Now open in Kettering: Kettering Escape Rooms

Kettering Escape Rooms photoWhat do you think of when you hear the name Kettering? Here, it brings back memories of Len Martin – the original Final Score results reader from the fifties to the early nineties – saying the name Kettering Town as only he could, for it was always one of the most euphonious team names in the non-league. As for where Kettering actually was… er… East Midlands. Draw a pentagon between Leicester, Peterborough, Cambridge, Northampton and Coventry, and place it so that you can exactly balance it on the point of a pencil and you’ve got Kettering. You probably also have a very strong pencil.

Kettering has a bowling alley rather aggressively called the New York Thunderbowl, with rather aggressive discounts to match. Since February 12th, it also hosts Kettering Escape Rooms. Not long ago, this site discussed exit games within laser game centres; this is the first UK example of an exit game within a bowling alley, which is another step along the way towards exit games being examples of further activities that you might find among more generic family entertainment centres. Many thanks to Ken for pointing this one out.

Kettering Escape Rooms has opened with two one-hour games, each of which caters for rooms of two to six players. In the Diamond Heist room, “You find yourself in a room belonging to a member of a crew involved in a local diamond heist. Can you find his stash of gems and escape before he returns in an hour with his crew?” The Mad Medic room suggests that “A new doctor is in town but a visit to his surgery results in a race against the clock as you realize his methods are more than a little mad! Solve the riddles and escape before you become part of his next experiment!

Games are available starting between 11am and 9pm daily, or as late as 10:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Pairs pay £40, trios £57, fourballs £70, fivesomes £75 and teams of six pay £90. Looking forward to seeing the reviews for this one; there’s no reason why a room within another facility might not have been created, implemented and maintained with as much love, care and attention as a room that stands alone.

6 thoughts on “Now open in Kettering: Kettering Escape Rooms”

  1. “this is the first UK example of an exit game within a bowling alley”. I was going to call you out on that statement, on the basis that London’s Namco Funscape has “12 lanes of fabulous Techno Bowling”, but I think you probably get away with it, in that both the bowling alley and the escape room are situated within a general entertainment centre rather than the escape room being associated with the bowling alley.

    No doubt about the general point – we seem to be seeing more tie ins between escape rooms and mainstream entertainment – pubs, bowling alleys, laser quest, theme parks. Any predictions for other entertainment places we might seem them pop up? I like the idea of travelling funfairs, although the price point is clearly very different from other attractions.

    1. You got me; the Namco Funscape game never crossed my mind. 😀

      Travelling funfairs are a very interesting possibility; perhaps if funhouses lose their appeal then that might be some infrastructure to be adapted. I wonder whether there might be a sensible way to cross an exit game with a more overtly physical activity; I’m thinking of possibly climbing/bouldering, or possibly those increasingly popular very safe aerial trails.

  2. Obviously the world now is a much different place to when I was a child, but my recollection of bowling and laser quest (which was jointly housed in my home town) was that it was more of a turn up and play type attraction (with an arcade to entertain you during any waits) than the book in advance you associate with escape rooms. I wonder if the owners anticipate people coming to play both and if so whether that may affect their approach.

    1. You’re required to book 24 hours in advance for the exit game, for what it’s worth, arguably suggesting that it’s likely to be staffed only on demand.

  3. It’s very interesting to read your comments regarding intergrating the rooms within different businesses and how it would work.
    In our view it was a good oppurtunity to add another dimension to our business as we have no other outlay for the startup other than the rooms themselves as we own and pay bills on the building already.

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