As we had our first child free weekend since April, we did something a little different and went to the Escape Hunt in Leeds. We didn’t know what to expect when we booked, but we had such an amazing time!!
The Set Up
Escape Hunt is located in The Light entertainment complex on the third floor where the cinemas are. It is a little bit hidden away but this means the waiting area is very calm and relaxing. As you enter, you’re greeted by a member of staff who will take your details and check you in. Then you are free to relax until your game begins.
Here, there is a mini-bar (which only takes cards) but also in the welcome room are mini games such as Jenga, Connect 4 and Draughts. We found this really relaxing and got us nice and chilled out for was about to come!
The Game
We played “Our Finest Hour” which was set in 1942 Germany. One of the key things with escape rooms is that you shouldn’t give away any secrets. As such, trying to write a blog post is rather difficult! However, I think it’s safe to say that you have to solve all the clues within an hour, to save Britain. As a result, there’s absolutely no pressure at all!!!
Apparently, this is the most difficult game room that Escape Hunt has to offer. Given that there was only 2 of us, this made it even more difficult! I would think that it is best with 3 or 4 people in the room, as any more than this and you’ll probably end up falling out and tripping over each other.
As mentioned, this was our first Escape Hunt room and so we did find it very difficult, especially with just two of us. However, we did learn how the game works as we went along. The Game Master (Mary) was excellent in providing us proper instructions before we started and so we had a good chance of succeeding.
Escape Hunt Top Tips!
One issue we did have was that my partner is hard of hearing. As such, I had to use the telephone at all times to receive clues from the Game Master. However, once Mary knew about this, she quickly stopped using a telephone and used the speaker system instead and this really helped. It would be best to let the staff know of any disabilities that your team has, so that they can make necessary arrangements.
Also, if you’re thinking about inviting older relatives to a game (hint: Christmas presents!), the game isn’t particularly physically strenuous. As a result, if you can stand for an hour you should be able to play the game relatively easily. Once you are enclosed in the room, it didn’t feel that you were trapped at any time. This is especially true as you were in regular contact with the Game Master.
Child Appropriate?
Escape Hunt is targeted for groups of adults as well as for children over the age of 10. This feels just about right. Children younger than 10 would probably lack the concentration and would probably get frustrated at the number of clues that need to be solved.
If you have to take a child in to Escape Hunt, you need to have enough people in the group to interact and involve for child whilst trying to complete the puzzle. As such, I wouldn’t recommend taking a child under the age of 10. However, the fabulous Noel did say that they had younger children in for a birthday party. They also make a really big effort to open the game up to younger children.
The Outcome
So, how did we get on?! Seeing as though we were playing the hardest game, there’s just two of us and one of those was hard of hearing, I feel so he did remarkably well!!
We managed to do with puzzle in 59 minutes and 30 seconds!! One of the great things about Escape Hunt is that they give you a really good debrief afterwards. They tell you what you did well and what you had difficulties with and so you can feel better about things afterwards.
One thing to be aware of is that at the end of the game you are probably emotionally drained. As a result, reserve judgement until the morning after because you’ll either be on a real high, a real low, or mentally exhausted!
The Verdict
Going to Escape Hunt is a real challenge, both in terms of the game but also for relationships of the people you play with! It is quite eye opening as to how you interact with other people and how you learn. It would be a great team building exercise at work and probably something I will talk to my manager at work about!
For a child free evening, Escape Hunt provides something really, really different to anything else out there. Another good thing is the fact it is in Leeds City Centre so you can carry on your evening afterwards. I really hope that we could go back again at some point to play the other games!
IMPORTANT! We played the Escape Hunt room free of charge for the purposes of this blog post. However, no attempts have been made to influence this post.
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