Escape The Professor
18 September 2016
Mind The Game London
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Another escape game we just had to try out. We booked our spot for Sunday afternoon, half of our team had visited Highgate Cemetery in the morning and with rail replacement buses being confusing and unreliable, we Ubered to arrive with just a few minutes to spare.
The owner greeted us politely and let us have a short rest and a snack before locking us into the room. He explained that he liked to leave plenty of time before and after each game to make sure people didn’t feel rushed, so that was great.
Once we had settled down from rushing around and trying to make it in time, we were shown a short video explaining the backstory of the crazy professor challenge. Without giving too much away, the professor discovered a serum that was needed to save humanity, but he disappeared and we needed to go into his office to recover the serum and save the world.
So far, so good! The video was a little amateurish and could easily be polished up a little, but it served well as an introduction into the story.
We were then led into the small room for the escape challenge. This one is just one rectangular room with mirrors along one side and vintage furniture scattered throughout.
The first few clues were relatively easy to find and we worked in sequence from there. The story built upon previously discovered clues and items and has a really good flow. Several electronic and magnetic props made for good challenges within this room.
We only got stuck once, but quickly asked for hints and were able to get back on track. Some items were quite well hidden, which was great. All clues and puzzles were challenging but logical and quickly solved once we figured out what we needed to do.
The decor was very nicely done with a clear vintage theme, but looking a little used and abused here and there. Some of the electronic devices seemed a bit delicate as well. But as long as you don’t try to brute force your way through, they all work perfectly. A really nice touch was the old-timey radio playing suitably vintage music.
This small, two-person operation is so lovingly and enthusiastically done, it was great fun to work our way through.
After we escaped with the serum, we got to write our winning message onto the wall! The walls of the small office are almost fully covered with witty, fun and silly messages from previous teams.
It really was a fun challenge of midrange difficulty.