Compendium Escape Rooms: Turd Raiders and The Lost Golden Plunger

My husband and I did this room at the weekend as the final game of a four escape room weekend. We couldn’t have picked a better room to finish the weekend on. Without giving too much away, the final five minutes of the game ensure that you finish on a real high. We had previously been to Compendium to play UI-55, Zombieland 2 (the Perks of Karen) and Bad Elf. UI-55 in particular was one of our favourite rooms ever so we had high expectations for their new game. It’s safe to say it did not disappoint. Our favourite style of room is a non-linear, collection type game where you are frantically running around for the whole hour and therefore Turd Raiders was right up our street. We played as a team of 2 and did manage to get all of the turds but it was verrrry close. We regretted not bringing the two team mates that we played UI-55 with so I would recommend coming with a team of 4. We particularly loved the theming which was very original. We’ve played lots of rooms with similar, ‘been there done that’ themes: magic, pirates, carnival etc. whereas it’s not every day you play a room where all the clues are poo-related! So much fun! For this reason we slightly preferred it to UI-55 even though we loved both. A special shout out to our game master Luke. He was clearly super passionate about escape rooms and we had a lovely chat with him both before and after our game about other escape rooms. We were very grateful for his recommendations. The owner Alex (who we had met before on previous visits) was also there and he too is super friendly and passionate. Would highly recommend. Definitely one of the best places to do escape rooms in the country by far. 

A really fun game with a unique theme. Much like their other fantastic room UI-55, the aim is to collect rather than escape quickly.

It's open play with lots of puzzles to choose from at any one point, and it means you can split off from each other and work on different things at once. The variety of puzzles was good, the room looked great, and the price is at a level a lot of games were at over 5 years ago, so feels like really good value.

Straight into my top 3 escape rooms of all time (and my sons favourite)

A tongue in cheek room that has plenty to do for enthusiasts all while maintaining a great sense of humour.

Puzzles are varied and non-linear enough to allow bigger teams to split up. All while still being manageable to do everything with a team of 2 adults and a 9 year old.

A huge collection room with a frantic finish that left us smiling all the way home

Built by people that love escape rooms and love sharing their work with others. Their passion shines above everything and I can't wait for their next room (im already hearing the rumours about more to come)

Absolutely fantastic collection game. We were thrilled with how much there was to do in the room. Great puzzles, great theme and as always great hosting from Compendium 👍🏻 

Brilliant collection room. Loads to do. Team of 6 experienced players and we didn’t get them all. Love all the games at compendium but this is one of my fav’s. 

When it comes to fun, engaging collection games, Compendium just don't miss. Turd Raiders is a bit daft, a bit rude and a whole lot of clever, clever puzzle fun. It's a game that just keeps on giving.

What we loved about it as a pair of enthusiasts is that it really did keep us occupied (no pun intended) for the solid (again...) hour; we were running around, chuckling at fart jokes, shouting out codes and throwing shiny golden turds into a bag for a full 60 minutes of our lives and we would happily turn around, head back up the U-bend and spend another 60 in there as well.

It's stuffed full of puzzles, it's beautifully put-together and - for those who get all of the turds AND the golden plunger, so are 'flushed' - there was a very special prize to put on our mantelpiece as a talking point for dinner parties. Not sure what else I want from a room!

22 out of 24 puzzles complete, missed 8 of the golden turds

The best collection game we have played and we have done UI-55 at compendium don’t know what to expect with the theme but 100% refreshing 

Completely novel theme, a fantastic number and range of puzzles that kept us pair of experienced players (400+ rooms but not all logged on here) busy for the whole hour. Collection games are my favourite and this is a great example of one. The signposting for the puzzles is subtle yet clear and intuitive, gentle hints were delivered in a timely fashion (not to solve puzzles, but to identify the last few puzzles remaining, as there were so many to do).

If you have any kind of a childish sense of humour, love puzzles and love being busy throughout the whole time you will love this game.

Excellent hosting as always from Alex - the objective of the game was crystal clear from the pre-game preamble and short safety briefing and everything in the room was carefully designed and place with purpose and made sense. It's always a joy to find a room that we can play exactly how it is designed to be played, and the games at Compendium are all like his.

This game is suitable for newbies, families, experienced players alike - I defy anyone to not love this game. 

We had a fantastic time playing this game and would absolutely recommend it. It’s packed with puzzles from start to finish, which made it a real joy for us as couple who are self confessed puzzle lovers. The theming throughout is strong, the set looks great, and it’s clear a lot of thought and effort has gone into the design. It’s one of those rooms where you can really appreciate the love that’s gone into building it.

There are a few things that could make the experience even better. At times, we found the signposting between puzzles a little unclear, and we did spend some time unsure about what linked where.

The clue system is in keeping with the room’s theme and delivered through an intercom, which looks great, but we did struggle to hear the Games Master clearly through it, especially over the background music. It also felt a bit disruptive having to walk away from a puzzle each time we needed a clue. Having multiple intercom points or a speaker system would make things much easier, clearer and help keep the pace up.

The Games Master was lovely friendly, welcoming and clearly passionate. There were just a couple of points where a bit more timely intervention from the GM would have helped. For example, one of us was working on something for quite a while before we found out it couldn’t be solved until the final five minutes, when a certain piece of information is revealed. A brief mention of that at the start, or a subtle nudge at the time, would have made a big difference.

There was also one puzzle that felt slightly off to us, as it involved interacting with something that felt like it should have been out of bounds from a health and safety point of view. That’s a small thing, but worth mentioning.

Overall, we really enjoyed the room and had a great time. It’s full of content, a great challenge for enthusiasts, and clearly still evolving. Would happily recommend it to others, who are looking for a collector style game. 

Another hit from the guys at compendium, UI-55 was our favourite game but turd raiders is something else. From the moment you walk in to the second you walk out it’s high tempo puzzle solving at its best. We got the status FLUSHED as we managed to get all of the golden turds and the golden plunger. I love collection games but this has to be my number 1 game so far.

An absolutely unreal escape room from Alex, Luke and the team who have put a lot time and effort into creating it. It was a joy to play this on its opening day.  

I'm struggling to find the words to do this room justice and explain how we much fun we had playing this room.

One of the best rooms we've played in the UK, this experience equals UI-55, the escape room that made us fall in love with escape rooms in the first place.

Don't miss out on playing this room, you will not be disappointed!