Dreadlock: The Great EGGscape (Bodmin)

EGGcelent Easter Fun

Bunny is hopping mad, the gardener is on the warpath, and Mrs Hen is clucking raging… Someone has been stealing from them! Find their belongings and you will be rewarded with a golden egg. One hour on the clock, three Golden Eggs to collect! If you manage to collect all three Eggs within the hour, you can use your remaining time to try to open the prize box!

We never try to hide it, we’re fans of Dreadlock Escape Rooms. Their games are always fun, and the owners (Gemma and Deb]) are lovely and never fail to make us feel welcomed. That’s ignoring the fact that they’re located on a holiday park in Bodmin – which we have stayed at. Dreadlock are just perfectly positioned to offer a great weekend, or longer, away. More so now that they have opened up their Overnight Escapes cabin.

Actually, we had found a cheap rate to stay onsite at the holiday park so we jumped at it and booked in for a couple of games at Dreadlock (The Great EGGScape, and You Plonker!), and a few at Housetrap for good measure. It’s certainly convenient to be able to stay so close to a venue!

After completing our mammoth trek from the cabin, which was all of 2 mins away, we arrived and were greeted by our host, I want to say it was Deb but I can’t remember now as it was a little while ago. Let’s just assume it was Deb as I’m pretty sure it was. After a lovely little chat in their waiting area, it was time to get down to business.

We had played Christmas games before, but never a themed easter game, so that was already new and different for us. We received the health and safety briefing and then were shown into the room where we got the mission briefing.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

The Great EGGScape is an interesting one, as it’s technically one of their Christmas games but it’s been reskinned for Easter. If you have played A Christmas ADVENTure, then this space and the gameplay will feel remarkably familiar, however the puzzles and theme are different so you still can play it.

This is one of those games that pretty much has everything on show from the moment you enter, and you won’t find too many surprises as you progress. The room is suitably easter-y decorated, with the things you’d expect to see and the puzzles, if not only by theme, feel like they belong.

There isn’t much to say about the design for this game, as it’s quite a small space, but they have used it cleverly and thanks to the design, you are never in doubt about where to go next.

PUZZLES

So being a reskin of a Christmas game, it will probably come as no surprise to say there are pretty much exactly 25 puzzles in The Great EGGscape – I wonder why… Also, because of the way this game is designed, it is almost entirely linear. Of course the benefit of it being linear is that the signposting is pretty much perfect as you always know where you’re going next and what you’re working towards.

This is one of those family friendly games where you could take your young child, or your elderly relative – there’s something for everyone, and even if they’re not actively involved in solving the puzzles, the space is of such a size where they’ll feel like they’re part of everything that is going on. Dreadlock have certainly managed to cram a lot into a small space, and there is plenty to keep you going: observation, colours, pattern recognition, riddles, wordplay, audio, logic – lots!

Being devil’s advocate, we weren’t fans of all the puzzles in this game. Some were the types of puzzles that you may see doing the rounds on social media, which is fine, but they just didn’t feel at the same level as the usual Dreadlock puzzles. In fairness though, this game is essentially a pop-up game, so one wouldn’t expect them to want to spend too much time creating puzzles for it.

Like I said, signposting was great and we always knew where to go to next. Many of the puzzles resulted in combinations for padlocks, whether that be directional, numerical, or a word lock. But there was a small amount of tech too.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

We find that we get on quite well with the games at Dreadlock. Their games and puzzles are always fair, and fun, so we don’t often need to call out for help – although when we do, we never have to wait for long. Which-ever gamesmaster you get at Dreadlock you are pretty much guaranteed to get great service, as they’re all wonderful.

On this occasion, we did need a little help from the easter bunny so we called out for help. The help came in the form of writing on the screen in the room, and it was needed because we were being a tad dim with a couple of puzzles. Our fault, not theirs.

ANYTHING ELSE

This isn’t a game that will ‘wow’ you, but you should still have a good time – especially if you take the whole family. It’s a whimsical game where the name of the game is fun. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just go in and have fun!

Success/Failed

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Address:  Holiday Park, Old Coach Rd, Lanivet, Bodmin PL30 5JJ

Website: https://www.dreadlockescape.co.uk/