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Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Immersive | Review

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It’s not theatre, or cinema. It’s not an escape room, theme park ride or VR game. Yes, there are pyrotechnics, projections, holograms and special effects. But this is quite different to an arena show (there are only 8-12 tickets per performance). As London’s multi-award winning, top-rated “immersive night out,” this event combines them all.

Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Immersive Experience

In an unassuming period building on Leadenhall Street, just a short walk from Bank Station and dwarfed by nearby skyscrapers, a whole new world can be discovered. This building houses Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds Immersive Experience, but until you stick your head through the door and notice the enormous Martian towering over the bar, you’d never have believed it!

This live immersive experience has been in London since 2019 but thanks to the pandemic (an event not too dissimilar from the death and destruction the story itself tells), it’s been shut for most of 2020 and 2021. The moment tickets came back on sale, we re-downloaded the album and started getting ready for our very own Martian adventure.

Photo (c) Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Immersive

What to Expect at War of the Worlds Immersive

There’s no denying that Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Immersive is a huge experience, and bookers should be prepared to have their socks blown off over the course of the 2 hour event.

For starters, there are 24 unique scenes. Typically when reviewing escape room experiences, we mention how many unique spaces, or ‘rooms’ there are in an experience. I didn’t think I could be any more impressed after 221B’s five spaces, but The War of the World’s Immersive Experience has 24 unique spaces in it.

Players are guided through each of these 24 scenes, scattered through time and space, to tell the story of the Martian invasion of Earth. You’ll find yourself running through trenches with huge robots up above, slipping down slides, scampering across rickety bridges, entering VR areas such as on a boat or up in a hot air balloon. This thing is huge.

The Earth Under The Martians by Fluid based on originals by Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim

Of all the areas, the VR sequences were definitely some of the most impressive and they worked well to transport players from one area into another seamlessly. For example, at one point you sit down in a boat, don your headset, and off the boat gentle sails through London. By the time you emerge at the other end of this VR sequence (a bit wet and rather terrified), a clever lighting change gives the impression of being in an entirely different location. Quite clever, really!

According to the creators (Layered Reality) populating the immersive world they’ve created are 17 live actors too. These actors dip and out of your experience, setting the scene and guiding you along the way.

On the day we attended, it was this particular batch of actor’s final show day – and it was a lovely (albeit unexpected) treat to be joined by the bar after our experience by the actors themselves, who were absolutely fantastic.

Our Experience of the Apocalypse

Currently, you can only book The War of the World’s Immersive Experience in a team size that’s a multiple of 2 – so 2, or 4, or 6 etc. We went as a team of 4 on a quiet Sunday evening and were 8 other players for the show.

The show sizes are small and intimate, and it felt like the team had gone to good lengths to ensure everyone’s safety… Especially in light of the global pandemic. Masks were worn at all times and there were plenty of places along the experience to sanitise your hands, as well as regular cleaning of the equipment inbetween every group.

We weren’t sure what to expect, but what few expectations we did have were totally blown out of the water. Equal parts terrifying, and tense and thrilling, the experience jumped from scene to scene to scene in a fast paced retelling of the War of the Worlds. The story has been lovingly recreated by the Layered Reality team and stunned us from start to finish. Even now, days later, I’m still thinking about it and remembering some small detail in one of their amazingly intricately designed sets.

Was it fun? Oh yes, absolutely! It was incredible.

Was it worth the price? Well, this part is a little bit trickier to answer. The website says tickets start at £40, but we were unable to find any session in the next few months for less than £70 per person. This likely due to Christmas, and peak times – but we can’t help but compare it to escape rooms! This comes in at around double the cost of an average escape room. At this price point, it’s still absolutely worth it. So far, so good, except the experience is definitely geared towards making you spend even more. With two bars on-site that you are required to spend time in, and your team photo costing an extra £12, this puts the price more on the £100 per person range. Slightly cost prohibitive, but they have gone above and beyond making it worth the price. The verdict? Definitely worth it!

…And yes, we definitely did order a drink before to calm our nerves, and a celebratory drink afterwards… Or two… Or three!

Team The Escape Roomer about to enter The War of the Worlds Immersive

The Spirit of Man Bar & Restaurant

We’ve mentioned that there are two bars on this immersive adventure, and with both stocking a fantastic range of delicious cocktails, they’re well worth the trip! In the first, The Spirit of Man, customers are greeted by an enormous Martian towering over the tables pumping coloured steam into the dining area on a rotation times to the music.

The second bar is appropriately named The Red Weed Bar and is located at the 50% mark of your immersive experience. At this point, the Martians have truly taken over the world and those humans left are in hiding… Hiding in the sickly red world the Martians have created. Creepy!

Presently, the bar is offering it’s Christmas menu complete with themed food and cocktails. Whilst we were there we tried:

The Christmas Eve of War

A delicious concoction of: Dry vermouth, cointreau, disaronno, lemon juice & blackberry syrup. This comes in a martini-style glass and is decorated with blackberries and raspberries. This is one of their winter exclusive cocktails.

Martiantini

Available all year round, the Martiantini contains Vodka, melon liqueur, green apple liqueur, lime, sugar & cherries.

Not into cocktails? Fear not – both menus also sport a range of regular beers, wines, and non-alcoholic beverages too.

The Verdict

Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds Immersive is like nothing else you can experience in London right now and I’m still humming along to the tunes and remembering small but delightful moments days later. My only real regret is not going in the first few months – oh why did I wait so long! *shakes fist at the global pandemic*

It’s a great experience for families, couples, or for a special occasion for that sci-fi fan in your life.

How soon is too soon before I can book another ticket, eh?

Tickets for Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds Immersive Experience can be purchased on their website here.

Rating

Monopoly Lifesized | Review

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Monopoly Lifesized Review | All the most well-loved elements of a classic Monopoly gameplay have been translated into an exciting 4D experience on a full-sized board that teams of players will move around, participating in challenges as they go in order to acquire properties, earning money as they pass go, go to jail, picking up a chance card and maybe getting lucky landing on free parking…?

Monopoly Lifesized is an immersive, on-your-feet version of the world’s favourite family game brand. Compete in one of a kind challenges for your chance to buy properties. Experience the thrill of trying to stage a heist in Mayfair, competing against a clock to build some of London’s iconic buildings, solving a baffling murder mystery and stepping into the world of codebreakers.

