The Room (or Riddle Rooms as their website is called) is yet another escape game location, but their niche is catering for big groups. In particular, the Mansion Room takes 8 - 16 people and it was this that we booked for a friend's hen party at the weekend. They also have a few smaller rooms, a room especially for corporate team building, and a room for children's parties. Thumbs up.
Beware if you book the Mansion Room though, it's non-refundable and if your group drops below 8 you can't play. They'll try to fit you in one of the smaller rooms if it's available, but if not then tough. We very nearly didn't have enough people as some dropped out last minute, but fortunately managed to get 9 together in the nick of time. As it happens, I totally get why you need 8 as when you first go in the room you're split up into four teams so that you can gradually work your way through all the puzzles in the room. If there were fewer, some people would be by themselves. Not impossible, but probably a lot harder. I wouldn't like to see it at full capacity though, I'd say 8-12 would be the right number of people.
Obviously I'm not going to spoil it for you, but the Mansion Room is a murder mystery - you've got the whodunnit to solve, you've got to find treasure, and you've got to escape from the room itself, all via various problem solving puzzles involving a lot of padlocks. There's a staff member in the room the whole time, who is happy to give hints and answer questions - but he won't solve anything for you, he'll just gently guide you to doing that yourself. We felt like we'd had a lot of help, but chatting to him afterwards he told us that we'd asked an average amount of questions - apparently some groups need A LOT of help. We also solved it all with more than 5 minutes to spare, not the best time ever, but better than average. Hurrah!
I think I'd maybe have liked to have used a bit more logic or brain power, as a lot of it was literally hunting for clues, or trying various numbers until you find the right ones, but I enjoyed it and would recommend it for other events like hens, stags or birthdays. It's pricey, £16 a person for 90 minutes, but we all had a good time and that's what counts. I'd like to try more escape games now! read more