Ken’s algorithms picked this one out; many thanks, as ever. Off to the rural village of Disley for this one. Exit Games UK had to look Disley up; it’s maybe 15 miles south-east of Manchester, right on the border of Cheshire and Derbyshire, very near to the Peak District. Head off to Stockport and go south a bit before you turn east; if you hit Macclesfield then you’ve gone too far. (That said, if you hit Maccclesfield, you can always visit Escape Quest.)

Extremescape is situated at Stanley Hall Farm, next to Disley Golf Club. The rural approach is interesting; players will have to go a little out of their way to get there, but if it means that the site has far lower rent costs to deal with then it may be able to spend more on a spectacular game to play. The games are located within a recently-renovated 400-year-old stone barn, so that’ll be atmospheric and unusual. The site plans two games, both of which are intended for teams of four to six (with some flexibility) and a Facebook announcement reveals a sixty-minute time limit. Details of pricing have not yet been made available.

The Pirate Ship room is being created first. “Captain Zak Barrow’s ship, crewed by a gang of murderers & cutthroats, threatened Barrow with mutiny. A fight between the Captain and the ship gunner erupted. Barrow killed the man, and the crew did not pursue the revolt further; however, after that incident, Barrow was a changed man. Plundering ships of all kinds along India’s Malabar coast, Barrow had become a Pirate. One of the most well known Pirates of all time.

Barrow’s ship Castoria decided to plunder the India Merchant, a huge treasure ship of 350 tons. As the pirates neared, the merchant vessel fired- but due to a sudden ocean swell, the shot missed its mark. The pirates immediately threw their grappling hooks, bringing the two ships together. The pirates rapidly boarded the ship, and soon Captain Barrow was in the possession of one of the greatest pirate treasures ever.
The ship disappeared in 1580 and was not seen again until now!”

The second game to be launched will be the Haunted Barn and has a story concerning an investigation by a paranormal activity investigator accompanied by an experienced guide. “We had been told that most of the activity that the guide experienced had occurred upstairs in the main barn area. The stairs were in bad condition, with some missing. I chose to stay downstairs with another member of the group so that we could see what developed down there. I was not getting any significant results with equipment, but the feeling of being watched was overwhelming. One of the photos taken during this time by the other member showed a misty area near the door that we entered.

When I entered the upper level of the barn, I noticed a large pentagram painted on the floor. When I began to take some general photos, I realized that I was out of film. As I was changing the roll, I glanced up and saw the shadow form of a man standing in the doorway to the outside. I hurriedly finished loading the film, and took some pictures. One of the pictures showed a light. ((…)) The second photo contained an orb anomaly.”

Spooky stuff! No opening date has been announced yet, other than Twitter hints that the launch will be in 2016, as special effects are still being installed, but Exit Games UK will watch with great interest.