Skurrilum: Ghosthunter Ernie Hudson and the Wailing Woman (Hamburg)

Magic?

Our series “Ghost Hunter Ernie Hudson” is the first mix of escape game and radio play. Over five different locations, a drama with breathtaking effects, and a story full of excitement beckons. Be enchanted, enter the old villa of the frightened Mrs. Bunbury – and set out in search of the wailing woman.

Our fifth game from our little Hamburg long weekend was one of the games that we were looking forward to the most; Ernie Hudson and the Wailing Woman at Skurrilum. This is a game that came in at number 74 in the 2023 TERPECAs, although back in 2018 it came in at number one – yes, the best game in the world in 2018!

We were actually really lucky to be able to play this game, they had some flooding/roof leaking issues which closed off bookings for a while, but the escape room gods were shining down on us and it was dried up and ready to play when we were in town.

Skurrilum is in the ‘interesting’ area of Hamburg called St Pauli. I actually visited Hamburg many years ago and St Pauli was interesting then and is interesting now, although I’d say it’s probably improved somewhat since I was last there. Skurrilum is very easy to find and was in a cool looking building that was covered in lights. There are two floors to Skurrium and The Wailing Woman was on the lower of the two floors.

We’d been hearing about the Ernie Hudson games (Wailing Woman, and Zoo of Death) for a long time, so we were excited to see if they lived up to the hype. When we arrived we were greeted by our host, Niko. Niko was lovely and made us feel right at home, showing us where we could lock our belongings, and chatting about our trip while we waited for game time.

After our chat, using the facilities, and the health and safety briefing, it was finally time to check out what the Wailing Woman was all about!

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

It’s very easy to see why the Ernie Hudson games have such a good reputation, both Wailing Woman and Zoo of Death were very well made and had some great surprises. Wailing Woman, for me, was the better of the two games and I feel like the set design and puzzles help it stand out among some of the other games in Hamburg.

As mentioned in the game description, Ernie Hudson ‘is the first mix of escape game and radio play’ and that’s exactly how it was. It was like we were playing an escape room but also playing out some form of radio drama (perhaps like The Archers, only more fun and interesting), where the radio was a constant presence driving us forward with the narrative and ensuring the spaces made sense.

With the radio aspects, audio was obviously a key part of this game, but with space-appropriate ambient noises and music being played at all times, we soon found ourselves getting lost in the story.

Thinking about it now, one of my least favourite elements in an escape room is when the mission briefing takes place in the room, and all we want to do is get cracking on the puzzles and exploring. In The Wailing Woman, this did happen, yes, but thanks to the use of lighting they ensured that our focus was 100% on the story with zero distractions.

In all of the games that we played in Hamburg, we found that the Hamburgeuse, Hamburgites, Hamburgers, whatever the colloquial term is for someone from Hamburg is, really enjoy adding theatrical moments to cause you to stop and take in what was going on. In some games it did feel a tad tedious, but The Wailing Woman got it just right and these moments ensured we were focussing on the ‘wow’ moments, and yes, there were a few.

PUZZLES

No matter how pretty an escape room is, a key part that makes a game great is the puzzles, and fortunately the puzzles in The Wailing Women were not a weak link, although they did perhaps take a back seat to the beautiful set design and strong narrative.

The puzzles contained within this auditory masterpiece were varied and enjoyable; searching, observation, audio (obviously), following instructions, and perhaps a small amount of logic made up the bulk of the Wailing Woman challenge, and they all felt like they were integral to the story and part of the narrative.

When puzzles were solved, there were varying outcomes, some padlocks, some tech, and some magic. There was one particular moment in this game that we’d never seen before and was very cool to experience. I gather from Niko that it was quite simple to pull off, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Niko, and I mean no offence to any of the other GMs we encountered in Hamburg, was possibly the most welcoming and friendly of all the GMs on our trip. He took an interest in our trip, we spoke about escape rooms, and he genuinely made us feel more welcome. The world needs more Nikos.

He was obviously keeping a close eye on our game as help was never far away, and for one part of the game in particular it involved him to think on his feet with how he/the system responded. Many things he did were behind-the-scenes and went unnoticed due to how seamless they were, but ‘front of house’ was also a slick experience. Clues came over the speaker system in the room, from the narrator of course, and were done in such a way that it felt like voices in our head talking about how we were progressing – very clever.

There was also a secondary clue system which I don’t believe we needed, but it was nice that they had thought of this ‘emergency system’ just in case it was needed.

ANYTHING ELSE

I can see why Ernie Hudson and the Wailing Woman is so well regarded in Hamburg. Strong puzzles, great story and immersion, and generally just a really fun game to experience.

We thoroughly enjoyed all our experiences at Skurrilum, and that was not only down to the solid games, but also the great hosting from all the staff we encountered.

Success / Failure

Final Rating:

Team: 4 players

Address: Spielbudenplatz 21, 20359 Hamburg, Germany

Website: https://skurrilum.de