Escape Room Rumours – 7 November 2016

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Happy Monday and welcome to your (approximately) weekly dose of UK and Irish escape game rumours. This site is always on the look out for any new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owner too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

After Hallowe’en’s bumper issue a quieter time this week.

  • (Intern)national:
    • A world championship for escape games? A chance to win a trip to Budapest? Some fun online games and then a free mini escape room? I’m guessing something in that sentence will grab your attention, in which case I highly recommend you read Ex Exit Games’ article on Red Bull’s Mind Gamers promotion. Warning: the qualifying games take place in Manchester on Monday 5th December and in Cardiff on Wednesday 7th December.
  • Yorkshire and the Humber:
    • After a few delays along the way, Look Key Escape finally opened their doors last week in Leeds with Murder Motel the first game available. Current plans suggest Escape from Wonderland is set to follow before Christmas.
    • Escape Room Hull, not to be confused with Escape Hull, have launched their website and while no opening date has been announced, the inclusion of a physical address suggests that it won’t be long before Hull has yet more options for escaping.
  • East Midlands:
    • iLocked is a huge Russian escape room company with many, many games on their roster, the first of which has just made its way to Nottingham. iLocked Nottingham opened last week with their first of three games, the Mummy. As you might expect from such a large franchise, there’s a trailer for the room which gives a bit of a feel for what it’s like.
    • At the beginning of June, Derby was devoid of escape rooms but it’s obviously the place to be with two companies already opening and another now setting their sights on the city. You may have seen reference to Time Travel Theatre in a previous update – well, they’ve now got planning permission and have launched their website: Unescapable. The games see you stepping through a time portal, and the first outing, Tommy, sees you heading back to the First World War. A second game is also in the work but the only detail given at the moment is that it will be called Jack.
  • West Midlands
    • Clue HQ Coventry opened their second game, Dungeon of Doom. Still no booking from their website but you can call or email to get a slot. More games to follow imminently!
  • The Isle of Wight
    • Random Rooms opened their third game, Motel Room, last week.
  • South East England:
    • Escape Room Bournemouth have finally opened their doors with M.A.R.V.O. – a secret agent themed room. If you’ve got a few moments, it’s worth skimming their Twitter feed where I’ve enjoyed seeing some of the more mundane parts of setting up an escape room business (and also seeing that they’ll be offering gift boxes with various goodies – which seem like a great idea)
    • The Panic Room is opening at The Panic Room Gravesend. That might seem a little odd at first glance but it’s re-opening in their second venue in Gravesend. It was closed down a few months ago to make room for new games but now that they’ve got more space they’ve elected to re-open it to give those of you who missed out a chance.
    • The Guardians of the Elixir opens up at The Real Escape in Portsmouth on Saturday bringing their total to three games – perfect for the enthusiast…
    • TimeQuest open their doors in Tonbridge at the weekend with two games initially, Agent 101 and Saving Operation Neptune. Both games revolve around time travel and a third game, the Quest to Save Camelot, is due to open later in the year.
    • It’s usually a sad time when an escape venue closes its doors but the closure of Time Trap Escape‘s Dickens’ Final Chapter last week is hopefully only a temporary hiatus as they’re planning on re-opening in a permanent venue. More details when I have them!
  • London:
  • Wales:
    • The avid reader may vaguely recall rumours of an escape room opening in Newport – well, the Escape Rooms Newport have now launched a Kickstarter campaign promoting their new venture. They’ve got 25 backers already and are a quarter of the way towards their total after four days, so it’s looking promising. If you’re feeling particularly keen, you might want to take a look at their page and see whether there’s an easter egg – I’ve seen something that makes me feel there’s some hidden content for the observant but aside from getting to a specific webpage, I’ve not got any further…
  • Scotland:
    • Escape Glasgow welcomed a group from GLOW into their escape room. If you’re not familiar with GLOW then it seems to be something similar to TOWIE (and if you’re not familiar with TOWIE then perhaps count yourself lucky). (Thanks to Exit Games Scotland for the tip)

That’s all folks

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Thanks for reading!

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