Clockwork Escapes: The Legend of Foole’s Gold (Telford)

A Searcher’s Dream

Old Man Foole has left behind a wealth of minerals and jewels, the kind that would help the Professor run experiments for years to come! He just needs a bunch of ne’er-do-wells for a little heist…

That’s where you come in!

Clockwork Escapes is one of those venues that we’ve been meaning to get to for a long time, but for some reason we’d never made it happen. I believe they used to be located in Wolverhampton, but now are firmly established in Telford. They have three games at this location but sadly we only had time for two. We’d just played ‘Creep’ to get us warmed up, and the main event (in my eyes) was The Legend of Foole’s Gold which I’d been told was quite a mission and puzzle-fest, especially as a team of two.

After playing Creep, we had some time to kill so we went for a stroll around the area. As it would turn out, there wasn’t really much around so we kinda just wandered around the industrial estate before returning at our allotted time. Once again, our host, The Professor, gave us a briefing in the rather large reception area, and then this time we relocated to a secondary area for a more detailed mission briefing.

This is where things got a bit complicated. Basically there was 2.5kg of gold to collect in the room, five multiplier stones, and one blue stone. The total possible points for the game was 25,000 and by the sounds of it, not too many people had got the full haul. With all of this bouncing around in our heads, we knew that we had a big challenge ahead, and it was time to get to work.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

Despite not being a dwarf, I have actually spent a good amount of time in mines; on tours at least, never as a minor. The things that one would expect to see in a mine were all present: rock, dust, wooden supports, mine carts, and dim lighting. I can’t recall if there was background music, but I also don’t remember it being silent, so I guess there was some form of noise going on to help immerse us.

I was impressed with the set design for this game. Everything felt authentic and well looked after (or as well as can be for a mine themed game). It was also surprisingly spacious for a mine. Ok, there were one or two smaller spaces, but nothing major. In terms of accessibility it was again surprisingly accessible for a mine. There was one area that would require some crouching for a short period of time, but it may be possible for them to bypass this if you ask in advance.

PUZZLES

There was a lot going on in this game. At first glance it seemed very sparse but things soon got quite busy and it felt like we were nonstop for the entire hour.

Arguably the most prevalent puzzle type in the mine was searching. There was a lot of searching, and some of it was very very sneaky. On top of the searching: observation, following directions, decoding, logic, wordplay, and teamwork made up the rest of the puzzles.

Solving puzzles mostly resulted in codes for padlocks but we generally always seemed to know what went where and signposting was decent. One thing worth pointing out is that one puzzle did involve colours, something to bear in mind.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

We never got the real name of our GM, although we did ask. All we know is that he was called ‘The Professor’. This was one of those venues where the host stays in character throughout. I can appreciate why venues do this, but for me it takes away from the experience a little as we do enjoy a good chat afterwards.

If I had one observation with the hosting for this game it would be that The Professor was very trigger happy with the clues. There were a few occasions where we’d have liked a bit longer to solve things before he chimed in, and on one occasion we received a clue literally as soon as we acquired what we needed. It also seemed like he was keen for our time to end as soon as possible.

When these clues came in, they were via a walkie-talkie that we were given before going in.

ANYTHING ELSE

If you’re looking for a very search heavy game, then this is the game for you. The set was good, and the puzzles were on theme. A few too many clues soured the experience for us a little though.

Out of a possible 25,000 points, we achieved 24,900. We felt a bit short changed by this as we were apparently off by 10g. Rocks rubbing up against each other could easily lose 10g in no time, and when we asked where the missing rock was, we were not shown. I know not everyone ‘wins’ but over 10 grams, it feels like it would have been a nice victory to let us have… not that we’re competitive or anything…

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players – 46 minutes

Address: Unit F5, F Block, Halesfield 23, Telford TF7 4NY

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