Welcome to your weekly fortnightly very delayed fix of UK and Irish escape room news covering everything that this site has discovered in the last seven days month!
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
- National and International
- Escape Plan was used by the BBC for a show that looked at Brexit from within an escape room.
- Meanwhile, TimeTrap got the local BBC radio station in to play their game. Fast forward to ~16 minutes to hear the start although it continues later.
- Red Bull Mind Gamers took place in London on 12-13 April with teams from around the world heading to Shoreditch to battle it out for the title.
- The Guardian wrote an article about the competition and escape rooms in general featuring an extensive interview with S², half of Team Squared, the UK’s representatives.
- The UK team went on to finish fifth out of 22 teams in the international competition.
- And Daniel Hill, CEO of Escape, the company that built the final, was featured in the Scotsman
- Finally, here’s an interview with Jackie and Heidi from another Scottish company – Locked In Edinburgh.
- North West England
- Clue HQ Bury in Manchester opened two copies of Bunker 38 although, according to their Facebook post, they’re significantly different from the original version of the game in Warrington.
- Lucardo in Manchester opened The Prison
- Extremescape in Stockport have finally opened their sixty minute Viking room.
- Wales
- Breakout Broneirion in Powys opened Bluebeard’s Curse
- London
- If you fancy trying something similar to an escape room then Dreamcatcher is a charitable event taking place in London in late June that mashes together treasure hunt, escape room and some theatre. It’s around for just a single weekend, so if you’re interested best book quickly!
- No Escape is set to open a second branch – this time out in Aldgate. The website shows two games, one centred around a Butcher’s and the other a Toy shop – perhaps they’re going for a theme of small business escapes?
- East Midlands
- Escape Game Over in Derby opened Winter is Coming
- Escape Lincoln opened Overthrone
- Enigma Rooms Lincoln opened Sweeney Todd
- LetsXcape in Newark-on-Trent opened Sacred
- North East England
- Enigma Escape Rooms is a new venue opening in Middlesborough. Don’t confuse it with the other Enigma Escape (from Retford, Wakefield, Doncaster and now Lincoln)! They’ve launched with a single room – Plague.
- Project Escape in Middlesbrough opened Dr Villain’s Revenge
- Quest Rooms in South Shields opened Government Lockdown
- East of England
- War Hero is a new venue Bedford that’s opened Enigma Code – a game that suggest you’ll finish with a parachute jump…
- Tricky Escape in Clacton-On-Sea opened A Race Against Time
- The Panic Room Harlow opened Strikeforce
- D S Escape Rooms in Haverhill opened Luna 13
- Suffolk Escape Room in Saxmundham opened Air Raid
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- Looks like Bradford might be getting another escape room. Currently just a planning application but watch this space!
- Cryptic Escape Rooms in Huddersfield opened Mcarville Manor. Note that this is unrelated to the similarly named Norwich game.
- The Guest House Escape Rooms in Leeds has closed down
- The Escapologist in Selby opened The Spoils of Stormborn
- West Midlands
- Escape Rooms Stourbridge is a new venture from the team behind Escape Rooms Chelmsford. Expect a series of popup games that play one day a week for a month or two before giving way to a new experience.
- Escape Brum in Birmingham opened Blackmail
- Escape Room Adventures in Leamington Spa opened The Star of Orion and The Steampunk Express
- Immersive Events in Shrewsbury opened Br-exit, a game that sees you trying to leave Europe with as much money as possible
- Clockwork Escapes in Wolverhampton opened Sanctum with the intriguing description “If you leave a room alone long enough, it begins to become jealous. Sanctum has been alone. Now Sanctum wants to play…”
- Ireland
- Not an escape room but GoQuest have opened a second venue in Dublin.
- South West England
- North Coast Escape Rooms is a new game near to Newquay which has launched with two games – Smuggler’s Den and Bedsit Beach.
- Abbotescapes is a new venue in Newton Abbot. A second venue in a town of 25,000 suggests a strong tourism angle.
