Handmade Mysteries: Poppa Plock’s Wonky Workshop (London)

‘Bonkers’ is definitely the word for the whole experience

This bonkers escape room game takes place within secret rooms of The Depot pub in Islington, guaranteed to provide you and your team with a whole lot of fun and silliness as you take on the 60 minute challenge of the twisted toy-maker Poppa Plock.

Guided by Oki, the outrageous ventriloquist dummy, your team must complete Plock’s penultimate creation by taking on the crazy clues, contraptions and characters within.

Having already done and enjoyed the other Handmade Mysteries game, Lady Chastities Reserve we knew we had to do Poppa Plocks. Like their other game this one is located in a pub, so food and drink are available should you so choose.

Near our allocated time our GM appeared in the pub, introduced himself and told us to follow him. This wasn’t just a normal GM, oh no, like Lady Chastities it seems like Handmade Mysteries hired an actor to play the part of ‘Oki’. The part on this occasion was basically that of Poppa Plock’s wind-up ventriloquist dummy.

The GM took us to the room, explained why we were there and also took our team name. In a nutshell we had to finish putting together Poppa Plock’s latest creation but of course it wasn’t as straightforward as that.

This is a big room with a lot of space to cover so we were glad that we had a team of six. Puzzles are all around the room so you really need to communicate well to explain what you have found and what you need to solve it.

Handmade Mysteries seem to take a dose of escape room and a pinch of theatre and blend them together to create something truly delectable. It’s a shame they don’t have many rooms at the moment but as soon as they open more, we’ll be there!

PUZZLES

There was a varied mix of puzzles in this room that really fitted the theme well and were a good mixture of difficulties. We struggled with a few things but got there in the end and finished our mission with time to spare.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

This room didn’t feel like an eccentric toy makers domain as it was very dark and the room itself was pretty bleak, I think I was expecting something more like the factory in ‘Toys (1992)’.

Despite the bleakness of the room they did a really good job of designing it with some beautifully elaborate set dressing. Even in a room where everything is seemingly on show there are still areas which can and do surprise you.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

The GM is not just a regular GM who can be heard but not seen, he is very much integrated in the game. He even comes into the room at various times but while this normally breaks the immersion, it actually adds to it. Clues were delivered in character by the GM as and when needed.

ANYTHING ELSE

We normally hate red herrings but this room had the best one we’ve ever seen. It wasn’t even remotely annoying and actually added a bit of fun to the room.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 6 people – 55:16 (2 clues)

Address: The Depot, Carpenters Mews, 1, North Road, London N7 9EF