Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch party for possibly the greatest thing to hit Manchester recently. Located just a couple of minutes walk from Deansgate, you'll find The Escape Room. This is the perfect place to head when you're looking to try something out of the ordinary with your friends.
Having opened just over a week ago, this brand new venue is pristine and you can see the effort that went into decor & themes from the moment you enter reception, with the black and yellow 'caution tape' style banners instantly getting you in the mood for a Crystal Maze style adventure.
Upon arrival, we were led to the bar area where you can grab a drink whilst you wait for your game to start, so you don't feel rushed as you can enjoy the bar before and after the game as you please. The bar is well stocked and boasts some of the cheapest drinks in town (£2 for a bottle of Becks!). The best thing about the bar is that it's exclusive to Escape Room players, so you won't get heaps of people wondering in, beckoned by the call of cheap drinks!
From the bar area, you can see the indoor and outdoor balconies, which have great views of Manchester Cathedral and the River Irwell.
So what IS The Escape Room? There are 5 different rooms for you to tackle; The Mummy, Prison Break, Slaughter House, The Secret Lab and Room 13. The rooms have varying levels of difficulty, so there is something for anybody of any age to have a go at. Each room requires logic and problem solving to help you solve the clues and escape the room in 60 minutes.
We were introduced to our lovely team mates, Irena and Anna. We had never met before, but within seconds of being locked in the room, we were working together to solve the problems and getting on amazingly! I would definitely recommend Escape Room for team-building/ice-breaking exercises for corporate events because we got on so well so quickly.
Our room was The Mummy. I couldn't believe how well they'd pulled off the theme in the room, even the smell was exactly what you'd expect in an ancient tomb (think museum visits!). Obviously, I'm not going to go into detail about what was in the room and spoil the fun! Each room is fitted with a timer, where you can see exactly how much time you have left to escape. The timer, along with the eery music, build great amounts of tension and suspense meaning the time goes by a lot quicker than you think! Each room is also fitted with CCTV, a buzzer to contact reception and an emergency door release. This definitely put me at ease, as I'm claustrophobic and the thought of being locked in the room for an hour filled me with dread, but knowing I could unlock the door at any time definitely put me at ease and once I knew that I didn't give it another thought.
So did we make it out? hell yeah!! We managed to beat The Mummy and escape in about 45 minutes.
I'm not going to get too big headed though, as it is supposed to be the easiest room (and we faced some challenges along the way!). I will definitely be back very soon because I need to get on that leaderboard and Slaughter House is calling my name.
You can book your visit by heading to http://www.theescaperoom.co.uk/ and following their super easy online booking system. Just choose a room, number of players and you're good to go! You can book for anywhere between 2 and 200 people, with prices starting at £22pp and gaining discounts with the more people in the group.
I can definitely see this becoming a very popular attraction very quickly!
The staff definitely add to the experience as they're all super friendly, enthusiastic and fun. There's just nothing else like it in Manchester, offering both a unique gaming experience and a bar!
You can find The Escape Room on Twitter here: @EscapeRoomUK
and on Facebook here: Escape Room UK
does this sound like something you'd have a go at?
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