Date Played: 29th November 2021
Board Played: City

Ever intrigued by the phrase “the best of the Monopoly game but with added escape room and team challenges”, we booked ourselves in and secretly hoped we’d be thrown in jail… Just so we could spectacularly escape!

What we actually experienced when we visited Monopoly Lifesized was frankly, something unlike anything else you’ll experience in London. The creators, Hasbro Inc. and Gamepath have converted the old Paperchase HQ building on Tottenham Court Road into an enormous immersive Monopoly themed world. Spread across the multiple stories are several game boards teams of up to 24 players can take on. To call it simply a ‘team challenge’ is underselling Monopoly Lifesized – no, it’s a thrilling, past paced 4D board game experience that has literally everything. Like Monopoly, but bigger and hosted by a fleet of actors playing each of the board tokens.

Behind each of the property doors on the Monopoly board is a challenge for you and your team to take on. For this reason no two teams – even playing the same board – will have quite the same experience. The luck of the roll means that each team will land on different property pieces and tackle different challenges. For example, we managed to avoid many of the most escape room-y type games and instead found ourselves having a dance-off, playing a modern spin on guitar hero, and assembling 3D jigsaws. It was… Wild.

How does Monopoly Lifesized Work?

When we took on this ultimate Monopoly challenge as a team of 4, we picked the Thimble token to represent us and accordingly, gave our team the name Thimbley Chalamet. It felt appropriate. Our Thimble token was played by Ben, an exceptionally enigmatic and funny host who was quick on the auction round and filled with sassy comebacks towards our rivals.

The game works in a series of turns:

Dice Roll Turn
Strategy Turn

In the Dice Roll turn, two teams got to roll their dice and move around the board. Whatever properties they land on, they get to take on the challenge behind the door. If the property is unowned, it is theirs to keep, and if the property is owned, they’ll have to pay a fine. Meanwhile the other two teams got to take part in a Strategy Turn. In a Strategy turn, a Chance Card is drawn, and then teams have the opportunity to build houses, hotels, or enact special actions against their rivals.

Sounds complicated? Eh, a little bit at the start, but having a host-per-team really helped. They’ll be guiding you around the board and through the game. They’ll also be helping you out… In a manner of thinking! So be sure to be extra nice to your token.

Monopoly Lifesized: The Experience

When we play any experience as The Escape Roomer, we have to ask ourselves how it compared on an escape room level. The truth is, we didn’t get to experience most of the puzzle related challenges. Jail being one of the obvious ‘escape rooms’ – we were lucky enough to never land on that foreboding ‘Go to Jail’ token. Instead most of the properties we picked up were tactile, musical, and quite silly. That’s the luck of the roll!

In two of the property locations we did land on, there were some puzzle games. In one, a pure maths puzzle involving a cipher that had been reskinned to look like a hacker’s apartment. This one we complexed in around 30 seconds of the available 5 minutes. Another property involved rearranging objects on a shelf according to logic rules (X cannot be next to Y, and so on), which we solved just in the nick of tie with a little help from Thimble.

In both cases, the puzzles had more mass-market appeal, and wouldn’t necessarily challenge the hardcore enthusiast – but that’s okay. In a game like this you’re not meant to fail. You’re meant to succeed even after a couple of drinks. So it’d be a perfect game to take your Puggle (Puzzle Muggle) friends to dip their toes into.

Overall, we had an absolute blast playing the game. There was something for everyone on our team and I don’t think any one of us stopped smiling, even for a second.

I suppose you’re wondering how Team Thimbley Chalamet did?

Well… We won! 🎉

An Immersive Dining Experience at the Top Hat Bar

Situated on the ground floor of Monopoly Lifesized is the ultra immersive and really quite swanky Top Hat Restaurant and Bar. With a menu packed with Monopoly-themed meals and brightly coloured cocktails, the presence of the bar elevates the fun experience into an all night affair.

We tried out the Top Hat’s brand new Winter Menu and enjoyed sliders of pigs in blankets, and stuffing balls dipped in gravy on skewers. In short, heaven on a plate. But, the real pièce de résistance of dining at the Top Hat has to be the cocktails. One, above all, stole the show:

The Mayfair Royal Sours

Inspired by the original ‘May Fair’ that took place in the 16th century in the now famous, affluent district of Mayfair. The ingredients include Laurent Perrier Brut Cuvée Champagne syrup, Courvoisier VSOP, Lemon, Ms. Better’s Bitters, Edible Gold, and is topped off with a £50 note made from sugar.

For me, this one cocktail encapsulated the splendour of the whole event – there’s nothing quite like earning (and spending) millions of pounds on property, destroying your rivals, then clinking glasses in the Top Hat to celebrate afterwards.

The Verdict

We had no idea what to expect when we booked in to play Monopoly Lifesized, but even if we’d gone in with high expectations, I’m pretty sure they’d have been blown out of the water. Monopoly Lifesized is all about the glitz and the glamour and the sheer budget hat’s gone into every single aspect of the game is outstanding. It’s such a high quality experience.

Of course, this does come with a big price tag: Ticket prices range from £27.50 to £35 for the Junior Board and from £59 to £74 per person on Classic, City and Luxury Boards, depending on the date and time of day you book for. Food and drink are extra, and there’s also a gift shop on site which you’ll definitely want to spend some time browsing. In all, for the full experience you’re probably looking in the region of £100+ per person.

That said, I do think it’s worth it. For a special occasion or for a teambuilding event with work *cough* if you can get the boss to pay for it, it’s absolutely not to be missed. The best part, it’s completely replayable. With many boards to choose from and so many different challenges, no two games will be the same. Mark my words, we’ll be back!

CluedUpp: The Ripper | Review

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CluedUpp: The Ripper Review | Three men have already been struck down by The Ripper and fear is taking it’s grip of this town! The police can’t cope with a case this complex and your help is required to catch the killer. Get your family and friends together for a day of crime-solving fun. Put your sleuthing skills to the test at this exciting outdoor detective event and see if your team has what it takes to crack the case.

Time Taken: 2hrs
Date Played: 20th November 2021
Location: Kensington, London
Difficulty: Easy

CluedUpp games are like marmite in the escape room enthusiast world. About once a month somebody in a Facebook or Reddit forum will ask about CluedUpp and be met with a barrage of “they are dreadful” and “I had the best time ever“. So, going into the experience on a wintery Saturday morning before Christmas, we weren’t sure what to think. Given that the tickets were so inexpensive and the area – Kensington – is somewhere we don’t get to explore much, we went in with an open mind.

