Escape Hunt Birmingham Central - "Our Finest Hour"

Updated: Apr 23

LOCATION:  Birmingham, United Kingdom

Photo above is property of Escape Hunt Birmingham

Photos above are property of Escape Hunt Birmingham

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: Our Finest Hour
📅 DATE PLAYED: January 21, 2022
🎬 GENRE: War, History
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 2 ppl): 7/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-6 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: £20-25/PP(pending on the group size), 15% (Mon-Thu), 10% off (ages 60+)
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes (49:08)

📖 THE STORY

It is 1942, the middle of World War II. You are MI6’s top agents, and you have been informed that the Nazis have developed terrifying new weapons which could easily mean not only the end of the war, but the end of Britain!

You have been scrambled, as word has come through that these weapons have been activated and will launch in just 1 hour from now. What are you waiting for? Get in there, find the weapon, deactivate them and save the country!

Video above is property of Escape Hunt Birmingham

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

The room contains amazing replicas of items from the actual war effort used to crack codes and communicate at the time. Two items in particular had me wanting to just admire them and know more about how they were made, and seriously impressed me.
Absolutely authentic decoration, disheveled and sparse room, totally believable of the time period, several areas to gain access and explore, and plenty of props and furniture that felt totally in character.
There was a nice balance of standard locks, tech, codes and activity-based puzzles which kept us engaged and stayed in theme throughout.
Great use of teamwork and logical thinking required and a gentle build-up of pressure happens as time whittles away.
They have a bunch of great in-keeping props available at the end to dress up for your victory photoshoot!

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

A couple of the puzzles didn’t quite signpost us as much as we had hoped, but after a little analysis we worked it out in the end. A couple of items were tricky/fiddly or didn’t operate “perfectly” which held us up, but then who expects technology to be perfect in wartime!
The way we got out of the room wasn’t as exciting an ending as I’d hoped. While we waited for our GM to come and meet us after I felt a little like I’d cheated and just walked out early, although we had definitely achieved the goal and been told to do it that way :)

Photo above is property of Escape Hunt Birmingham

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

Supposedly the hardest game at time of writing, this game definitely threw us a lot of challenging hunting, figuring out and trial and error, and required two nudges (call out for help and it shall be given!) to make the final connection in puzzles that we thought we were on the right lines with but were struggling to complete. The theme is authentic and not scary. The lighting is good and there’s nothing too physical. My tip is to go with what you think is right but maybe try other ways of making it work!

Despite these small hiccups in our methods we got out in 49 minutes and were very pleased to be second on the leaderboard for that month (for that moment anyway!)

If you are a fan of authentic themes, war movies and historical stories, then this room will absolutely appeal, or if you just want to go straight for the hardest room at a venue!

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

"Our Finest Hour" is located at their City Centre location. There are several paid car parks within a few minutes walk of the venue but the site does not have its own. It is just a couple of minutes from Birmingham New Street Station so trains will be frequent from wherever you are.

The lobby is amazing! Spacious, clean and beautifully decorated and with many tables, drinks available to purchase, games to play and lockers for valuables. They have rooms available for groups to hire for games too.

The venue and "Our Finest Hour" are wheelchair accessible rooms (although maybe a squeeze in the room for moving around).

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 Escape Hunt Birmingham for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.