Escape Hunt Manchester: Alice In Puzzleland

Filling In for Alice

This was my first venture down the Rabbit Hole for an Alice in Wonderland-themed adventure. Escape Hunt offer concessions for students and seniors.

Story

Find and return the Queen’s tarts before it’s off with the Mad Hatter’s head, for he has been accused of stealing them.

Puzzles

Interactive, with a far bigger focus on magical mechanics rather than coded locks, which suited this particular room.

Mise-en-scene

Quirky and colourful, the scenery is artfully linked to Lewis Carrol’s novel. It’s compact but this adds to the immersion. An eccentric Hatter provided the odd verbal clue when needed.

Final Comments

We retrieved the Queen’s tarts with 15 minutes to spare. Take no more than 4 people to this challenge, otherwise it’d be too crowded.

This room is so much fun. We had lovely hosts at the Manchester Escape Hunt and all the tech in the game worked beautifully. It wasn't challenging so we powered through it, even as a two, but it was incredibly enjoyable.

Probably due to manhandling and overuse, a lot of the puzzles were broken. It was very frustrating to be told, "You're doing it right, just try again" multiple times. This game needs to be closed, repaired and reopened. The game itself isn't a bad concept, but the flaws drag the experience down.