For this particular case, I went with our regular outdoor escape room enthusiast team who you may recognise from posts over the lockdown, such as Operation Mindfall. If there’s walking and puzzles involved, we are there!

How do CluedUpp Games Work?

According to their website, CluedUpp “turns cities into playgrounds”, and yeah, I see it! As a concept, it sets itself apart from other outdoor walking experiences in that there’s no set route you need to follow. Instead what happens once you start your game is that you’ll see a sprawling number of “points of interest” on the map. These are witnesses to speak to, or items to collect, or score multipliers to boost your ranking in the leader boards.

Your ultimate goal is to catch the killer – a serial murderer stalking the streets of ~~Whitechapel~~ I mean, Kensington. Seems straightforward, only you’re racing against other real teams! For this reason, CluedUpp events only take place on specific days of the year. Everyone signs into the app on the same day, the clock starts ticking, and everyone must be finished by 5pm.

It’s entirely self guided, so there’s no big start and finish line you have to race towards but it was pretty cool to walk past other teams we bumped into whilst playing and marvel at their costumes.

One more thing that we didn’t realise until after the game was that you don’t need to visit every single point on the map. Actually, if you want to ‘win’ the game and beat your rivals, you probably shouldn’t because there are a lot. Ironically, we actually figured out who the correct culprit was around 30% of the way into the game. Instead of making our guess right there, we agreed to collect everything, then go to a pub and make our decision from there. It probably cost us an hour and a half of our time, but hey that’s not really in the spirit of things eh?

How to Solve CluedUpp Puzzles

In terms of puzzles, at each point of interest you encounter you’re presented with a riddle. Occasionally, it makes sense. A copper might be reading a newspaper and asks for a second opinion on one of the questions in the puzzle section. Often, it felt forced and a bit silly. Towards the end we began skipping each character’s preamble and instead grinned at each other – “guys, you’re gonna be shocked at this but Dr so-and-so has a riddle for us”

No wonder the crime has gone unsolved if everyone is spending all their time thinking about riddles!

That said, the riddles themselves were a good way to break up the gameplay with some fun moments that tested us. Some of the riddles involved details from the surrounding environment, and others were fairly well known puzzles you’d find on any escape room’s social media account. You know the ones I’m talking about.

So… Who Dunnit?

Haha! That I cannot tell you. You’ll just have to go and book the game yourself!

But I will say that if CluedUpp’s weakness is the puzzles, then their strength is definitely the storytelling. In just a few words with each character, a rich network of witnesses and informants unfolded in front of us. It was easy to forget we were just interacting with an app and not a real person in front of us. And, in the end, the conclusion was very satisfying. It felt like being the main character in your own, London based thriller.

The Verdict

Overall, we’ve definitely classed this one on the easier side – and I can see why it’s marmite to a lot of enthusiasts. It’s not a particularly challenging game. But CluedUpp never pretended to be challenging – they’re mass market appeal murder mystery games and put the emphasis on you and your team exploring a new part of the city, dressing up, and having a laugh.

We played a specific version of The Ripper in Kensington on a special event day. Since the game is available at so many places around the world, it’s hard to say if our experience is representative of what everyone will have when they sign up – but honestly? We enjoyed ourselves.

We would caution enthusiasts not to have too high expectations when it comes to the puzzles, instead this would be a great game to take along your puggle (puzzle muggle) friends for a lighthearted day out. For us, booking and playing was really just an excuse to hang out and I wouldn’t hesitate to book another!

The Ripper is available at countless cities across the world. To find your nearest and book in, head to CluedUpp’s website here.

Ratings

DNA VR London: The Complete Guide

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DNA VR is one of London’s first VR arcades and is home to a whole host of arcade games, including one of the most impressive escape room suites we’ve seen in the UK! including a range of original, free-roam titles.

On a quiet Monday evening in November, we visited their brand new site in the beautiful riverside arches at Battersea Power Station to find out what all the hype is about. We were greeted by Games Master Chris our enigmatic host for the hour. As the previous group was just finishing off their session, it gave us a chance to explore the venue and find out all about the exciting games they have on offer.

Ubisoft’s VR Escape Rooms

How to play Ubisoft’s VR Escape Rooms

Ubisoft’s VR escape rooms are played standing in one spot and pointing your handheld controlled to teleport to different locations. You can spin around 360 degrees to view things around you, but it’s important not to get excited and run off towards an item as you are plugged in!

Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time

The story goes that you and your intrepid band of adventurers must journey in this virtual reality simulation to ancient Iran, to the brink of a beautiful kingdom quite literally falling apart at the seams. Your guide, the Empress of Time Kaileena gives you a mysterious dagger to help you. This dagger can turn back time, literally! You can freeze time, speed it up, reverse it all in one go. Falling rocks? No biggie for me and my dagger. I’ll just pause that right there.

In particular, this game is fantastic in terms of puzzles! It felt as close to a real life escape room as any other VR game I’d ever played, but with the added bonus that you can do things in VR you could never do in real life. Such as scaling enormous heights, crawling monkey bars over ravines, rummaging through cupboards to find clues… Oh wait, that last one you can actually do in a real escape room. But hey! It was twice as fun rummaging in VR.

Beyond Medusa’s Gate

Beyond Medusa’s Gate takes you, in a team of 2 or 4 players, back to Ancient Greece via the Animus (a device from the video game franchise which allows you to simulate the lives of adventurers past through their DNA). This time you’re in search of a mysterious and long lost artefact – a ship! Rumour has it the ship is buried somewhere inside a vast cave… Beyond (you guessed it) Medusa’s Gate.

It’s a very linear room with one puzzle needing to be completed before your team can move to the next area, with many mechanics relying on a little trial and error before figuring out how to do them. Between each puzzle area is at least one or two action scenes where you’ll find yourself doing other things – jumping from platforms, firing arrows, doing battle with monsters, or crowding round at the front of the boat pretending to be in Titanic.

Escape the Lost Pyramid

Finally, the third Ubisoft VR game available at DNA VR is Escape the Lost Pyramid. If Ancient Egypt nor controlling time are your thing, then stepping into an old pyramid might just tick the box. It’s a classic escape room scenario but few do it as well as Ubisoft.

VR Escape Rooms

If Ubisoft isn’t your thing, DNA VR Battersea also has 9 standard VR escape rooms available to play for teams of 2 – 6 players.

