This year I got the responsibility of organising our Christmas Day out for Harrogate Mumbler. Nerve wracking stuff, but theres something I’d been wanting to do since I’d moved up here and this seemed like the perfect opportunity! So when Steve invited us to ClueHQ Harrogate to review their live escape games we jumped at the chance! I’d done a couple of these games before, but the rest of the team (there were five of us in total) were all novices. Its really hard to try and to explain what to expect, and to be honest thats part of the fun – not really knowing what’s about to happen! But what I will tell you is its absolutely brilliant and you will LOVE it!
The games are for groups of 2 to up to 6 people, you’re locked inside a room and given 60 minutes to work as a team, searching for clues and solving puzzles in order to escape the game in time. Steve told us the optimal size for a group is probably 4-5 people, any less and its almost impossible for 2/3 people to complete in the time and anymore and things tend to get a bit lost! The games are suitable for those aged 10 and above, but if you’re under 16 there must be an adult (18 years plus) participating in the game. I think it’s a brilliant way for parents with older children to spend some quality, fun time together. My husband’s been itching to go to one of these for ages – so he’s taking his older nieces and nephews for Christmas. In fact, if you haven’t sorted your Christmas party yet – then get in touch with Steve and get down to ClueHQ Harrogate. To give you a good chance of getting out, I’d advise doing what we did – and starting on the booze afterwards!
ClueHQ Harrogate is based in the centre of town on Prospect Crescent ( just behind Lakeland). You’re advised to arrive about 5 minutes before hand. Be warned there are quite a few sets of stairs to climb! Steve the Director of ClueHQ Harrogate was there to welcome us, and more importantly take our team photo! Team Mumbler just incase you were wondering! You’re then shown a short video on what to (kind of) expect in the rooms and the rules you need to follow. By this point we were all completely terrified! It didn’t help we were told we’d chosen the hardest game to play!
There are three games at Clue HQ Harrogate to choose from at the moment. The Betrayal of Cluetankhamun, Cell Block C, and CSI: The Panic Room. We chose CSI: The Panic Room, usually chosen by professional escape game players (yes – there is such a thing!) or at least people who had played an escape game before! So you can understand why we were all pretty nervous! Off we went to the room, with a pit stop at the toilet for everyone (I blame the nerves) first! Next to the room was the leaderboard for that room. Steve went through a few groups on the boards; a group of professional players topped the boards, with amongst others – a group of Accountants, and a group of University Lecturers! At this point I was massively regretting my decision, but it was too late now.
Steve opened the door and let us in – it felt just like being on the Crystal Maze! The adrenalin was pumping and in we went. I would love to have seen a video of what happened yet. Basically a bunch of middle aged women running round like headless chickens not having a clue what was going on – which now i think about it is pretty normal behaviour for a group of Mums! Now obviously, we can give away what happened – where’s the fun in that? But lets just say the next 41 minutes and six seconds were SO MUCH FUN! Really high paced, high energy but above anything else just really really brilliant! You have 60 minutes to escape – so we SMASHED it! Going into the leader board at Number 5!!!! Beating the University Lecturers.
After we’d finished it was time for another (victory!) photo and to have our names put on the leaderboard. I can’t tell you how happy we all felt afterwards, we were all on a proper high! A great start to our brilliant Christmas day out. So if you’ve been thinking about doing an escape room – get it booked NOW! It’s safe to say Team Mumbler loved it and would definitely recommend it!
Prices per team start from £44 and the rooms are open everyday; Mon – Fri 10am-10pm and Sat – Sun 9am – 10pm. For more information and to book visit their website or call 01423 524 658.
Disclosure: Mumbler was lucky enough to try out this escape game for free however we pinky promised to only write a truthful account. Phew, we really enjoyed it! (otherwise that could have been awks!)
