Last Sunday was the day after my 41st birthday, and oh what a day it was!
I had heard about a place in London, that was a little ‘different’ and I was intrigued. I had never heard of anywhere like it before (although there could be others out there) and I had a quick look online to see what information I could find. Tripadvisor gave it 5 stars, with over a 1000 reviews, making it rated the no1 activity in the fun and games category in London.
Do I have you intrigued yet?
I have a very close family, and we like to get together often, so I suggested to them that this could be a great day out for us all to celebrate my birthday. Everyone was up for it, so off we all trundled to London to meet up in Oxford Street. After a little breakfast, we made our way to the Top Secret HQ that is CLUEQUEST.
Cluequest is the Secret training ground of Mr Q. Located somewhere close to a large railway station (that may or may not be called Kings Cross)
We had booked a slot at 1pm and duly turned up and went into a waiting area for our experience to begin. The guys running the game came and told us a little about what was going on, and then we were off…
In case you are wondering what it is all about… You get locked inside a room, which is full of clues, and you have to decipher them in order to get out. Oh, and you only have 60 minutes! There are two missions you can do, Room 52, or The Black Sheep Mission. In our case, we did Room 52.
The game can be played by teams from 2-5 people and is suitable for anyone from the age of 9 upwards, although it is recommended that teams of people aged between 9-15 have at least one adult in the group.
They have two identical rooms, which means you can make a bit of a competition out of it. So we split into two teams of four – The Oldies (combined age of 190) against the Young ‘Uns (only 124) and off we went.
Well… let’s just say, the stakes were high! After all, we couldn’t be beaten by an OAP and 3 teenagers, could we?
You do have to put your thinking caps on, as some of the challenges were a bit tricky, but the pleasure you got out of finding a clue, solving a puzzle or completing a task was amazing. It really gave us a buzz as we were completing things, and the fact that we didn’t know how well the Young ‘Uns were doing made it even more nerve wracking!.
The game itself is fantastic good fun. We really enjoyed every second it, and believe me, that hour goes by really quick. I am not going to tell you too much about the game, as that would just spoil it. However, I can honestly say I have never enjoyed myself as much. It really did tax everyone’s brains, and showed just how well we could work in a team.
As for getting out of the room, Both teams managed to escape. So, who won?
The young ‘uns escaped the room with 1 min and 22 secs to go, and as for us oldies? I am sorry to report that we got out with a mere 11 secs to spare. We were gutted, especially when we heard the girls screaming and cheering outside our room, and we realised they had done it first.
All of us can honestly say that this was an amazing activity. We couldn’t stop talking about it, comparing notes and seeing where we struggled or excelled. It really was a whole different kind of day out, but we would certainly do it all again! Hopefully we will be returning soon to try out the Black Sheep Mission. After all… We Oldies need a chance to redeem ourselves.
Cluequest 2 – Payback time