Funderland
On a beautiful sunny day, you skip to the end of your garden to read, escaping the boredom of the real world. As the sun beats down on you and the shadows grow longer, your eyes grow heavy and you drift off to sleep. Falling and falling you remember this sensation, and awake with a start just before you hit the ground. As your eyes adjust you realise you are back in the surreal landscape of Wonderland. Something is wrong, your friends are in hiding, all you know is that you need to find them. Find them before the Red Queen arrives to put an end to you once and for all. Off with your head! A distant sound of marching creeps into your ears as you realise that it’s not reality you need to escape, it’s Wonderland.
The first day of our little northern weekend away involved catching the train up to Wakefield and playing some games at Enigma. First up was Murder Motel which went well and we enjoyed it, but swiftly following that was Escape from Wonderland (with Seance later in the evening). Our host for both games was Ava, and we gave her a pretty easy ride with Murder Motel, so hopefully we’d do the same with Wonderland.
After a bit of a chat between games it was time to get down to business. Our personal possessions were already locked away so all that was left was the story briefing. The briefing took place in a secondary ‘holding’ area just beyond the themed doors to the game, and then we were shown into the actual room and our time began.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
We’ve played a few ‘Wonderland’ themed games and they tend to have similar design choices which are heavily inspired by subject matter – flamingos, tea cups, fake grass were all present and correct. I also always like and appreciate when a games’ design overflows to the entrance in the hallway, which Enigma did. The level of design didn’t drop throughout the game and all of the spaces we encountered were distinctly different to the previous.
After playing ‘Murder Motel’ it was nice to play a game that was filled with whimsy and fun. With ambient noises and music being played at all times, Wonderland was a pleasant place to spend an hour (well less than an hour, but you get the point). There was nothing particularly ‘wow’ about this game in terms of the design, but nothing felt particularly out of place and more importantly, nothing was broken or run down.
PUZZLES
Many of the puzzles in Wonderland resulted in codes for padlocks, but there was also a bit of tech thrown in too. To trigger this tech, or obtain these codes, we had to solve puzzles relating to; searching, observation, colours, communication, teamwork, decoding, workplay, and logic. We overcomplicated one puzzle which is why we eventually had to ask for a little help, the puzzle was fair, we were just being a bit dim.
It’s probably worth pointing out that at least one of the puzzles relies on colours, so if you have a full team of colour blind people then you may struggle – but really you just need one person with good colour vision and they can solve those puzzles.
The game felt quite open in terms of being able to solve puzzles but I think we just split up and explored so it felt like we were progressing even if we weren’t actually fully solving the puzzles. I’d guess this was mostly a linear game, but thanks to the amount of things to explore, we never felt like we were waiting around for long while one of us solved something.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Ava gave us a lovely warm welcome and delivered the game briefing with enthusiasm. From what I recall we only needed one clue during our time in Wonderland, and it was delivered quickly. When the clue arrived it was delivered on a TV screen in the room and we were alerted to its arrival by a noise. Ava saw we were struggling at one point so she didn’t let us suffer and chimed in with the clue, if we weren’t so stubborn we could have just pressed a doorbell in the room to request a clue.
ANYTHING ELSE
Escape from Wonderland is a fun game full of whimsy. Although not overly taxing, the puzzles were enjoyable and satisfying to solve. We were apprehensive about playing at Enigma as it’s part of a (small) chain, but those fears were not warranted and it felt more like an independent venue.
Success / Failure
Final Rating:
Operation | |
Puzzles | |
Room Design | |
GM/Clues | |
Excitement |
Team: 2 players – escaped in 40:57
Address: 8-10 Teall St, Wakefield WF1 1PT
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