The Escape Key, Newcastle

We’ve said many times on the blog that finding something to entertain the Teen is hard work, even more so now he’s approaching the big 1-6. Hanging out with his folks is uncool and any trip away from his PS4 involves serious arm-twisting. We were recently invited to try one of Newcastle’s newest adventures, The Escape Key, and managed to coerce his attendance with the promise of some scran on neighbouring Stowell Street afterwards.

It appears with the recent return to TV screens of 90s classic Crystal Maze there’s a definite interest in puzzles and problem solving. We have taken part in an escape room in the past so understood the concept, although there was something quite eerie about the premise of Escape Key’s Plague Room, the game chosen for us on this particular visit.

Our team had an hour to crack codes and solve puzzles in a sealed room overlooking Newcastle’s largest real-life plague pit. Finding out a little bit of history about the Toon we weren’t aware of was really interesting and added to the suspense of the game. The challenge was to outwit the crazed Plague doctor and escape before the horror of the Black Death ‘took hold’.

I’ll admit that it took us a while to get into the swing of working as a team, although I felt once we got into the experience we were on a roll. We don’t want to spoil this for anyone else wanting to give it a try, so all I’ll say is that we let out a few girlie screams during the hour! We managed to escape with a few minutes to spare, which was a relief.

It was a great opportunity to bond and we had great fun. It’s funny how competitive the Teen becomes in these situations, even if he’s reticent at first. Due to the story behind The Plague Room I’m not sure how suitable it is for younger children, but I’m told the Armageddon Room is geared more towards family involvement and interactivity.

I’ve obviously not wanted to give too much away and couldn’t take photos during our experience as I was too busy trying to solve clues! There were times when we were given clues that we were disappointed in ourselves in not getting the answer sooner, especially with one of the maths challenges. We all had our strengths and had to work as part of a team to escape. It is something we’d definitely recommend, especially if you’re looking for something unusual to do as a family. You can find out more about The Escape Key’s current offers here.

Thanks for reading,

Pip x