An escape room in Kingston has opened just in time for indoor activities to resume in the UK.
Escape Hunt is a global escape room company with 13 venues across the UK and their first venue in London opened in Kingston yesterday.
For those unfamiliar with the popular concept, escape rooms contain clues in line with a theme, where you figure out a way out of your locked room with your group in a time limit.
People love escape rooms for the cryptic clues, adrenaline and teamwork involved and this was no exception.
SW Londoner was able to try out Escape Hunt Kingston’s Alice in Puzzleland adventure on their opening night to great success.
Six of us were locked in a room for an hour with a table set for the Mad Hatter’s tea party along with other whimsical props like the Caterpillar’s hookah pipe and Queen of Heart’s roses key to tracking down some stolen tarts and escaping the room.
All of Lewis Carroll’s characters made an appearance with the Cheshire Cat guiding us over speakers whenever we got stuck and the White Rabbit giving us written clues in verse.
The room was intricately put-together with different sensors and stages with complex clues so emotions and tensions were running high as we ran around trying solve our way out of the room as as our time went down.
Luckily, 15 minutes before the end of our limit, we hit our stride and got out with eight minutes to spare.
Elated with our problem-solving win, we rewarded ourselves for getting out of Alice in Puzzleland in the quickest time of the evening with some prosecco in their sleek bar.
All the staff were insightful and eager to give us the best experience possible helping us from beginning to end and myself and my colleagues are planning a return trip very soon.
Kingston Escape Hunt has several other rooms to try out; from a cowboy-themed adventure called Escape the Wild West, one set in ancient Japan named The Fourth Samurai and a swashbuckling pirate theme in Blackbeard’s Treasure.
There are also VR experiences in the space and organized outside adventures in Kingston centre where you follow clues with an iPad.
Escape Hunt seems to have options for anyone for any occasion and it’s worth noting they offer discounts to students and booking options for corporate teambuilding, stag, hen or birthday parties.
If you prefer to solve your mysteries from home, there are Zoom and print and play options to try out from your living room.
Escape Hunt CEO Richard Harpham said: ‘We’re thrilled to announce bookings are open, and that we’ll be bringing the magic of our immersive entertainment to Kingston.
“Some of our most popular escape rooms will be opening at Escape Hunt Kingston, our first location in Greater London, and we couldn’t be more excited!”
Bookings for indoor, outdoor, VR or Zoom adventures can be made online at the Escape Hunt website.
Escape rooms are suitable for ages 8+ and VR experiences for ages 12+ with prices starting from just £22 per person.
