A few minutes from London's Tottenham Court Road Tube station, you'll find the entrance to Escape Hunt Oxford Street - an attraction that has a 4.9 out of 5 star rating from more than four thousand Google reviews.
With such high praise, I was curious to visit with my husband and our two young sons, Odhran, 10, and Reuben, 7, for our first family escape room experience. We'd previously enjoyed the nearby Monopoly Lifesized attraction - where the classic board game meets puzzle room fun. So, we were keen to see if we could take on a full escape room experience to test our skills for finding clues and solving riddles, and to discover if we'd pull together as a team or if it would descend into bickering.
Entering from street level, we headed down the stairs. You have to walk through Boom Battle Bar (another fantastic attraction offering everything from axe throwing and shuffleboard to digital darts and crazy golf) to get to Escape Hunt at the back of the venue. We stopped off at the bar to grab a drink to take inside and then we met with our enthusiastic games master who explained the rules.
Escape Hunt Oxford Street has six different immersive puzzle rooms to choose from when booking. We were booked in for Aladdin & The Magic Vault. But other rooms include Alice in Puzzleland, Blackbeard's Treasure, Journey to Atlantis, Doctor Who - A Dalek Awakens, and Escape The Wild West. So, there's a theme to suit different interests, and a reason to return to try out one of the other puzzle experiences.
Our challenge was to retrieve the lamp from the evil sorcerers's impenetrable Magic Vault. Each escape experience comes with its own little story. In our scenario, Aladdin has escaped from the cave of wonders with the lamp in hand, until Sorcerer Abanazar returns to take his revenge. Having tricked Aladdin out of the lamp, he whisks it away to a heavily guarded palace in the desert. Abanazar then uses his fearsome power to enrich himself and attack his enemies, bringing misery and destruction across Arabia. It was up to us to get the lamp back and rescue the genie before it was too late. But the lamp was being held in the infamous Magic Vault that we had to find a way into before our time ran out.
The first thing we noticed was that this wasn't one escape room - we had to crack the code to open the door in three different rooms before we were able to get our hands on the lamp in the fourth and final space. The sets were really high quality with wonderful attention to detail, and the music, tailored to the theme, really added to the atmosphere. The challenges were varied and engaging.
The puzzles weren't easy, and with time ticking, we had to rely on the tambourine a few times - if you get stuck, you can give this a good shake and a mystical voice fills the speakers and offers up another hint to help you put the pieces together. Odhran and Reuben threw themselves into trying to decipher the clues. My husband and I relinquished a bit of control to allow them to explore their ideas, but as we grew increasingly under time-pressure, we stepped in more. We tried to resist the urge to completely take over, and instead guide them. When we solved clues, we made sure the kids still felt very actively involved by getting them to place the discovered objects into the correct places to unlock the next clue.
The experience lasted an hour, and we eventually got our hands on the lamp with a few minutes to spare. The boys were thrilled to show our games master that we'd successfully completed the task.
Overall, Escape Hunt Oxford Street was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. We all really enjoyed the experience - it was fun, kicked the grey matter into action, and it felt like quality time together. It was also a great way to involve the kids in decision making and boost their confidence. We're now intrigued by the other experiences Escape Hunt has to offer - City Hunt and Play at Home. City Hunt allows you to explore your city with immersive outdoor escape rooms. Using a digital map and a case of exciting props, you can hit the streets for a real-world adventure. The Play at Home offering allows you to play with friends and family in the comfort of your own home, with Letterbox and Print & Play options available.
On the practical side, if you're visiting Escape Hunt after hitting the shops around Oxford Circus, there are lockers for small items and a paid cloakroom in Boom Battle Bar for bigger bags to keep your belongings safe.
Prices for the indoor escape rooms at Escape Hunt Oxford Circus vary based on the amount of players. For example, two players will costs £42 per person, whereas if you have six players, it'll cost £31 per person. But it's a family activity we'd highly recommend, especially if you've older kids or teens who can be difficult to entertain. Find out more here