Huxley – 3007 AD: The world, as you know it, is gone. Mankind was replaced by machines. What was once green, is now destroyed. You are the last, remaining survivors, with one mission: to help HUXLEY. With your first step into the virtual reality, you have 44 minutes to reverse the apocalypse.

Mission Sigma – Dismantle a nuclear warhead with your squad! Secret services have located and neutralized a known terrorist who has been hiding out in a deprived area of the city for the last ten years. This is where the good news ends. It turns out that on the roof of an abandoned high – rise the maniac has installed a nuclear warhead with a timer on it. The rest is down to you. Can you get past all the traps and preempt a nuclear attack?

Cyberpunk – Cyberpunk is set in the beginning of the 22nd century. Society has collapsed amid rapid technological progress. Corporations fight with one another over data, which has become ever more valuable. You are a group of cyborgs equipped with special skills who need to steal data from the archives of an influential corporation. Infiltrating the complex unnoticed, you must get to the archives and download everything you need. But there won’t be anything easy about that task.

Prison Break – Get out of the Prison and prove you are innocent You are a group of police officers. Or at least you used to be. Now after your recent investigation you ended up behind bars yourselves. While the case is obviously fabricated you have no-one to rely on. Will you get out of the jail and clear your name?

Alice in Wonderland Stories – Jump into the Rabbit Hole! Team-based VR adventure for 2-6 players. Fallen through a rabbit hole, you will find yourselves in a fantasy world full of family-friendly puzzles and challenges.

Alice in Wonderland 2 – Plunge into the world of real magic! Uncover secrets of the Queen of Hearts, drink a shrinking potion and follow the White Rabbit through the twisted maze where everything is turned upside down. Help the Hatter sort out the mess at the mad tea party. The Cheshire Cat will guide you through the enchanted Dark Forest.

Sanctum – Something truly sinister is happening in this abandoned temple and it is up to you and your team to find the missing people and discover the evil secrets these ancient walls are hiding.

Chernobyl – If only we could change the past, or witness the events that changed the world… Is it possible to change fate? Travel back in time to see if you can change the situation from which, it seemed – there was no way out.

Jungle Quest – During a walk in the park, you found a portal that leads to a mysterious world. An amazing sanctuary populated by animals appears in front of you. But how do you get back? To find the way home, you have to solve a series of puzzles and explore the mysterious world of flying islands.

A Christmas Story – Help Santa get home and deliver the presents on time! Christmas is in jeopardy! Santa got caught in a blizzard, lost all the presents and can’t find his way home… Only you can save Christmas now! And with Santa’s best reindeer hurry to revive the first Christmas tree!

Free Roam VR Escape Rooms

Our absolute favourite experience at DNA VR however was the free roam escape games. At DNA VR Battersea they’ve set aside a huge room at the top of the building which is dedicated to ‘free roam VR’. What this means is you are not plugged in to anything and are free – no, you are required to move around the entire space to achieve your goal.

Since the Free Roam VR escape rooms are scaled to a specific size, there are very few places in the UK offering these particular games. That’s right – you won’t be able to experience anything quite like this anywhere else!

How Does Free Roam VR Work?

On arrival, your Games Master will help you get set up on the Vire headsets, and you’ll be required to tuck a receiver in your pocket for the duration of the game so that the sensors can find you in the room. From here, the whole room materialises in front of you and you can move freely throughout the space in teams of 2 – 4 players.

It’s incredibly difficult to remember that what yo’re seeing isn’t actually real. Don’t be tempted to sit down on one of the boxes or lean on a desk!

We had limited time at DNA VR and so only experienced the two following games:

Space Station Tiberia

Space Station Tiberia is right in the middle of DNA VR’s difficulty scale at 2 padlocks. It puts you and a team of up to 4 players on a distant space station floating high above planet Earth. An asteroid is set to destroy the planet, and you’re humanity’s only hope!

But you’ve been hit, and hit badly. First, players must repair their ship and get the systems back online. Then you must head outside the ship on a space walk and try to turn your weapons online. The clock is ticking but with any luck you’ll be able to target the asteroid and save the planet once and for all. Saving the world is tricky business though. With all our rushing around and lifting (virtual) objects we made it with mere seconds to spare on the clock for a real show-stopper finish.

Space Station Tiberia manages to combine arcade style gameplay, for example stretching and crouching, dodging asteroids and finally using that angles maths you learned in high school to solve a puzzle. This makes it a fun, well balanced game that would be good for players comfortable in VR, or simply wanting to try something exciting and new.

Hospital of Horrors (Short)

With a few minutes on the clock to spare, our Games Master Chris invited us to try out a short, 5-10 minute version of their full game Hospital of Horrors.

“Not sure I like this”, my player two uttered from the other side of the room as we descended a rickety old lift into a pitch black basement. As the lights came on we realised we were surrounded by spiders…

Overall a truly creepy experience but it really pushes what is possible in VR and one we’d definitely recommend everyone try.

Player beware, you’re in for a scare!

Besides Space Station Tiberia and Hospital of Horrors (the latter of which isn’t technically an escape room but gets an honourable mention for being so fun!), you can also play the following 40 minute long escape games:

Dragon Tower – Uncover the mysteries behind the old alchemist’s lab and fight off a real (well virtual) Dragon in this free-roaming VR Escape room!
Manor of Escape – The mad count Malin has been running evil experiments with dangerous creatures in his creepy manor. It’s up to you to get inside, investigate — and make it out alive.
Depths of Osiris – You are a team of deep sea archaeologists. Years of dangerous missions, months of planning and finally you are here. You almost found the lost temple of Osiris. Your journey starts on the Deep-sea platform Oceanus 5. From here the task is quite straightforward. Or is it?
Time Travel Paradox – Ever wondered what it would be like to walk around with dinosaurs? Travel to the distant future and come back safe? You finally can do precisely that in our new Free-Roaming Experience: Time Travel Paradox!

DNA VR Battersea: The Verdict

Overall, DNA VR is the kind of place you can live out your wildest escape room fantasy – whether it be controlling time, moving freely throughout an enormous space station, or descending into the bowels of a creepy hospital. On our visit, we had a lot of fun – and we’ve only just scratched the surface of what is available. You could spend a whole week here and still not get round to playing all their escape games available!

We thank DNA VR for inviting us to come and play fantastic evening out at DNA VR and are already counting down the days to when we’ll come back and play the rest of their games with friends and family!

