John Mitchell

Clearly this is an ingenious game and it provided a mixture of entertainment, challenge and frustration for about an hour an a half. Some of the puzzles yielded a satisfyingly unique and clear-cut solution, but others seemed less satisfactory and were more a case of trying several plausible options. Looking at the game materials afterwards, we entered a couple of the codes without fully understanding the reasons for their correctness. We got assistance from 11 Help Cards  Anyone buying this should note that it's designed to be played once only.

Located in Norwich's historic Guildhall building, all seven of of us enjoyed ourselves for a well-spent hour.

Archived Alive played rather like TV's Treasure Hunt, but sadly without the helicopter. There was plenty of looking things up in conveniently placed books to facilitate the solving of puzzles based on the Fine City's rich history. Rather a lot defaulted to working out the codes of combination locks, but certainly the experience combined entertainment and education. There was plenty to occupy all seven of us, four adults and three teens, throughout. As it happened, we fell several minutes behind schedule - perhaps due to inexperience - and ended up a little way short of completing.

Thanks also to the friendly and well-informed staff.

Mission Breakout is located, albeit behind a very modest and easy-to-miss front door, in a genuine Leslie Green Tube station building. This is South Kentish Town, signature glazed tiles and all, a station where no-one has got on or off a train since 1924. Except, perhaps, for one Lost Passenger ...

The game is based on the folklore account of a man who absent-mindedly disembarked at the forever-closed station, perhaps never to be seen or heard from again. This game is great fun; both the two adults and the two teens in our family group really enjoyed playing. The Lost Passenger requires more practical aspects of intelligence. Someone who enjoys tinkering with machines to see how they work, or a DIY enthusiast, would be valuable to your team. Once or twice, a little Tube or railway knowledge could be helpful too.

Be prepared to find yourselves in some dark and occasionally confined spaces. Mostly there was plenty to occupy everyone, but at one point early on the four of us were queued up behind a one-person puzzle. It is somewhat dusty and dirty underground, so definitely don't go in your best clothes.

We received sufficient hints to allow us to get back on track after a slow start, and somewhat surprised ourselves by completing the game with a minute to spare. The staff were friendly and helpful. I'd definitely recommend this game.