A fun warm up game
All kinds of folk come to stay at your small motel, faces come and go so fast you barely remember their names. They all have stories to tell, and some have a secret or two. A few people stick around for a while in between jobs or houses. Sam is one of these. He pays his rent on time, keeps himself to himself and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to move on. There’s something about him though, something that causes your stomach to twist when you see him around, something not right. On seeing him leave one stormy night you decide you have to know what he’s hiding, but some secrets are best left undiscovered.
Every now and then we realise that we have neglected the UK escape room scene in favour of more exotic European and American locations, so we swiftly get a UK road-trip booked in to balance the universe. On this occasion, we decided to head north and tick off some games that we’d been hearing about. The first game of the trip was Murder Motel at Enigma Rooms in Wakefield.
Historically, when anyone spoke about Enigma Rooms in Wakefield, the room they were inevitably talking about was Seance. We were going to be playing Seance on this trip, amongst others. But for now, our focus was on Murder Motel – sounds quaint.
We arrived at the venue, in central Wakefield, and climbed the staircase to the main lobby. There was some seating available, escape games for sale, toilets, and lockers where we could store our belongings.
Our host for Murder Motel was Ava. Ava gave us a lovely welcome and then after a short chat, escorted us down the hallway to the entrance to the motel. In the hallway we received our briefings and then it was down to business.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
I’ve actually stayed in a number of motels in North America, so I like to think I am qualified to say what feels authentic with this theme. This game had exactly what you’d expect to find in a motel – a bedroom and a bathroom. Nailed it.
Of course, if you throw ‘murder’ into the title and then there’s probably a lot more you’d expect to find, and yes, you’ll find that too. The cleaners will have a hard time in this one!
Motel rooms, in my opinion, are probably one of the easiest sets to build as you can pick up most of the props from charity shops (just like office themed games). That’s not a criticism at all, just don’t expect to be blown away with this set. It works, and that’s totally fine.
Everything we found in the room felt like it all came from a similar era, and nothing really felt out of place (other than the murder, obviously). Another nice thing is that the lighting was decent, so we could always see what we needed. The ambient noises being played also helped us to forget the busy streets of Wakefield outside.
PUZZLES
I know it doesn’t do anything for ‘immersion’ but I secretly like it when we’re given a notepad/board for taking notes in a game. Some puzzles just need a bit of extra thought and being able to write down your thoughts can be invaluable.
I’d say that Murder Motel was a good version of a traditional escape room. The type of game that is good for getting people to understand how they work, and giving them exposure to a variety of puzzle types: observation, logic, searching, wordplay, basic maths and decoding. Like I said, a bit of everything.
I can’t recall now if this was a multi-linear game or not, but we certainly spent a good amount of the game split up, but often came together to put things together and finally solve puzzles.
The majority of puzzles resulted in combinations or codes for padlock, and the use of tech was limited. Personally, I think that’s fine, especially for where I’d guess this game is aimed.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Ava was a great host and made us feel welcomed, and she kept a close eye on us during our game. I can’t recall if we needed any help or not, but if we had, it would have come over a tv screen in the room and have been accompanied by a ‘knock knock’ noise to get our attention.
ANYTHING ELSE
Murder Motel is unlikely to blow anyone away, but it’s a fun game, with decent puzzles and a surprise at the end.
If you’re looking to get someone introduced into the world of escape rooms, and they don’t mind a macabre theme, then this isn’t a bad shout.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 2 players – 32 mins
Address:8-10 Teall St, Wakefield WF1 1PT
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