This Summer, we visited Trapped in a Room with a Zombie from the company Room Escape UK. Based in London, in a 'top secret' bunker, it wasn't too hard to find when given the details in our email. They offer a selection of events inside the building, alongside laser quest, axe throwing and arcade games. Room Escape UK offer a selection of different escape games such as trapped in a police van and trapped undercover.
As we arrived at the location, we were told to sign a waiver as we waited for the remainder of the group. The waiver is there to protect the company when using any live actors during the experience. Smaller bookings are also combined with other groups in time slots as up to 10 people can play this game at once. It costs £25 pound per ticket and offers games every Wednesday and Sundays at selective times.
On the website, the experience teases the following; “Prepare to be locked in a room with 9 other people and a Zombie that is chained to the wall! Hidden in the room is a key that will unlock the door to your survival. To find the key you must locate numerous clues and solve riddles. Each sessions is up to ten people, so, like a real zombie apocalypse, you'll have to work with strangers to survive. Or hide behind them to save yourself. The choice is yours. Can you work together to save yourselves and humanity, or will you put yourself before the group and civilisation as a whole? Every five minutes the hungry Zombie’s chain will be released another foot. Within an hour, the Zombie will be able to reach you. You have 60 minutes to the find clues, solve the puzzles, unlock the door and escape the room without getting eaten!”
Once ready, we were taken to the briefing room where we could leave our personal belongings (in a locked room) and were given the story line and what our mission was going to be. The scenario summed up was based around a doctor called Dr Oxy, who was trying to find a cure for the out breaking disease. Unfortunately, he was turned into one and chained himself up with the cure in his lab. The assistant was our game master and stayed with us during the experience. She was there was advice and tips for when we needed it. Before we went into the game room, we could hear the zombie banging on all the walls and door, creating some tension from the start.
Once the experience began, the zombie locked in the chains done a great job chasing us around the room as he could get closer and closer every 5 minutes. The puzzles ranged in difficulty and did require the team to work together to get to certain areas of the room without being caught from the zombie. If you were caught from the zombie, you had to stand in the corner and were unable to walk for the rest of the experience and could only help vocally. Knowing that the chains were released so frequently which allowed the zombie closer made the simplest of puzzles harder.
We managed to escape the zombie with the cure in just under 60 minutes without too many casualties. Our favourite part of this experience was the live zombie in the room. It made the whole experience different from other escape rooms and allowed puzzles you would solve very quickly, much harder with the zombie chasing you in circles in a room. All we can criticise from the experience is that some of the puzzles were a little difficult at the beginning and we had to rely on some advice from the assistant.
If you wish to experience this yourself and try and escape being trapped in a room with a zombie, you can visit the website here (http://www.trappedinaroom.co.uk/zombie) and they can also be found on Facebook.