Knockout Escape Rooms: Mad Scientist (Reading)

A solid room with a lot of space to cover

You and a group of friends have been abducted by a mad Scientist. He intends to conduct a number of dastardly experiments on all of you. After throwing you into a secure dungeon he will return in 60 minutes to begin his gruesome work.

So you have 60 minutes to determine your own fate and escape to freedom. Working as a team your fate is in your own hands!

Every few months our usual team will get together for an escape room and a catch-up. After discovering Knockout Escape Rooms was only minutes away from one team member’s house, it was only logical to return after we thoroughly enjoyed Prison Break.

Once again, we arrived and were warmly greeted. And once again, I pilfered all the good sweets (lemon are the best!) for a sugar boost should I need it mid puzzle. Emergency sweets in hand, it was time to start. This time, we were led to a non-descript door down the hall where we were given the briefing.

Mad Scientist is light on back story; you’re locked in a dungeon/lab and must escape before the mad scientist returns to run his nefarious experiments on you, but there was no further story than that. I happen to be a fan of a broader back story, but the lack of story here didn’t detract from the fun. This is a solid room with some good puzzles and just a generally good time.

PUZZLES

We hit a stumbling block quite early on, and were distracted by an abundance of set dressing which felt more like red herrings, and laminated pieces of paper everywhere.  These did eventually come into play, but were so prominent throughout the room, that with no clear starting point, became a focal point far too early. Fortunately, a timely intervention pointed us back in the right direction (with a clever nudge that still makes me smile) and provided us with our starting point.

Once we were back on track, we managed to find a rhythm and a flow to the room. There was a fair amount of searching, aided eventually by Gord’s favourite tool: A UV torch. Padlocks featured prominently, but there were a few interesting puzzles to keep you on your toes, including a neat science experiment, and some more technical puzzles. There was one task for which I can only hope a fail-safe was built into, as you really only have one chance to get it right so if you mess up, I’m not sure how you would be able to progress.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

How immersive this was is debatable. The room did feel a bit like a cross between and dungeon and a lab, and had a few cool props, and one or two surprises, but was otherwise rather sparse.

For me, I find rooms most immersive when there is a backstory which unfolds as you progress. That doesn’t happen here, but you definitely leave the outside world and become absorbed in your puzzle solving, so I still think it’s a successful room.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Our GM was excellent, providing nudges when needed and timely clues when we were really struggling. Clues were delivered using the trusty screen method, which does break the immersion some, but it’s a standard for a reason. It’s effective.

ANYTHING ELSE

We played this game at the original location in Twyford. Knockout have since relocated to new premises in Reading.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 5 players

Address: *New Address* 75 Milford Road, Reading, Berks, RG1 8LG

Website: https://knockoutescaperooms.com