EscapeMania: Robin Hood

Robin Hood was an unexpectedly English theme to find in a game in Serbia, but one we were happy to book in for. In this game you’re tasked with finding the crown of King Richard in Nottingham Castle, while your unseen allies stage a diversion. As with most of the games we tried in Serbia, the story was a quick bit of scene-setting only, but the theme was used well.

This game was a happy marriage between good design, varied and often physical puzzle ideas, and a jaunty, attractive faux-Medieval set. It features plenty of padlocks and plenty of codes, and a touch more maths than you’d be likely to find in a U.K. game, but also some tasks that were more creative, hands-on or surprising.

Two things lightly marred an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable game for me. One was a step where the required action was something that I really don’t think escape rooms should ever encourage players to do. The other was a puzzle right at the end which was mainly a matter of stumbling over the correct answer, as one amongst many false options – which wasn’t so bad in itself, but was a low energy end to a mostly very fun game.

Neither of those stopped it being a lot of fun. Minor weaknesses notwithstanding, Robin Hood is an solid quality escape room and absolutely worth a visit.