Prepare to get dirty!
The rescue team is trying their best to race against the clock in order to save you all, but the chances are looking bleak. The creeping realisation of the life or death situation is beginning to dawn on your fellow miners and panic resonates. You are left with one option, find another way out or die in this soon-to-be catacomb!
We’d just completed three rooms at the Trapp’d Billing location (Exordium, Dead on Arrival, and 46 Below) and enjoyed them all, so we had high expectations for the two rooms at their Northampton branch. First up was Molten Creek Mine.
Arriving at the venue there is no doubt that you’re at a Trapp’d venue, black paint and customer ‘graffiti’ on the walls is their thing. We were greeted by our friendly GM and took a seat in the waiting area while he made sure everything was ready. When he returned he gave us the health and safety briefing, the room briefing, and issued us with a hard hat, blindfolds, shoe covers, and a warning… “You may get dirty”.
Worrying exactly how dirty we would get we donned our blindfolds and were led to the entrance to the room. Trapp’d like the blindfold entrances as it keeps a bit of suspense about the room, and I agree, it does add to it.
Once we were in, our GM told us that our time would begin once he closed the door behind him. So, with the door slamming shut, we removed our blindfolds and started to explore the mine.
PUZZLES
I think in a room that is designed to be a mine, you would expect a good amount of searching and this room was no exception to that. Although there was the usual/traditional search element where you need to look in and around everything, they added another aspect to this which fitted well with the theme and I still can’t decide if it was fun or annoying, but I think I’m leaning towards fun.
All the puzzles were on theme and related well to the surroundings, with most puzzles resulting in a code for a padlock. None of the puzzles were particularly challenging but that could have just been our experience; arguably earlier in the room we found the darkness to be the biggest challenge.
IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN
I liked this room, I can’t quite work out why but I did, but I think it was down to the room design. There were no surprises or ‘wow’ moments, but it was just a simple room that worked and flowed. The biggest thing of note about this room is that the floor is covered in dirt, a lot of dirt, so you will inevitably get a little dirty in here, although fortunately, you don’t need to crawl anywhere!
There were a few pieces of set dressing dotted around the room which added to the theme, but there were also a few documents which for us at least, crossed into the realm of red herrings. Generally though, everything contained in the room you may expect to find in an old mine.
The ending to the room was arguably the weakest part of the room, but it was clear that it was the ending and our GM was there to greet us when we escaped. One improvement I would make is that I would like to have more in the way of torches/lighting, particularly early in the room as this would have avoided some of our frustrations.
GM/CLUE SYSTEM
Like the other Trapp’d rooms, there was no timer in this room to give you an idea of your progress. We didn’t require any clues for this room, but they would have been delivered by the GM over a speaker system in the room. The GM was attentive as he did notice when we were distracted by an item which we knew we needed but couldn’t get to – it turns out that a previous group got it lodged somewhere it shouldn’t have been but they hadn’t been able to find it, so it was due to be removed soon after we found it.
ANYTHING ELSE
Yet another fun room from Trapp’d, not their best, but equally not their worst. Be prepared to get dirty so make sure you don’t do this room before a night out! A fun use of tech and on-theme puzzles made this an enjoyable room.
Success/Failure
Final Rating:
| Operation | |
| Puzzles | |
| Room Design | |
| GM/Clues | |
| Excitement |
Team: 2 players – escaped in 25:36
Address: 24 Connaught Street, Northampton, NN1 3BP
Website: https://trappd.com
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