Escape room adventures are relatively new on the scene but they have fast become the latest must try activity that everyone is talking about. When The Live Escape in Huddersfield opened I immediately thought it would make the perfect Father’s Day surprise! The escape room adventures all have very different themes and the idea is that you work together to solve a series of puzzles, mysteries and hidden clues to get out. The Live Escape in Huddersfield has a live Prison Breakout theme and has been carefully designed to make you feel that you have just walked into a maximum security prison. We were locked in the cell for 60 minutes with no apparent way out. Did we escape in time? Find out below…
What’s the idea: An escape room adventure. A physical game in which people are locked in a room with their team and have to find clues, solve a series of puzzles, and crack the code within the time limit to escape.
Who for: 10 years +, ideal for team building, hen parties, stag parties, great gift idea for families and friends, and maybe even a first date!
Cost: At The Live Escape, Huddersfield; 2 people £35, 3 people £48, 4 people £60, 5 people £70 (ideal number in a team is 4)
Where can I find out more: We went to The Live Escape in Huddersfield, however, room escapes can now be found nationwide and are even a very popular activity on European city breaks.
TIGs review
For Father’s Day this year I wanted to surprise TIG’s dad with something different, something he’s never done before, and I think I certainly succeeded! I don’t want to say too much about the idea itself as the unknown of it all was part of the excitement! We arrived 15 minutes early at The Live Escape in Huddersfield and had a full brief on what was about to happen, the background prison story, and the fact that we had to escape before the warden did his rounds in 60 minutes. This briefing was the perfect introduction, but left us feeling slightly nervous!
It was then time to go into ‘the room’. We had no idea what to expect behind the door, but we went in and immediately started turning the place upside down for clues as the clocked started to count down. What a buzz, it was like being on an episode of Finders Keepers (a 1990’s CITV gameshow!). We kept finding random pieces of information that we had no idea what to do with. Gradually as we found other parts to the puzzle, we started piecing together the clues, cracking codes and unlocking padlocks.
There was a large TV screen on the wall with the clock ticking down. We were also being watched by a staff member, and if we were struggling, a clue would appear on the screen. There were points in the game where we felt like we were at a dead end, but the clues kept us engaged, interested and motivated to get out in time. We were often overthinking the puzzles and went off on a tangent but the clues certainly didn’t hinder the experience, we definitely needed them! After struggling with the last puzzle for about 5 minutes, we managed to unlock the final padlock and make it out with one minute to spare – talk about cutting it fine!
This has to be one of my favourite ideas. It was certainly challenging and involved great team work and a lot of patience with team members, to get out in time! I absolutely love solving problems so this interative and very cryptic adventure was right up my street.
The owner who took us on the journey was absolutely brilliant, really welcoming and reassuring. It was well thought out and put together, and I cannot recommend it highly enough – you just have to try it! This would make a great Hen/Stag party idea and you could even embrace the theme in fancy dress! We will be talking about it for weeks to come, so if you try just one of my ideas, I recommend this is the one you do!
Any bad points?
- This idea is pretty faultless, we absolutely loved the experience. It’s unfortunate at The Live Escape that they don’t have a number of different rooms with different themes to try, so we could go back sooner or compete with a different team at the same time. This might be something they are aiming to do as they expand.
- We were loving the activity so much it would be great if the experience lasted a little longer. We were so immersed in the theme we were not ready to leave our prison cell, and wanted more puzzles to solve!
Would I go again?
Obviously you can’t do the same one again as you know how to solve the clues, however, I would love to do a different escape adventure. The Live Escape in Huddersfield are working on a new themed concept so I’m really looking forward to trying that out soon!
Have you been to The Live Escape?
Or have you experienced a different escape room adventure?
Share you experiences below…
