Escape Room The Game Review (age 16+) Sent by Goliath Games

In the past few years Escape Rooms have become incredibly popular. The rush of adrenaline as you hear that clock ticking away, and the pride when you solve the clues and escape, are both excellent fun. Now you can experience that thrill at home with your friends and family thanks to Goliath Games, and they've sent us a copy of Escape Room The Game for review.

Inside the box are lots of different components for 3 full one hour Escape Room scenarios - Prison Break, Virus and Nuclear Countdown. Almost everything is hidden inside sealed envelopes so that you don't see it in advance and spoil your game.

Included are Hint Cards held together by a white band of paper. Stupidly we didn't spot these until right near the end of the game, but each one fits into the framed red rectangle, the Hint Decoder, and has a time before which you can't use it. We were about 50 minutes in when we found the hints, and stuck on a clue which we could have easily solved 15 minutes previously with the hint.

Star of the show is the Chrono Decoder. This takes 3 x AA batteries and you'll need a small Phillips to open the battery compartment. When you switch it on and press the button, the 1 hour timer begins counting down, and it plays background noise which adds to the atmosphere and keeps you alert.

As you go through the game, you'll discover solutions that lead to letters, numbers and shapes, and these are the clues to which keys you should put into the decoder, and into which slot. Get all 4 right and you'll progress to the next stage of your game.

The booklet explains the games do get progressively harder, so we picked the 'easiest' one first, Prison Break. You should remember though, it all depends on how your brain works - one person's 'easiest' may not be the same as another's.

I love solving puzzles and working out solutions to problems, so you'd think I might be good at Escape Rooms. I'm not. At least 1 of our players thought like me too, and I think that went against us, if only we'd spotted those Hint Cards earlier...

Obviously once you've played through an Escape Room, you will remember at least some of the solution, so there isn't a lot of scope for repeat play - not unless you want to put it away for while and then try again. There are expansion packs available though, including Funland and Murder Mystery. I'd love to think I could beat either of those!

Escape Room The Game is recommended for 3-5 players aged 16+. We played with 4 adults (with 2 eager-to-help children in the room). The age range is probably right, as it has adult themes, and you really need 3 or more players. You can definitely play with more people if you want though, although your odds of beating the timer should (in theory) increase with each participant.

Escape Room The Game is available to buy now priced around £30 (handy Amazon affiliate link below). At £10 for an unrepeatable evening's entertainment for 5 people, it's great value. Find out more on the Escape Room The Game website.

We were sent our copy of Escape Room The Game for review. Amazon links are affiliate, which never costs you a penny more, but if you buy through my link, I earn a few pence towards my fund to keep the website running.