Bishop’s Stortford Escape Rooms: Escape The Night

I was so so excited to play this game and it nearly lived up to my expectations.   The actual accommodation was really lovely and extremely clean and modern.   A BIG thing we wish we'd have known beforehand was how the sleeping arrangements were set up.   We went just as a couple  as we didn't want to go with friends and find out that we would all be sleeping in the same room.   However,  if we'd had known that there were 2 separate bedrooms and bathrooms we would've gone with another family and saved half the price making the entire experience way more worth the money.   As a pair it was too expensive so we wish we'd had this knowledge beforehand.   We also wish we'd known that we could've taken our children and they would've had space to play/watch TV etc without getting in the way of the game itself (then saving babysitter for the night).   I'm not sure why this info isn't supplied as I would imagine they'd get more bookings and I can't see that it's any type of spoiler at all.   In fact,  they even provide board games,  games console etc so it would've made a great group games night if we'd had known.   

The weird thing about the experience is not knowing how much more you have left to go so we didn't know when to stop at night as didn't want to leave too much to do for the next morning,  I think some kind of tracker would be useful for players.   As a guide for others we started at 4pm and finished at midnight,  if we had known we was going to finish that night,  we would've gone a bit easier and relaxed for dinner to save some of the game for the following morning. 

The game itself was fun,  if you've played Rob The Bank,  it continues from that storyline but it's not essential for you to play that,  however it was fun to see the returning characters.   The biggest negative for the actual game was how much reading and books were involved,  the most I've ever come across in our 50 rooms.   I'm a speed reader but my husband would've given up I think,  the reading was probably 50% of the game. 

Overall,  it was nice to do something different but I would've liked there to be a lot less reading and more info beforehand. 

Definitely worth a visit as a group but not as a duo. 

Great fry up at the cafe round the corner for the next morning!  

Hosting was amazing but I don’t know how it can be called escape the night when you can’t play if you get stuck after the phone lines close. Could be planned a little better so it wasn’t needed. Sometimes the phone wouldn’t be answered too.

This has such potential. The premise is great but execution for me was poor, to always require someone on the phone with phone lines closing for 10 hours isn't great. We sat for 2 hours in the morning waiting for phone lines to open for 1 clue 3 puzzles from the end. Imagine an overnight room as a Heist, no clues, you solve what you solve and your total is your total. Spend as much or as little time as you want in there. 

Great use of the space - clues were varied and diverse in both style and location, but all felt authentic to the apartment. Clue line was very handy, and there was some additional interaction that was very funny and enhanced the overall experience. We played non-stop and got through it in under 4 hours, but it could easily stretch to 5 or 6 if you were more relaxed, had a food break, etc. The apartment itself is lovely, with a great mezzanine area complete with TV and beanbags,  and was a great place to spend the night.

A review of two sides this. The storyline was good and lots of the room set up is clever, but it needs some work. Quite a lot of the work is in it being a place to stay - it wasn't clean enough and there are basics it needs if it's going to continue to be marketed as a 'luxury' apartment - lamps, hooks on doors etc. We also had two big issues during the game play - one vital piece of evidence just wasn't there which held us up at least an hour. We found it eventually in the last bag we opened - you'd never get to that bag without it. Then the dedicated clue line did not work so we couldn't glean that that was in fact missing for some time until I rang the venue. At a point everything was reset phone wise and we were brought wine and chocolates as an apology which was a nice touch. With a bit of work and a bit more love it can be really good for sure so i'm looking forward to hearing about how it evolves over time.