More than just number crunching
It’s the tail end of the Prohibition era in Chicago and Al Capone has a stranglehold on all the Bootleg liquor in the city. As the newest members of The North side mob, Bugsy needs you to prove yourself and steal something right from under Scarface’s nose! Don’t let him down, or you’ll be sleeping with the fishes!
Operation Moonshine was our third game at The Escaporium, but our first at their Berwick St Mills location. This venue has the same lovely feel as their other venue but feels a little more spacious, with copious seating and some nice historical features on show.
When we arrived we were greeted by Angela, our host. We had a bit of a chat and a catch up and then it was time to get down to business. Angela gave us our mission briefing and the health and safety briefing in the reception area, then we were led to the door to the offices of Kaye & Ramsay, Certified Accountants. Of course I couldn’t help but feel like this wouldn’t be a usual accountants’ office.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
This room probably hit a little close to home for me as I work in an accountant’s office (I’m not an accountant), but I was glad to see it didn’t look anything like the offices I know. First impressions were that this was quite a tight space and even as a team of four we were shuffling past each other to investigate everything. As you may expect, it soon opens up into a much more sizable space.
It felt like everything in this room belonged and belonged for the period – ok, perhaps padlocks were a little out of place, but this is an escape room so we have to have an element of disbelief. Operation Moonshine was one of those spaces that was quite lovely to be in and it would have been nice to have taken our time and perhaps had a beer or two after the game in there!
With ambient noises being played at all times during our experience, it felt very much a world away from the historic buildings of Halifax that surrounded us.
PUZZLES
I don’t mind if a game has a lot of padlocks, a lot of tech, or a mixture. For me, if a puzzle is solid then I don’t mind how it comes to fruition. Of course, if a game can take that next step and only use items that don’t look out of place in the room’s story then that’s a bonus. Operation Moonshine, had a mixture of padlocks and tech, and it was a good balance. Thanks to the solid signposting in the room we never had issues knowing what puzzle went with which padlock.
The puzzles in Operation Moonshine were all based around items that one would expect to find in a mafia boss’s moonshine operation, so everything we did felt like a natural way to progress the story. The game is also quite non-linear in many places so as a team we were able to split up and work on different things simultaneously.
Puzzle types were certainly varied and we found there seemed to be something that appealed to everyone in our team; observation, searching, maths, wordplay, logic, and one or two puzzles that were a bit more related to spatial relations. I must admit, I excelled myself in this game with my maths skills – it pretty much never happens, but in this game I was like Rain Man! Ok, it wasn’t complex maths, but still… nailed it.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
As a gamemaster, Angela was very good, both before the game when she was enthusiastic and delivered a solid mission briefing, and during the game when perhaps assistance was needed. If we did need help, clues were delivered on a TV screen in the room and were accompanied by the sound of a Tommy Gun so we knew to look at the screen. When not fixing our stupidity the screen was also used to display a countdown timer so we knew how long we had left to complete our mission.
One thing that was clear from all the games we played at Escaporium was that we were being watched closely. Anytime we struggled or slowed to a crawl, a perfectly timed hint appeared. After the game there was also a thorough debrief – something which isn’t possible if they weren’t paying attention to our game.
ANYTHING ELSE
Operation Moonshine was a lovely game with solid puzzles and a set that felt ‘right’. It’s a game that starts off small but soon opens up into a larger space with an abundance of puzzles.
Success/Failed
Final Rating:
Operation Puzzles Room Design GM/Clues Excitement
Team: 4 players – escaped in 29:27
Address: The Mill, Ground Floor, Berwick St Mills, 23 Square Rd, Halifax, HX1 1QG
Website: https://www.theescaporium.com/
*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review
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