Pier Pressure Bracknell: The Siege of Spellbreak Bank (Bracknell)

Family Friendly Magic

Spellbreak Bank is under attack from a dark wizard, hell-bent on stealing the wondrous treasures for his own diabolical ends!

The magical artefacts needed to save the bank are locked away deep within its vaults.

You and your teammates must use magic to venture into the depths of the bank, recover the artefacts, restore its defences, and thwart the dark wizard!

Nearly six years had passed since we were last in Bracknell, and in that time a lot had changed. The company that was once Puzzalogical had now been taken over by Pier Pressure – yes, Pier Pressure of Brighton fame. In that time, the game we’d previously played, ‘The Secret of the Vault’ had closed and now there were four games we had yet to play, so of course we booked them all in. First up was The Siege of Spellbreak Bank, followed by Prison Break, Alien Encounter, and finally Pharaoh’s Mystery.

Despite the branding and games changing, things felt very familiar as most of the games were still located in the basement of the building (Alien Encounter was upstairs). We arrived a little early, so we visited the on-site cafe while we waited for our friends to arrive. When they did, we checked in at the desk by the lift and then waited for our gamesmaster to appear and then escort us down to the basement.

The basement has a waiting area with lockers and plenty of seating, so we took a seat while our GM went off to double check that the room was ready. When she returned, in character, we received our magical briefing and then followed her down the hallway where we then entered Spellbreak Bank.

In terms of accessibility, I think this game was likely accessible. There were one or two tighter areas, but everything took place on one floor, and there was a lift from the reception area to the basement.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

I could be mistaken, but I feel like this game takes place in the same space that used to be The Secret of the Vault; it felt familiar anyway. The space wasn’t huge, and as a team of four there were a few times that we had to side step each other to get involved in things. Still, if you’re playing as a family or with some kids, then you should probably be ok.

The Siege of Spellbreak Bank is one of those magic type of games that would probably appeal to those who are fans of a certain young wizard. That’s not to say that it ripped it off, I’d say that elements are perhaps inspired by it, but it’s still a very unique theme and set.

There aren’t too many things with the set that will dazzle you, but it did have some cool moments and tech was used in a clever way to give that hint of magic that I’m sure children would especially enjoy.

PUZZLES

Being a family friendly game, I felt like the puzzles weren’t the most challenging out there, but they were still decent and fair. The signposting was good and despite the game playing out in a mostly linear way, we were able to split up and investigate things independently of each other. For a small space, there was a surprising amount of things to investigate, some were just set dressing, but many were related to puzzles.

Searching, observation, basic maths, teamwork, communication, logic and pattern recognition were all present, so there is plenty for everyone. It’s worth pointing out that one or two of the puzzles do involve colours.

I probably could have mentioned it in the room design option, but I’ll mention it here instead. Fortunately ‘difficulty by darkness’ wasn’t an issue in this game thanks to generally decent lighting levels, but also an on-theme lighting tool.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

We gave our host a pretty easy ride in this game, as everything seemed to click and for the most part we had no issues. There was one thing that changed so subtly that we didn’t notice, and because of this our GM chimed in to get us back on track before we got too frustrated. They use the tried and tested audio system for clues, but if that’s an issue for your team (hard of hearing), with notice they can actually modify the clue system so that it appears on a screen in the room.

ANYTHING ELSE

I don’t think this was my favourite game at this venue, but I could see it being a hit with families. I’m personally never a fan of magic games, but even I could see that this game had some cool moments and a bit of added flair that many would enjoy.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players (escaped in 31:33)

Address: Easthampstead House, Town Square, Bracknell, RG12 1BH

Website: https://pierpressure.co.uk/bracknell