Tulleys Escape Rooms: Mutiny (Crawley)

If this room had made us walk the plank, we’d have done it!

It’s the year of our lord 1672, and you be right in the height o’ the golden age o’ piracy…

After years of sailin’ the high seas, you and your crew have succeeded in your fair share of ambushes, and as a result – your ship is teamin’ with bounty.

Yet you’re still suffering beneath the cruel wrath o’ Captain Starling – a notoriously bloodthirsty buccaneer, and your shipmates have decided you all shall take matters into your own hands. After all… you fought for the gold, so the gold is yours for the taking, aye?

Once the old seadog has retreated to his berth for the night, you make your move. Get in, get the treasure and get out. You won’t have long before he starts to stir – and Starling shows no mercy to any soul

Following a close, but successful, escape from The Outfitters, we took a short break to enjoy the cosy fire and wait for Mutiny to be ready. Our lovely GM, Becky, approached us, and gave us a quick refresher on padlocks, and then led us to a beautifully styled door. An ominous “Good luck…” followed us from the previous team to take on Mutiny as they sat, chatting in the waiting area.

Once inside the room, we enjoyed the FARM’s briefing video, where we were once again asked not to lick the wires. (Seriously, who does that? It seems both gross and dangerous.) Finally our time started, and we set off finding the treasure and making our escape.

As you’d expect from a room entitled “Mutiny,” you’re onboard a ship, in a cabin to be exact. It’s pretty clear from the start that you will need to exit the cabin, and after a little while, we made it through to the deck, where our journey really began.

While this space is nowhere near the size of Nethercott Manor, it’s still impressive, and we moved from space to space, never entirely certain where the journey would end. Game play here was non-linear, and we were all able to work on things either together or separately, as the situation called for.

I actually loved this room, but then,  I’m a sucker for a beautiful set, and there certainly was no shortage of that here. Mutiny really was a delight from start to finish.

PUZZLES

Puzzles were again a good mix of hunting, logic, combination locks, physical tasks, and automation. Nothing struck me as particularly difficult, but they also weren’t overly simple either. As I’ve come to expect from Tulleys, puzzles are logical, and generally make sense. For the most part, things fit into the theme, though there were a few that were more nautical than 17th century pirate.

The puzzles in general didn’t really strike me as unique, it was more the surroundings that really made this room special. Be warned though, I’ve noticed that Tulleys do like their maths related puzzles, and this room was no exception.

IMMERSION/ROOM DESIGN

One again, Tulleys have hit it out of the park with set design. There were several distinct areas, making it feel as though you were on a journey, and the attention to detail, from the weathered wood to the lighting and the custom props, was as impressive as anything else I’ve seen at Tulleys. No spoilers, but one section was just so completely unexpected and magical that I took a few minutes just to explore under the guise of “searching,” but let’s face it, I was looking at, and enjoying, the scenery, not hunting for clues. (Don’t tell my team!)

As usual for me, when a game is set in a particular historical period (17th century here), I find anything that isn’t historically accurate (or close to it) breaks the immersion a bit. This means that the combination padlocks did make it feel more like a game and less like I was really on a pirate ship, but, they definitely didn’t detract from the experience, and let’s face it: You’re there to do an escape room, so a certain amount of belief is suspended anyway. However, the use of some really cool effects and some custom props made me smile, and say “Oooooo” several times.

GM/CLUE SYSTEM

Clues were delivered from the very helpful Polly the Parrot. The squawk every time Polly thought we might need a little nudge in the right direction was an amusing addition to the usual nudges telling us to pay more attention to our surroundings, and our GM knew just when to chime in.

ANYTHING ELSE

According to Tulleys’ website, this is the easiest of their rooms. I would tend to agree, and think it would be an excellent choice for both enthusiasts and newcomers, alike. Now I’m impatiently waiting for the imminent opening of Dodge!

Success / Failure

Final Rating: 

Team: 4 players (escaped with 15:38 remaining)

Address: Tulleys Farm, Turners Hill Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 4PE

Website: https://www.tulleysescape.com