If you want to book an experience at DNA VR, head to their website here.

Swamp Motel: The Drop | Review

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At the centre of London’s criminal underworld lies a centuries-old secret. In 1912, two Bloomsbury bookbinders created a luxurious jewelled binding for a book that became known as The Great Omar. Hugely valuable, the book found a buyer and was packed safely aboard a boat bound for New York. On the 15th of April 1912 the HMS Titanic sank, leaving the book forever lost at sea. Its secrets were never recovered.

Until now. In an unassuming building in London, a sea of secrets is waiting to be revealed. Enter a hidden world as you descend into the dark underbelly of international crime and prepare yourselves to face The Drop.

Will you beat the villain, or become one?

Completion Time: ~ 90 minutes
Date Played: 10th November 2021
Party Size: 4

About one in every ten articles I write, I find myself writing then deleting and re-writing the opening lines over and over. Trying to explain how amazing Swamp Motel’s latest immersive experience “The Drop” is one of those times. I mean, where do we even begin?

In an exciting race against the clock, The Drop transports players to the criminal underworld of London in search of a long lost and highly valuable book. For those 90 minutes, we were the stars in our own action thrilled drama and my heart didn’t stop pounding once. The Drop is an experience like no other and if you’re fans of escape-room type immersivity, it’s unmissable.

Introducing Swamp Motel

Swamp Motel is an award-winning immersive theatre company, best known for creating Plymouth Point, The Mermaid’s Tongue, The Kindling Hour – now known collectively as the Isklander Trilogy. Most recently the team was also involved in creating Panic: The Experience in collaboration with Amazon Prime. The Drop marks a departure from their at-home genre however, with it’s first live, in-person experience since lockdown.

Located at 55 Aldgate High Street, The Drop takes place in an unassuming office building owned by ‘Hopkins Stearne’ – oh hey, I recognise that name from Isklander! We knew we were in for a treat.

What to Expect in The Drop

The Drop takes place in small intimate teams of 2 – 4 players and is strictly limited to 20 sessions per day. It’s somewhere between playing an escape room, experiencing live immersive theatre, and starring in the latest James Bond film. In my case, a shorter, rounder, blue haired James Bond – but let’s suspend our disbelief for a moment and run with it.

Players arrive at the mysterious Hopkins Stearne offices, are greeted by the receptionist, and then told to head into the lift and up to Floor 3. It’s very hard to tell where your game begins (or ends, for that matter) but it’s all part of the immersive world Swamp Motel have created to feel a little lost and apprehensive.

So let’s address the elephant in the room: Lifts. If the trailer weren’t a giveaway, The Drop largely takes place inside a lift. Or an elevator, for our American audience. If you are claustrophobic there is a safe word, but one thing that is important to keep in mind is that The Drop is just a game and as realistic as it may seem, you aren’t in any danger.

What followed was 90 minutes of a whirlwind adventure that took us through several jaw-dropping physical spaces. To me, the highlight of the experience was how much attention to detail went into each set. Swamp Motel take blurring the boundaries of what is real and what is fiction very seriously, and this is no more evident than in the spaces they create.

At times the story was a little hazy. It’s easy to forget why you were there or who each character was. But I think that’s a natural sacrifice of having a fast-paced game: sometimes those small jigsaw pieces which come together to make a whole picture at the end are lost in the noise.

But if you are narrative driven, then keep in mind that your quest is to retrieve the book of The Great Omar, assumed lost to sea in 1912 when the HMS Titanic sank. The catchy tag line of the experience is “Will you beat the villain, or become one?” which perfectly sets the stage for the shady, criminal underbelly you’ll encounter. After all, sometimes the best way to beat a villain is to become one yourself!

“Not gonna lie I’m a little bit stressed…”

In terms of the puzzles, they were a little on the easier side and largely weighted towards the beginning of the experience. That said, being on the ‘easier’ side is no criticism and worked really well for a fast-paced experience like this. In each unique area there was at least one puzzle to be solved, not to mention the brilliant meta puzzle of cracking the whole case and figuring out what is going on.

Whilst we don’t want to spoil anything for any players, we will mention that these puzzles felt right at home in an escape room but had the added benefit of being extra mimetic – meaning they weren’t solving codes for the sake of it, everything made sense in the universe.

Thankfully, in case you get stuck, you have a near constant line of communication between various live actors and Swamp Motel staff who take a Games Master role in co-ordinating the experience and nudging teams along who may be struggling. Compared to escape rooms where phones are not allowed in the room, The Drop actually requires you to have fully charged phones – you’ll need them!

In one moment involving a text-chat, an “Are you okay?” message popped through. By this point most our the group were occupied with solving puzzles or trying not to get killed. So the most calm and collected in our group coolly typed back his response:

“yeah I’m not gonna lie I’m a little stressed”

In hindsight, I think that completely sums up the entire The Drop experience. From start to finish there’s no relief from the action. You’re on your toes and moving fast – and we loved every second of it!

The Verdict

To reveal too much more about the game would take away from the amazing experience. Expect the unexpected – The Drop is packed with twists and turns and some brilliant reveals. So what we’ve mentioned in this review is just a part – and a small part at that – of what you can expect when you play.

After the game we were very lucky to be invited to the press reception where we got a chance to talk to the creators of the show. It made me realise that they had a huge vision in mind when they put the experience together, and really pushed the boundaries on what is possible in a live immersive experience.

Tickets to The Drop are £39.95 and the game runs from now until December 31st, 2021. With such a limited number of spaces, you’ll regret it if you miss it! Be sure to book The Drop quickly before it sells out!

The Drop can be booked on www.thedropexperience.co.uk

Ratings

Morpheus Show: Locked Down | Review

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Morpheus Show Locked Down Review | You wake to find yourself in a strange place. Memories distorted – a jigsaw puzzle of violence and horror. But what happened? As you explore your new surroundings, the pieces begin to slot together. There was a deadly virus. Mass panic. Riots. A civil war. There is now just one hope for civilization: you.

Completion Time: 2 hours
Date Played: 3rd November 2021
Party Size: 4 (+2)

Before setting out to play a Morpheus Show experience I read a lot of reviews. It seemed like this would be unlike anything else I’d ever played… And yes, despite reading up and getting in the zone as best I could, nothing could have prepared me for what the actual experience was like.

Instead I loaded up the Zoom call with my team with Rebecca, and Escaping the Closet, donned a blindfold, and was transported into an incredible, slightly terrifying, immersive world.

