Deadlocked Escape Rooms - "The Time Machine"

Updated: Mar 21

LOCATION:  Reading, United Kingdom

Photo above is property of Deadlocked Escape Rooms

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: The Time Machine
📅 DATE PLAYED: May 3, 2023
🎬 GENRE: Sci-Fi
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 6.5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-4 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 90 Mins.
💰 PRICE: £50-100 (pending on the group size)
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

The Wexell Corporation has a mission for you. The first group that they had sent out on their time machine never returned. Unfortunately, you only have one minute to repair the machine before it spits you out in a different time zone. If you fail to repair it within the allowed number of tries, you'll be stuck in the rift of time forever...

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

The humorous performance of the GM's character played a big part in making our time travel journey an enjoyable one.
This concept of how to create a 60-second escape into a 90-minute room was genius. It felt like we were playing a Boda Borg game but in an actual escape room.
We loved the idea of using Wexie (a very cute robot) as the hint system. The GM was also great at coming up with witty clues.
The way the room transformed as we "traveled" through time was quite impressive. Sometimes it could be drastic changes and other times just subtle ones.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

A few puzzles that we had to solve on the computer screen felt like puzzles we would encounter on APP game. We were hoping for more tactile objects rather than data inputs.
We thought a few of the items could be labeled since we were searching for a while and were not sure if we found what was clued. We were surprised that one of the objects we found could actually open since we haven't encountered one before.

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

Deadlocked Escape Rooms builds everything in-house and they are big supporters of repurposing items for their rooms. With that said, we were genuinely amazed by what they were able to do with their limitation on budget and space. I wanted all the players out there to know that the only reason this game still exists is because of the passion the owners have for this industry. It takes a lot of energy to run this room and if you're interested to know why, I'm sure the GM would be happy to show you what they have to do behind the scenes.

Deadlocked Escape Room also has a lot of fun online games that they've created in the past few years. Make sure to check our website for those reviews. We had the privilege of taking a sneak peek of their new room in the making and all I can say is, cast a spell and bring me back to Reading!

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

No street parking.
The escape room is located down one flight of stairs.
Small lobby with seating.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

BOOK NOW

(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank Deadlocked Escape Rooms for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion of the review whatsoever.