out of 5
Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulbroken techpoor hostingquite easy

This was my favourite of the Escape Hunt games I've played but I still wouldn't really recommend it to anyone with much escape room experience - okay for a new player maybe. Some of the tech was broken or just not clear (ie, coloured lights which were ambiguous). Just not great overall. 

Kelly Archer experienced rated this:Rated between 30 and 30 out of 5

Reviews by escape room review sites

Our GM declared we were the best team he had ever seen play this game. But actually...

Whilst Alice in Puzzleland is available to play at multiple sites across the UK, we chose the closest to London: Reading. During our experience there, we were led by the Cheshire Cat (played by the awesome Games Master Hamish) through the rabbit hole and into the magical world of Wonderland.


Overall, a really good game with some lovely game play and well designed props. Escape Hunt Resorts World is based in the middle of a shopping centre which felt very unusual but means there are lots of people and passing trade.
We headed down to Puzzleland via Oxford to help save the Mad Hatter from Execution! Sinister stuff! See if we managed to find the Queen’s Tarts and what we thought about our Alice in Wonderland themed experience.

See also