Live Action RPG Meets Thriller Meets Escape Room

So let’s address the elephant in the room – what is Locked Down and how does Morpheus Show work exactly?

Morpheus is an online interactive & immersive audio theatre experience, Morpheus takes place entirely in your mind as you are blindfolded and the world around you is described and implied solely by audio clues. Each guest will create their own visual interpretation of the show.
Morpheus Show ‘About’ Page

What this means is that it is a hosted, auditory adventure. No need for fancy graphics, because the whole game takes place entirely within your head. Your imagination is quite literally the limit.

You and up to 5 other players put on a blindfold and the game is described to you by the host.

“You wake up in an unfamiliar room”

As a team, you must move together. Meaning the situation is described to you and whilst individual characters can do different things… Such as Rebecca donning a dressing down whilst my character chose to stare out the window… you must make a decision as a group to move to a new location or explore something closer. In this way, it’s a little but like Dungeons and Dragons. Players can call out their action and the Games Master will respond accordingly, describing what then happens.

Because the game is played with a blindfold on, it’s also (probably accidentally) totally accessible for a blind audience. I thought this was really nice, as it’s a question we hear from time to time. Access Escape is generally seen as the leading company in accessible escape room experiences, but it’s cool to know there’s another on the scene.

*The moments after we all put our blindfolds on…*

Welcome to the Apocalypse

In Locked Down, players wake up in a dark room with a headache and fragmented memories about how they got there. Moments before we had been driving through London happily, embarking upon a trip, not a care in the world. Suddenly disaster struck – our car crashed! Days later, the hospital is dark and not a soul can be found.

In our playthrough of Locked Down it quickly became evident that a terrible virus had swept the world leaving few people remaining. Those that had survived were fragmented into militias. A tannoy overhead kept repeating more and more dystopian messages and as we crept through the hospital eerie screams and crashes reminded us of the horror outside.

Being in the middle of a pandemic ourselves, the experience was horribly close to home. For this reason it was all the more exciting too. The current climate, a deadly disease, and just a dash of Day of the Triffids thrown into the mix.

The show actually predates the global pandemic. Produced way back in 2018 by Yana Greene, the script was then adapted from the original Russian and converted into a play-at-home format.

Your Imagination is the Scariest Place to Be

From start to finish the whole experience was wildly immersive. I’m always a little sceptical when experiences take place ‘in your imagination’, but it turns out your imagination is often the scariest place to be. Not knowing what lurked around the next corner or what we might find was the chilling part. We’d hear a noise, and the group would panic and hide. For better or for worse, he outcomes were ours to decide.

Coming from a background of playing live-avatar escape rooms via Zoom, the only jarring thing about moving to Morpheus Show’s format was playing with strangers. Especially with our blindfolds on, it’s hard to know who you’re talking to. Instead, you have only the faceless voices of strangers you’ve never met before.

The game sets up the premise of ‘being with friends’, but unlike live avatar escape rooms (with mostly offer exclusive bookings for teams of 2-6), or even live roleplay games playing Dungeons and Dragons, the synergy of playing with friends and having a common goal was lacking. As such, some players took a more dominant role, making decisions collectively was met with resistance, and we struggled not to talk over one another during high-action scenes.

That said, of course it wouldn’t be fair to judge Morpheus Show on our escape room expectations. We just mention it as a word of advice for any escape room enthusiast wishing to book an exclusive show. A lot of folks will probably love being put in with strangers, and for sure there’s a kind of magic to starting as strangers and ending the show was best friends!

The Verdict

Overall we loved Locked Down. Morpheus Show is a wholly unique experience and we were blown away by the storytelling and production value that’s gone into it.

We’ve also chosen to award this show our ‘I Believe’ award for it’s incredible level of immersion. Sitting in the dark with nothing but your imagination is one thing, but the way this show manages to elevate your heart rate and send real shivers up your spin is quite another. At many points in the show I gasped out loud, and at many more moments I considered taking my blindfold off for a break from the vivid scenes. Truly Locked Down transports you to another world and for those two hours we lost sight of what was real or not anymore.

Locked Down can be booked on Morpheus Show’s website here.

Ratings

Enigmailed: Pouroborus Deluxe Coaster | Review

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The London Pouroboros takes in some of the very best of these; each soaked in history, and somewhere we promise you will form incredibly happy memories. It being London, we also expect you will discover a live band along the way too at some point. This really will be like taking a pub tour of London with a local, just without the kebab at the end of the night.

Time Taken: ~1 hour +
Played On: 6th November 2021

The ouroboros or uroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail… Therefore the Pouroboros game, set in London pubs, must be about drinking a never ending, infinite amount of beer, right? Well I need no excuse!

Ahead of the Kickstarter Pouroborus campaign run by Enigmailed, the creative genius behind Undeliverable and Chocolateral, we were sent a copy of the Pouroborus ‘Deluxe Coaster’. This is an add-on to the key campaign, but fairly representative of what the finished product will look like. That said, as with any early access copy please take our review with a pinch of salt, as the final product may be slightly different.

In this edition we’re playing, the answers are not pubs but famous iconic UK landmarks. That said, we couldn’t resist actually playing the games in pubs because, you know, never-ending beer.

Now that’s out of the way… How did we get on?

Puzzles in Pubs

This game was played over three beautiful quality drinks coasters with cork backing. We decided to give the game a go over a couple of rounds of drinks at our local. Despite the drinks, the coasters held up really well, making them lovely keepsakes to take home once your pub shenanigans are over. They were even eye-catching enough that some of the bar staff asked us about the game we were playing – perhaps puzzle coasters like this will become a staple of pubs in the future, eh?

On each coaster, we had three puzzles to solve. Each puzzle gave a single word which, when combined together gate a What3Words code with an iconic UK location on it.

In terms of types of puzzles, our coasters had a wide ranging mix of different things to suit different players – so our recommendation would be to bring a team on the bigger side when you want to play this, as more heads are better than one.

We encountered some familiar puzzles, such as word association, missing letters, nonograms and anagrams, and some less familiar puzzles that involved twisting and turning the coasters around and thinking outside of the box. Overall, we did find the experience on the harder side, but we’ve found that many of Enigmailed’s experiences are a learning curve – so the Pouroboros Deluxe add-on is definitely one for seasoned puzzlers!