- Escape Rooms Paignton is the second venue to open in the town of Paignton. There are two games – The Great Train Robbery and Agatha Christie’s Murder Mystery.
- Lock and Code Taunton is a new venue from the Weston-super-Mare company. Their first game at the venue is the beautifully named “Dead on the Hour”.
- Housetrap Bodmin Jail in Cornwall opened Jailbreak
- Cornwall’s Great Escape Rooms opened Escape the Wild West
- Escape Rooms Quest in Bournemouth opened Zodiac’s Cabin: Chapter 2
- Scotland
- Advanced warning – Agent November return to Edinburgh for the Fringe this year.
- Escape Edinburgh (Morrison St) opened Sub-Zero
- South East England
- Escape the Vault is a new venue in Brighton.
- Escape Game Brighton opened Wild West
- Houdini’s Escape in Southampton opened a copy of Alcatraz at their Tenpin venue.
- Exciting Escapes in Southampton opened Silence is a Virtue
- Locked in a Room opened a new venue in Southampton, bringing with them Timelock and Parallax
- Xcape Station in Eastbourne opened Lovers’ Murder
- The Panic Room Gravesend opened CSI – Escape Room & Dining Experience. After a long day escaping, what could be better than dinner with an escape!
- Epsom Escape in Hook opened The Challenge Chambers
- Agent November are also heading to Brighton Fringe.
- Blog posts
- The Logic Escapes Me
- Wirral Escape Rooms: The Curse of the Golden Lion
- Lock’d (London): The House of Alistair Moon
- A Tourist’s Review of Prague Escape Rooms
- X-it Games (Shipley, Yorkshire): Afterlife
- Doomsday Games (Colchester): Pathogen
- Prague Escape Review: Elixir Mystery
- XScream Escapes (Ashford): The Corpsewood Killer and Bedlam
- Granny & the Anthropomorphic Panda Avengers…Escape!
- Immersophenia
- Unlock & Roll
- Escape Goats
- (Re)View Two Escape
- The Dark Ages (Code to Exit Altincham)
- Magic School (Escape Time Sutton Coldfield)
- March 2019 Top 5!
- Diamond Duel (Experimental Escape Lemington Spa)
- Escape the Wild West (Escape Hunt Manchester)
- The Last Viking (Escape Hunt Manchester)
- Corruption (Lucardo Rawtenstall)
- University of Magic – Dragons Heart (Lucardo Rawtenstall)
- Witchcraft and Wizardry (Escape Stoke)
- Tommy (Unescapable Derby)
- The DARKE side of the room
- Escape the Review
- Without a Padlock
- #36: E-Exit (Budapest) – Santa Muerte
- #35: E-Exit (Budapest) – Heaven and Hell
- #34: Pirate Cave (Budapest) – Pirate Cave
- #33: Enigma Mission (Budapest) – Enigma Mission
- #32: Mystery Games (Budapest) – Secret of the Depth
- #31: Mystery Games (Budapest) – Alchemist’s Gold
- #30: MindQuest (Budapest) – Legacy of Noo’zaca
- #29: ARoom (Budapest) – Metro
- #28: ARoom (Budapest) – Bank Robbery
- #27: ClueQuest – cQ Origenes
- DISCOMLOGICATED
- The Uncontainables – Escape Room Review Blog UK
- Brit of an Escape Habit
- Review the Room
- Get Lost Escape Rooms: The Abandoned Cottage (Dover)
- Get Lost Escape Rooms: The World Fair Hotel (Dover)
- Get Lost Escape Rooms: The Krevokar Programme (Dover)
- Elusion Rooms: The Pandora Heist (Southampton)
- Escape Plan: Battle For Britain (London)
- The MacGuffin Project: The Magician (Bournemouth)
- Thinking Outside the Box: Retro (Peterborough)
- Thinking Outside the Box: Magician’s Apprentice (Peterborough)
- Ctrl Alt Esc: Detention (Margate)
- Clever Dilemma: Dracula’s Chamber (Faversham)
- Escaping Rooms
- London Escape Room Guide
- The Logic Escapes Me
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!