Tag Archives: house of enigma

News round-up for the start of October

News round-upThe usual monthly statistics are being produced at this moment, but some news stories cannot wait:

  • The most time-critical story refers to a competition for a gift voucher to play Locked in Edinburgh. The competition claims to close at “midnight Monday 5th October”; fingers crossed that means “midnight at the end of Monday 5th October”, because if it means midnight at the start of Monday 5th October then you’ve got, what, nearly half an hour to enter. Better hurry either way!
  • Good news: The Great Escape Game of Sheffield have announced their first marriage proposal! It’s not clear whether the photo is a depiction of (a non-spoilery part, obviously, of) the Mad Scientist Room bedecked with a proposal in rose petals, but it’s delightful to imagine that it was. This is the fifth UK exit game proposal that this site knows about and the first time that it has been mentioned that the recipient of the proposal was male. (No clue about the proposer, not that it matters.) Many congratulations to the happy couple and to the site!
  • Bad News: House of Enigma of Leeds’ web site’s booking section says Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances outside of our control, we are no longer able to accept new bookings. Please accept our sincere apologies and we hope to be back soon! The Facebook presence has been taken down as well. That was quick; as the site was open for less than a month, perhaps this might be considered a false start rather than something where you had not to blink to miss it. As over 240 copies of the Groupon voucher were sold, this site dearly hopes that this is a temporary blip; should the worst come to the worst, consult the Groupon FAQ. Fingers firmly crossed that it’s back for good before long.
  • Good news from elsewhere: just over a year ago, this site discussed Boda Borg, a live action puzzle action game with seven branches in Sweden and one in Ireland. Happily, yesterday a branch quietly opened very near Boston in the United States, with the Grand Opening next Saturday. This site enjoyed coverage in the Boston Globe, which suggests that co-owner Chad “Ellis spent close to $4 million renovating the 30,000-square-foot space“. Whoa. No matter what the budget, it sounds spectacular.
  • This site enjoyed the embedded trailer video for GTFO Escape Entertainment of Canada, which obviously stands for “Get The Fun On”, in the TFI Friday style of acronyms and their expansions. Nevertheless, the video is fun because it contains a code to find… and this site thinks it has only found the first two-thirds of it. You can do some quite clever things with YouTube videos, such as interactive rock paper scissors (which has been implemented many other ways on YouTube, too). Can there be a meaningful way to embed a more interactive puzzle within a trailer video for an exit game?

Now open in Leeds: House of Enigma

House of EnigmaThis brand new exit game popped up through Ken’s algorithm a few weeks ago and has remained on this site’s radar for a while; there’s finally convincing evidence to suggest that it opened yesterday, as well as confirmation by e-mail from the site proprietor, so it’s a pleasure to be able to welcome the location to business.

The location is based on a wide terraced road, very close to the fast A64 route from Leeds to York. For now, it hosts one 60-minute game for two, three or four players, priced at £40, £45 or £56 respectively. The first game is entitled The Lost City of Atlantis and tells a tale of adventure. Unusually, your goal is to protect secrets that need not to be revealed.

Professor Christopher Nansen is a world-famous explorer, archaeologist and oceanographer known for his fascination with the City of Atlantis, a legend to which he has dedicated his entire career. He has recently been kidnapped due to rumours of his success in finding the long lost, technologically advanced civilization. Aware of such a possibility, he’s left clues in his office that only a genius of his own callibre could understand.

As an organization uniting the world’s brightest minds, the House of Enigma has a mission to solve and protect mankind’s greatest mystery. The enemy is already on its way. Report to Headquarters immediately, there’s no time to lose…

A second game is under construction and may well spring from the neat overarching plot device of the House of Enigma being an almost International Rescue-like organisation. The location’s web site looks upbeat, smart and classy; Exit Games UK looks forward to seeing reviews of the game before long!