But on the flip side, that’s one of the reasons Pouroboros sets itself apart from other London scavenger hunt type experiences. It’s a level up in difficulty, sure, but the creators have done a lot with such a small space on a drinks coaster. Players will be truly challenged!

Since we were playing an early access version there were no clues available. But, the day after we checked our answers with the creator and it all fell into place. Only a few wrong answers (yep, I’m embarrassed to say!) but that’s what happens when you drink and puzzle. Those playing the live version will of course have a hints page to check their answers against, lest they put the wrong What3Words and up in the ‘wrong part of London’. Wherever that is. I’ll leave that one up to your imagination.

The Verdict

A challenging experience to elevate your new pub crawl around London with mates. We had a lot of fun, and I got to combine two of my favourite activities: solving puzzles with hanging out at the pub with friends of a weekend. If you want something a little different, especially as we come out of lockdown, it’s well worth a try.

To play Pouroborus, or the Deluxe Coaster version we have here, you can back Enigmailed‘s latest Kickstarter here.

SENSAS London | Review

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SENSAS Review | Immerse yourself in a multi-sensory experience where your senses and body will be put to the test. In teams of four to 30, push your senses to the limit and face your fears during a two-hour activity that is available seven days a week from 9am to 11pm. Whether with your family and friends, or colleagues during a corporate event, take on original and fun challenges that you’ve never seen before.

Completion Time: Around 120 minutes
Date Played: 5th October 2021
Party Size: 4
Difficulty: FUN

For two hours, you will explore your senses (including in complete darkness) have fun and experience a loss of control like never before. But it does not stop here.

By surpassing yourself, you will collect a number of SENSAS Charms which will be converted into a donation that SENSAS makes for its partner charity supporting people with disabilities.

About SENSAS London

Wandering down the row of arches in Vauxhall, I don’t think I was the only member of our team who didn’t really know what to expect when it came to SENSAS. We’d read about the concept, we’d watched the trailer which looked equal measures exciting and scary, but I don’t believe any of us expected the treat that we had in store.

Behind the sliding doors, beyond the graffiti walls, there are two hours of fun and exciting challenges to be explored, with the help of your SENSAS master, Dan.

The Challenges

Each of the zones in SENSAS are linked to the senses of the human body:

Taste
Touch
Smell
Sight
Hearing

The first zone we went into very much tested our taste – I don’t want to give too much away in this zone as I really enjoyed the surprise and suspense of it all. All I’ll say is that you give your dietary restrictions ahead of time! We had to work together as a team to collect information in order to open three safes on the wall outside the tasting room.

The second zone was very similar to the first, only this time testing our touch – screams of both joy and fear were certainly more common in this zone. Again, working as two halves of the team, we collected the information and opened the safes outside the room.

The third zone was hearing, which was a novel one – bringing a more traditional game into the mix, but giving it a team based twist. The highlight of this one was one of my teammates rolling around on the ground pretending to be a seal – again, I don’t want to give too much away.

The fourth zone was probably my least favourite personally, as it was the smell zone. Now my sense of smell has always been a weakness, but thankfully the team rallied together to carry me through this one.

The final zone certainly felt like it was the team’s favourite – sight. Now this one I’m not afraid to spoil a little as I’ve seen that there are already a lot of social media posts about this one! We absolutely loved diving around in a ball pit, obviously it’s a fun activity in and of itself, but it also unlocks that childhood glee that we always wish to recapture. Also you can’t go wrong with a laser maze!

SENSAS – The Verdict

When reviewing an experience I feel like this is always the most important question. Was it fun? Did we have a good time? Would I recommend it?

The answer to all of these questions with SENSAS is a resounding YES.

We turned up at an arch in Vauxhall with very little clue what to expect, and we came out two hours later having done things we’d never done before. It was unique, special and we had a lot of laughs.

I would definitely recommend it as something that the whole family would enjoy – an all in all fantastic experience.

Note: This review is written in collaboration with Grace and Joe.

Ratings

Electric Gamebox: Alien Aptitude Test London ’84 | Review

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Alien Aptitude Test | It’s 1984, the aliens have taken over Britain, and they’re moving on to the next step of their invasion; grading the humans to see who is worth keeping around. Can you survive the scrutiny of these extraterrestrials as they grade your group from E- to A+? Your team’s teamwork, coordination, memory, and agility will all be tested as you blast blocks, dodge danger, keep up with the cards, and collect all the coins. Do you reckon your team’s skills are up to the challenge…?

Time Played: 60 minutes
Date Played: 10th October 2021
Party Size: 2

👽 Aliens? Check!
🌈 Funky multicoloured visors? Check!
🕺 Catchy 80s music? Check!
👾 Arcade style games? Check!

Electric Gamebox has all you could ever want for a fun afternoon out. That is assuming that all you want is to be put in a 360 degrees game room with your best friends and told to wiggle around to control arcade games on the walls. And yeah… Having now played I can confirm it is exactly all I want!

About Electric Gamebox Southbank

Electric Gamebox is a sensational new group activity that sits somewhere inbetween an escape room, the Crystal Maze, a retro arcade, and with a dash of augmented reality. It’s like nothing else, but fits so comfortably next to mini golf, escape rooms, or bowling on the “What shall I do with my mates this weekend” scale.

I’m pretty glad I’ve finally found something I’m good at too. From coming bottom of the leader board every time I go bowling, to falling over hundreds of times on the ice skating rink. This is a group experience for the gamers among us. If you can play pacman and bop your head to the rhythm, you’ll do well.

Their first site was in Southbank, London but they’ve since expanded to a number of locations around the UK and one in the USA. We visited Electric Gamebox in Southbank to try out their most iconic experience: Alien Aptitude Test London ’84.

Alien Aptitude Test – Photo (c) Electric Gamebox

Other games you can play at Electric Gamebox London include:

The Ace Chase
Alien Aptitude Test New York ’87
Block Smash Mania
Psychedelic Mansion
Temple of Coins
Ticket to Mars
Temple of Coins
Rescue the Royals

For escape room enthusiasts, we’d recommend Psychedelic Mansion, as we hear it’s a puzzle game – but honestly, they all seem like a lot of fun.

The Electric Gamebox Experience

We arrived in our team of two consisting of a 25 year old (that’s me), and a 12 year old. For us, the small team worked perfectly – but they do cater for teams of up to 6 and have multiple identical rooms and experiences for even larger teams to go head to head.

