Welcome to your weekly fortnightly (sorry – busy!) fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days!
Exit Games is always on the look-out for new rooms 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 owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!
On to the news
- International
- Journal 29 have launched a Kickstarter campaign for their puzzle book sequel. The original installment was popular amongst players.
- Argyx have launched a Kickstarter campaign for a play at home escape room experience.
- National
- Thanks to Toby for pointing out this competition to create the world’s smallest escape room.
- East of England
- A new venue called Bamboozled has opened in Banham, Norfolk with a single game, Demolition.
- History Mystery have announced a new venue in Norwich. Their new game at Norwich Museum is titled the Merchants’ Vaults and, unsurprisingly, builds on the history of the local area
- Another week, another engagement – this time at Puzzlescape in Dereham.
- North East England
- Pirate Escape in Whitley Bay near Newcastle, opened Mutiny
- Ireland
- Escape Killarney have launched with a single game, Agent M.W.
- West Midlands
- Escape Leamington Spa opened the new Escape-brand game Prohibition.
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- The Great Escape Game have opened Run in Leeds
- And they’ve also opened the same game at The Great Escape Game Sheffield!
- Liz Cable from Leeds Trinity University is running a workshop at the Technology Enhanced Learning Festival later this month. From the looks of the article, they’ll be running a game for their audience and leading them through how to create their own. She’s joined in this endeavour by Helen Whitehead from the University of Nottingham.
- Scotland
- Escape Edinburgh opened a new branch on Morrison Street – their third in the city. At present, they’ve just got one game, The Magic Emporium
- Locked In Edinburgh have launched a new game, The Cutting Room
- Another proposal story, this time in Glasgow!
- Daniel Hill, the man behind Escape was featured in this article in the Herald which covered the growth of the Escape empire and mentions that they plan to hit 200 games worldwide later this year.
- Wales
- Escape Blackwood opened the Scoutmaster Room and Pharaoh’s Curse
- The Escape Game Carmarthen launched with its first game called Depth Charge
- The Escape Game Llanelli opened with Alcatraz as its first game. And, yes, they’re both related to the similarly named company in Swansea.
- South East England
- Clever Dilemma is a new venue that’s going to be open in Faversham later this year – possibly September of October.
- Other World Escapes may have had a slight setback with an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign but the good news is that they’re still going to be opening a Porstmouth branch!
- The Panic Room Gravesend closed their original (but revamped several times!) game, The Panic Room. Sad to see it go but it’s to make way for new experiences at least!
- First mention of a possible escape room in Hook.
- London
- The Big Jewish Summer Fete is back and with it an escape room. I have no idea what to expect but do tell if you head along!
- AIM Escape are launching in central London. Eventually they plan to have four games but for now they’re still in the middle of playtesting with Psychopath’s Den, Patient Zero 2150, Hangover Deja Brew and Spy Heroes on the cards.
- North West England
- Lucardo have opened their second location, this time up in Rawtenstall. The first game is the much loved opened Gem Runner from their original Manchester site but that will soon be joined by Corruption, which takes an interesting angle on undercover police games.
- East Midlands
- One of the Nottingham escape rooms is helping out with a brewery promotion. Sadly, not open to the general public but great to see more companies embracing escape rooms for teambuilding experiences.
- Random, but Escape Asylum became the first UK escape room to accept bitcoins… Well, according to that article – shout if you know of another one that predates it!
- Blog posts
- Escape Goats
- Escaping Rooms
- Escape Reviewers
- The Disco Messiah
- The Logic Escapes Me
- Escape Room Tourism
- Escape Room Artist
- Brit of an Escape Habit
- Underwoodsgreatescape
- Escape Review
- Lock Us Up
- Escape the Review
- Escape Arena: The Last Adventure of Indiana Jones
- Trapped: The Black Pearl
- Trapped: What If?
- Locked Up: Chernobyl Reactor 4
- Captive Escape Room: Captive Outside Reality
- 911 Escape: The Judge
- Inside Rooms: Cabin in the Woods
- Inside Rooms: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
- Escape Room Adventure: Padurea Fermecata (Enchanted Forest)
- 60 Minutes: I Spy
That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant 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!