Here’s another distinctive addition, a game called Mystery Squad that’s not quite like anything this site has seen before, but yet has enough in common with many other things that this site loves that it sounds both unusual and unusually exciting.

“If you like murder mysteries, puzzles, escape rooms, treasure hunts, lateral thinking, or just want to stretch those little grey cells and try something unique and different, then the Mystery Squad has a mission for you.

Become a detective and crack the case. The Mystery Squad is counting on you…”

Mystery Squad is not a conventional exit game as such. For a start, there isn’t a fixed location; there are a number of pubs in central London which could be used to host the game. To a certain extent, it’s an exit game that comes to you! There isn’t a fixed room from which to escape, but your team act as detectives to resolve the mystery, against a time limit as challenging as any fixed room game has to offer.

The cases do have historical research at their core, though are developed into a fictional narrative, accompanied by authentic-feeling props and surrounded by appropriate puzzles that will link the clues together. In the first case, The Death of Shelby Waters, the story that you face runs like so:

“The year is 1931. In the town of Fall River, Massachusetts, Professor Shelby Walters is brutally murdered in his own study. His last act is to post a cryptic letter to one of his former students, it seems that his murder is not as simple as it first appears.

Using only the Professor’s personal effects, books, research, police files, and some items from his study, can you solve this dreadful crime, and prevent those responsible from committing an even more terrible one?”

The price is attractive, at a flat rate of £70 for a team of 4, 5 or 6 (or possibly fewer, but this is not recommended) and that first case offers you 90 minutes rather than just the usual hour to pick it apart and discover all there is to learn. Teams compete not on speed of escape but on score, based on accuracy of response. Cases can be booked from Monday 16th February and on.

This is unlikely to be a moderately-to-your-taste game; either you’ll love it more than other exit games because of its focus, leading to the ability to put unusually deep puzzles in, or less than other exit games if you miss the kinetic thrill of a custom-designed room. It might also be more playable than traditional exit games to some with accessibility concerns, particularly where mobility is concerned. Either way it’s a valuable addition to the world of exit games, particularly when you consider the potential for the game to offer later cases which might break other conventions to provide radically different experiences still – and, as much as the game might be staged in a variety of London locations, perhaps it might go on to break free of Zones 1 and 2 (and even spread its wings all around the nation!) some day.