On arrival, you’re given a briefing and a coloured visor hat with what can only be described as covered in plastic bobbles on top. These are so that the room knows where you are at all times, as there are sensors on all the four walls tracking your every movement, jumping, ducking and so on. The technology is really nicely done, with some cool projection mapping and touch screen sensors, making for a fully immersive and interactive experience like no other.

The Imminent Alien Invasion

Our host was the enigmatic Dom, supported by his colleague, Ivy on the cameras. Dom explained as we went into the game that in Alien Aptitude Test that aliens had taken over Britain! Oh no!

Whilst there was nothing we could do to stop the aliens, we could at least try to get in their good books. In order to see which humans were worth keeping around, the aliens had started grading humans on a series of challenges. Each challenge tested a different aspect of humanity – our memory, our agility, and so on. So long as we could obtain a good enough grade, we’d survive the extra terrestrial apocalypse.

It’s a good job the alien’s testing involved games we were very familiar with playing!

In our hour, we played 4 mini-games. There was a pacman style game where we controlled a character collecting dots around a maze. We had to avoid ghosts, and avoid the walls, else our progress would be reset. Secondly, there was a pong style game where myself and my team-mate worked together to eliminate blocks in the middle of the one of the walls by hitting pixels back and forth. There was also an iconic matching game, where tiles would fly around the screen and we’d have to quickly find their match. Finally, my favourite, there was a dodgeball style game where blocks flew at you and you needed to collect good blocks whilst avoiding the bad blocks.

In all, our body acted as your controller. And honestly? I’m still aching a little bit! This post-pandemic body is not used to such exercise! Haha.

Just kidding… It’s not too strenuous, and the whole experience was very safe. Unless you’re hurling yourself around the room you won’t bump into anybody. It’s mostly just shimmying, jumping around, oh and high-fiving your team mates when you win, of course!

The Verdict

We earned ourselves a very respectable score of A- which, at the time of playing was 7th on the leader board for that whole day! At the time of writing, we’re 28th on the leaderboard for the whole month. Wahoo!

Leader board or not, we had an absolute blast of a time. In particular, this experience would be really good for an office teambuilding, a night out with friends, stag and hen parties, or just for escape room enthusiasts who want to try something a little different.

Book your own team adventure at Electric Gamebox London.

Wizards Against Lizards Online | Review

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Wizards Against Lizards Review | You are invited to join the Wizards Against Lizards Remote Intelligence Agency. Teams of WALRIA agents are working together online to investigate, infiltrate and finally defeat the Annunaki Menace! You are welcome to join WALRIA as a passive observer but your team will require at least one active agent, as there are mysteries to be solved, and challenges to be met.

Date Played: 23rd August 2021
Number of Players: 13
Difficulty: Easy
Time Taken: 1hr 45 minutes

I absolutely love finishing an immersive experience and thinking “Woah, what the heck was that?!”

You know the ones I mean… Those once in a lifetime experiences that are met with blank expressions from your friends after you confusingly try to explain them the following day.

“Well err, you know how so many world leaders are actually Lizards hell bent on human suffering, well last Saturday I teamed up with some Wizards on Zoom and we basically infiltrated the Lizard HQ and…”

Okay so maybe it’s better I let the trailer do the talking:

I couldn’t wait to play the cult classic Wizards Against Lizards after picking up a Play Pass at RECON 2021. As part of the fun of the annual Room Escape Convention, there’s an optional Play Pass upgrade which gives you access to a number of live escape room events. Honestly, it was worth it for Wizards Against Lizards alone and I’ve still got heaps more games to play on the Play Pass!

Absurdist, Surreal, Immersive Theatre… On Zoom!

How to describe Wizards Against Lizards? It’s totally bizarre. In a good way. For sure it’s not your typical escape room game, but in amongst the conspiracy theory fun are plenty of puzzles to keep you on your toes. There’s also one theatrical sequence that is very close to an escape room at heart, making it a pretty well balanced game for all audiences.

The story goes that you join the ancient secret wizard organisation WALRIA (Wizards Against Lizards Remote Intelligence Agency) to go up against an equally ancient, but very evil lizard enemy: The Annunaki! Since you yourself are not a wizard (awwww), you’re able to successfully go where wizards cannot and infiltrate their top secret organisation. The first plan of order, pitch a brilliant business idea to one of the lizard leaders and get them on your side. Once you’re in, stop the sacrifice!

Sounds simple? Well, not so fast. Our team ended up with a little more danger than we bargained for – but a no less hilarious and fantastic experience nonetheless.

Our Wizard guides Mildred and Leanne

How to Stop the Lizard People

To stop the lizard people, you have three easy tasks:

Complete your training
Infiltrate the lizards
Stop the sacrifice!

In terms of how the game plays out, it’s all drive via a series of actors (shout out to our host Leanne) on Zoom. The game requires a lot of active audience participation – so many not be the best for a smaller team who prefer to keep quiet. Have at least one person on the team who loves improvising, or some Dutch Courage to help. You never know when being able to talk yourself out of a stick situation with the lizards will come in handy!

In terms of puzzles, hardcore enthusiasts probably won’t be challenged by the game. There are a few very puzzle-y moments in the story but they’re there to serve the narrative and won’t take too long to crack. With the exception of one part that felt very close to a remote avatar escape room, largely players can expect to scour documents and read source material in search of clues.

I particularly enjoyed the moment where we took to Google Maps to discover something new. There’s also one meaty logic puzzle that our sub-team didn’t quite crack in time, but overall nothing too challenging!

The real Fun Factor to Wizards Against Lizards isn’t the puzzles, but it’s those moments of brilliant improvisation and how the actors react to what you say! Early in the game your team needs to come up with a suitably lizard-y pitch to get you in their good books. We got to think of the worst possible business idea, create a presentation, and then pitch it on the fly. Hilarious!

Wizard Training: Perform our best “Lizard Awkward Waving” impression…

The Verdict

Wizards Against Lizards is such a hidden gem and an all round hit escape room experience that’ll go down as a cult classic for sure. What started as a real life adventure played in and around the UK can now be played online via Zoom and the world is a lot better off for it.

It plays on pop culture with just a dash of light-hearted conspiracy theory to create a surreal romp around the lizard world, hosted by several fantastic wizards (and one sinister lizard).

We’ve decided to award it the Badge of Honour (right) for ticking so many boxes and is an absolute “must play” while you still can!

Wizards Against Lizards can be booked directly on their website here.