REVIEW: Co-Decode Live Escape Rooms

Team Total took a trip out of the office to have a go at tackling Swindon’s new Live Escape Rooms at Co-Decode in BSS House, Cheney Manor Industrial Estate. We were locked in a room and had 60-minutes to solve the clues to find the key to free us, with nothing more than our wits and savvy to help us from certain doom!

We had a birthday in the office, Matt was turning 30, so we decided to have a go at the Co-Decode Live Escape Rooms. None of us had ever been to one before, but between us – in a moment of extreme over-confidence – decided we’d be brilliant at solving all the clues, much like a mental challenge from Crystal Maze.

The five of us approached Co-Decode and were greeted by Alex, the owner, who talked us through the activity we had ahead of us, which went something like this:

A dear friend of ours, the world-renowned academic Oldervik Dunstan, has gone missing for a disconcertingly long time. Even though his work for the Ministry of Antiquities and Curiosities takes him all over the world, it’s been a little too long since we last spoke to him and we smell a rat. No-one from his place of work has heard from him, all we know is that he’s been given the task of finding rare and ancient artefacts.

Out of the blue we receive a mysterious letter from Oldervik asking us to go to his house and “feed his cats”, but we know he does even HAVE any cats… there’s something up, and we need to get to the bottom of it.

Now. We can’t go in to any more detail without giving the game away, but what we can say is that when we made it to Oldervik’s residence, we were completely transported in to the story. Every square inch of the space was meticulously planned. There were subtle details and clues all over the room and we couldn’t wait to get started. There was even a large screen on the wall which would throw out clues every now and then as we were getting close – and when we were way off. As the time ticked down we got pumped full of more and more adrenaline as we tried to secure our freedom!

Unfortunately, we didn’t get through all the clues to find the key to get out of the room, but far from being downhearted, we left absolutely itching to get back in and have another go! There’s about a 40% success rate on the Co-Decode Live Escape Rooms, so you’re definitely a budding Sherlock Holmes if you manage to piece together the clues. We heard about a team that not only beat the clues, but did it with time to spare! There’s a very impressive leaderboard in the main reception that gave us something to aim for next time.

As a qualified archaeologist, owner Alex has a keen interest in unlocking the mysteries of the past, the games he’s devised are full of seriously clever riddles, puzzles, engineering and surprises. We’d highly recommend going along with a couple of friends and pitting your wits against these devilishly difficult challenges!

We’re very confident that if you give this a try, you’ll be telling everyone you meet and booking up again!