Lots going on in the early summer heat – there are quite a few new escape rooms to duck into if you want to escape the sunshine, including several new companies and some new games from some big names. Here’s the full list for June:
Greater London
🔒 RADA – that’s the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – have form in creating pop-up escape rooms, and their latest is Journey to Glistergrave’s Deep, involving a quest for a jewel lost inside a mine. Now I’ve got your hopes up, it’s only on for another week and all remaining slots have sold out – at least, barring returns.
🔒 Room Lockdown Hornchurch, prolific as ever, have opened underwater themed room Medusa’s Secret Passages.
Also new, from last month’s update:
🔒 Enigma Quests (Central London): Inventor’s Odyssey Through Time, The Billion Pound Heist, The World of Witchcraft and Wizardry
🔒 Go Ape Battersea: Codebreakers
Last call for:
❗️ Exciting Escapes Croydon: the branch appears set to close on 28th July.
Southeast England
🔒 Escape From The Room’s High Wycombe branch have added the company’s WW2 classic Operation Sealion to their lineup.
🔒 Escape Room Sussex are now running their third room, an Egyptian theme called The Cursed Tomb.
🔒 In Portsmouth, Other World Escapes have a new room inspired by Hansel & Gretel, named Fairytale Cottage; and they’ve also added a new Sip ‘n’ Solve puzzle pod, called Ghost Train.
Last call for:
❗️ Mythologic Escape Rooms (Gillingham): Mr Todds (closing 27th July)
Southwest England
🔒 Reynard’s Adventures in Taunton have been quietly but steadily accumulating glowing reviews for their first room, and next week they’ll launch their second; Eye of the Peacock will also have a tomb-delving adventure theme.
Wales
🤿 In Llanberis, Scuba Scape have now opened an underwater escape room called Submerged Escape Room – that’s not just theming, you actually play underwater. You might have a sense of déjà vu here – I’m not sure if they have any links to the Scuba Escape company that previously ran underwater games at the same location.
🔒 And a new company of a more traditional sort – Treforest Escape Rooms is in Pontypridd outside Cardiff, and have launched with The Heist, with more games to follow.
🔒 Beyond Breakout no longer have a physical venue, but they’re still creating new games; Operation Whiskerfall is an outdoor phone-based city trail with a cute theme.
West Midlands
🔒 First of two new Houdini’s branches this month is Redditch, opening from the 11th with Captain Blackheart’s Curse, Space Break and The Lost Pharaoh.
🔒 Top Escape Rooms have a new game, and it’s a spooky one – The Curse of Blackthorn Manor is set in a mansion haunted by a vengeful ghost.
🔒 The Puzzle Room Cannock have made several plane-based rooms; their newest one is Mayhem at the Departure Gate and has you running into problems before you even board the plane.
East of England
🔒 Great news that it’s looking like Cryptx will be able to remain open for the short term at least, and also that they have an extra pop-up game with the superb name of A Fete Worse Than Death. It’s running on weekends, and is provided on a turn up and play basis not advance booking.
🔒 Escape Basildon’s latest is The Cleaners, a crime tidy-up task that’s not available elsewhere from the chain.
Also new, from last month’s update:
🔒 Mimic Escape (Leighton Buzzard): The Great Train Robbery
Northwest England
🔒 On the Wirral, West Kirby Escape Room is a new independent company, now open with The Jurassic Factor, set in the study of a dinosaur-obsessed professor.
🔒 The second new Houdini’s is in Harpurhey outside Manchester, as usual in a Tenpin’s branch. The games available from the 9th will be Escape From Alcatraz, Room 13, Space Break and The Lost Pharaoh.
🔒 New at Lucardo Rawtenstall is Wizard’s Chest, a puzzle box experience that includes bottomless drinks as part of the package.
Also new, from last month’s update:
🔒 Emergency Exit Escape Rooms (Ashton-under-Lyne): Ghost Writer
Yorkshire & the Humber
🔒 Escapable’s new room For Sale’m’ officially launches tomorrow, a haunted house game that’s “more Scooby-doo than scary” – given the company’s track record I suspect quite a number of enthusiasts will be hurrying to this one.
🔒 In Sheffield, Cryptology’s awaited heist room is now open; in The Great Henderson’s Heist, your target is not gold or jewels but the titular bottle of sauce.
🔒 Also in Sheffield, The Great Escape replaced Abducted with a sequel, Abducted: Chapter Two. The original is still available at their Leeds branch for now.
🔒 Cryptic Escape Rooms in Hull are now running Drew and the Magic Crystals, which like their Fight For Hawkins experience is described as a ‘Big Show Game’: I’m not sure to what extent these are different to ‘normal’ escape rooms.
🔒 There’s also a new room at Locked In Games Leeds: in Shops and Robbers you’re stealing a stuffed llama from a toy shop.
Northeast England
🔒 Pirate Escape’s latest is The Ogre’s Cabin, with a storyline that sounds like Shrek provided some inspiration for the room; you’re gathering gold to ransom the ogre from the evil king.
Scotland
🔒 Escape the Past in Edinburgh now offer a city trail in addition to their two indoor rooms; it’s called A Trail of Burke & Hare, and has a dark theme based on historical murders.
🔒 Escape Hunt’s Glasgow branch added their Dracula room to their lineup.
🔒 And following the horror theme, Xcape Room (also in Glasgow) opened new room The Devil Below, a horror game that promises “intense puzzles and immersive scares”.