Bust Out 360: Taken (Slough)

It’s easy to be the best room in Slough when you’re the only room in Slough, but it’s still close

You have woken up in a dark, dingy basement with no recollection of how you got there. You and your friends must use the clues left by previous victims to escape.

This may very well be your last chance of freedom.

Can you bust out before your kidnapper comes back?

We like to try different rooms in different locations and thought we’d give Slough a try. Unfortunately we probably shouldn’t have, that’s not a slight on Slough, just this room. This is located on an industrial estate on the outskirts of town so needless to say it isn’t a place you would go for some sightseeing.

The waiting room consisted of bean bags and a TV, which at the time was showing a World Cup game. The GM/host asked us a few questions, gave us some rules, and then after a short delay we were lead into the room, blindfolded.

Instantly you can see that this is a cheap room, the ceiling was non-existent and was actually a piece of fabric with (I think) teddy bears on them. The staging in the room was cheap and there was a lot going on which we later found out to be mostly red herrings.

We spent an inordinate amount of time in the first section of the room and had to get a clue because we just couldn’t work out where to go. This wasn’t because the puzzles were hard but they just didn’t make sense and there were too many red herrings (did I say that already?). Once we got into the second room we blitzed it as there was less going on and it was easier to see what needed to be done.

The room was poorly assembled and things that shouldn’t have been visible early on unfortunately were. Also one element that I assume was supposed to be a wow factor and surprise players was clear to see from the start. Rooms without ceilings always bug me, but being in a room and being able to listen to the World Cup game going on in the other room really did help drag this room down.

It’s nice to see rooms opening up in new locations but I feel like if the rooms are opening are this low in quality then it will be more detrimental to the industry than if they didn’t open at all.

PUZZLES

If you remove the time wasting sifting through all the red herrings then this is a 30 minute room at best and even then that is because some things take more time than they should. The puzzles weren’t hard, just annoying.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

I get that we were supposed to be in a dark and dingy basement but I’ve been in dark and dingy basements that were nicer than this room. It felt like they had raided a charity shop and grabbed anything they could to try and set the scene. There were no surprises in this room and you could actually see the solution to one of the puzzles before you even solved it.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Clues were delivered by a piece of paper slid under the door, which of course meant there was a time delay in when you requested them and when you got them. There was no explanation of who was the mystery person who was helping you out and this could have been perhaps written in to the story.

ANYTHING ELSE

We left this room feeling very frustrated despite getting a Top 10 time. Advice to the owners: get rid of all the red herrings and focus on building a decent room with strong puzzles. It’s easy to be the best room in Slough when you’re the only room in Slough, but it’s still close.

Success / Failure

Final Rating: 

Team: 5 people

Address:  Unit 10, The Business Village, Wexham Road, Slough, SL2 5HF

Website: https://www.bustout360.co.uk