Last week as Escapologic celebrated their 10th birthday, the LeftLion team were invited down to try out another of their fantastic escape rooms, Robin Of Lockskey. But did we manage to save the Sheriff and escape? Read on to find out…
With almost fifty different escape rooms around the city, Nottingham is truly a hotspot for puzzle solving fanatics. Located on Castle Gate in the heart of the city, Escapologic is one of the city’s largest and longest running. It’s split between two unassuming looking buildings, neither of which could give many clues to the madcap adventures that await inside.
Over 100,000 games have been played in their ten year history, and there are now eleven very different puzzle rooms to try. For anyone not au fait with the rules of escape rooms, the concept is simple: one team, one storyline, one hour to escape - solving the myriad of riddles, clues and puzzles that lead to freedom however is not so straightforward.
After locating keys, codes, and secret compartments, we took a (very fun) route into a dungeon-like space to complete another puzzle, occasionally receiving hints from the disembodied voice of a famous character from Robin Hood legend
On our last visit, the LeftLion team split their attempts into two rooms - ‘Curio’, a surreal, steampunk-tinged escapade into the home of explorer Alexander Curio, and ‘Howitz’, a nerve-shredding, toy shop haunted by a malignant clown. The Howitz team successfully escaped, while the Curio team failed to and were later convinced (albeit briefly) that LeftLion co-founder Al Gilby had been kidnapped by the clown - overall a successful day.
This time a tight-knit team of four visited Escapalogic and went for ‘Robin of Lockskey’, a room based on the local legend which I’d heard excellent things about from an escape room fanatic friend. Despite the fact that three out of four team members had been on the unsuccessful Curio team last time, with three Notts natives and a Prince of Thieves devotee among us we were feeling fairly confident.
As well as the intricate plots, puzzles, and sets that make escape rooms so fun, there’s a strong feeling of collective camaraderie that comes from this kind of problem solving
After a friendly introduction from Games Master Armani, we stepped into an antiquated office room, complete with a grand mantlepiece, wooden bureau, leather armchair, numerous ornaments and Robin Hood themed artwork on the walls. The door closed and our search for clues began.
I can’t say much more in detail, but this was the first of several separate spaces we ventured into during our game. After locating keys, codes, and secret compartments, we took a (very fun) route into a dungeon-like space to complete another puzzle, occasionally receiving hints from the disembodied voice of a famous character from Robin Hood legend. After briefly encountering the bones of Robin Hood, 47 minutes 37 seconds in we finally retrieved the golden arrow we’d been searching for and made our escape, stumbling into the balmy spring evening to reflect on our victory.
Interested to learn a little more about a decade of puzzling people of Nottingham and beyond, I spoke to Adam Woodliffe, Marketing & Business Development Manager at Escapologic. My first question - what is the record for completing Robin of Lockskey? - to which I was flabbergasted to discover was an impressive 20 minutes and 01 seconds without clues. (A true Sherlock lives amongst us!)
Adams' favourite room is ’Immaterium’, which was created in 2020 and is ‘the world's only officially licensed Warhammer 40,000 escape room’. “As a Warhammer fan myself, I was blown away by the room's ability to allow fans to feel fully immersed in the grim darkness of the far future,” he explained.
But as well as the intricate plots, puzzles, and sets that make escape rooms so fun, there’s a strong feeling of collective camaraderie that comes from this kind of problem solving. The small wins when an item is discovered, observing how a teammate's mind works, or just crawling through secret passages not knowing where you’ll all end up.
“It brings out skills within the team that might have been unnoticed,” says Adam. “The best part is that it gets teams out of their usual setting and into something that's new and exciting. We have so many of the big brands returning to Escapologic to host their staff parties.”
As well as being generous hosts to the likes of us, for their anniversary the Escapologic team took some time to revamp ‘Heistakes’ (their bank heist themed room) and released a ten year anniversary showcase video documenting the origins of Escapologic, presented by TV personality Bobby Spirals (watch below). An enterprise that is always looking to innovate and expand, Spirals is likely to pop up again in the future, as Escapologic reveals some grand new plans soon. Keep those eyes peeled!
If you’ve never been to an escape room, we at LeftLion highly recommend, so gather a few mates and see if you can unlock your potential.
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