Live Escape games - Hinthunt and Cluequest

Vanilla · 15 Sep 2013 at 11:29

I tried one of these last night and had a great time.

The premise is basically that you get locked in a room for an hour and have to solve puzzles and search for clues to get out. It's not all brain teaser puzzles but fun things such as searching for keys in hidden draws and around the room, safes which need combinations, etc.

It's hard to give examples without spoiling it for others so I can't. Groups between 3 and 5 are allowed and it's about 20 quid each. The less people the harder.

I went to Cluequest last night. It was a bit out of town (Tottenham Hale) and we all had a great time. We were a group of three and we didn't get out in time....but they have us another 30 seconds and we did make it out

Hinthunt is the number 1 activity in London on Tripadvisor - goes to show how popular these types of games are becoming. I can see myself doing new rooms as the companies make them.

Has anyone else tried these games? Recommend it for a bit of family fun, work groups, etc.

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Vanilla · 15 Sep 2013 at 11:36

Edrof said:
Never heard of it, but it sounds interesting. Do you 'win' anything?

No, just the knowledge that you were successful!

Vanilla · 15 Sep 2013 at 13:32

Eames said:
Its like the boring bits in the Bourne films, I'd rather if there was a car chase thrown in immediately afterwards.

I'm sur ethey could have a bad guy jump out of a closet and you can do some faster-than-possible fighting. They will throw in a guy who has parkinsons to do the filming so it'll just be like the real Bourne films.

Vanilla · 16 Sep 2013 at 09:10

dfarrall said:
Epic, love escape games and sure the real thing would be a good laugh.

It was great fun. Been looking up other games to do (each 'room' is a different game). Weird though, you find yourself thinking about the game a lot!

Vanilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 13:21

They are awesome aren't they!

I did one in Switzerland a few weeks ago. Wasn't as good as the London ones to be honest as the room was just spare - just the puzzles which kind of spoils it.

Was the Hinthunt one just one room or a couple?

Vanilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 14:42

Efour said:
Are you allowed to go full retard and starting kicking down locked doors ?

No, no force should be used for anything. If you find yourself trying to force something you're doing it wrong!

Vanilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 14:44

Nexus said:
That video doesn't really sell it to me. You barely see the people in it, surely you should be selling the fun of it and how people are all working together as a team. It totally fails in that regard.

Its only because Vanilla actually said it was good that I'd be inclined to think otherwise.

The problem is you can't show things without giving the game away.

I'm avoiding giving any info about the puzzles for fear that it ruins the experience. This has the effect of making it difficult to sell the notion....It would be like spoiling a film.

Vanilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 14:45

Cosimo said:
This could be quite good as a team building exercise. It would certainly make for a good discussion in the pubs afterwards.

Indeed, we found ourselves talking about it all the way home. It's a great experience and i'll be recommending it to my work as a bit of fun.

Vanilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 14:49

Nexus said:
Surely you could still show the people and their faces, so it looks like fun, without ruining it though?

That would be like porn which just shows the faces and not the action. Still interested?

Vanilla · 7 Oct 2013 at 15:07

Nexus said:
A decent videographer could easily shoot something which shows peoples faces, movement etc while retaining the clips of the padlocks and puzzles that were shown.

The fact the entire thing was clearly edited with an iMovie template though shows how amateur the production for it was.

These are all amateur outfits, often only a group of three or four guys who came up with the puzzles themselves.