We are big fans of Music Theatre Guernsey’s escape rooms, having thoroughly enjoyed doing a number of them in the past, so we were delighted to be asked to try out their new Christmas escape room called The Greatest Showman, which opens next Saturday 25th Nov. We arrived with high expectations as they are always great fun but, I was surprised just how good this new escape room is, it’s definitely our favourite yet and is the perfect thing to do as a family over the Christmas period. Without giving too much away, here’s how we got on…
What is an Escape Room?
For those that haven’t played an escape room game before, it’s where a team of players has to discover clues and solve puzzles to achieve an end goal, and all this takes place in a series of rooms, whereby you have to complete the challenges in one room to unlock access to the next. The MTG escape games are slightly different from usual, as you are not locked in the room, your challenge is to find something that is locked in the room, the door is always unlocked and you are able to go out for a bit of air if required, which always reassures my girls.
Fun Fact: We learnt that it is illegal to lock people in a room in Guernsey without means of escape, hence why the door isn’t locked!
The Greatest Snowman
MTG Escapes’ new game is perfect for families as it is based on characters from the Disney film Frozen, however, you don’t need to have watched the film to enjoy the game. We played the game as a family so there were 2 adults and 2 children (both 10 years old).
The games take place at the St Saviour’s Community Centre and if you haven’t been before, the entrance is located at the back of the centre. Head to the back of the car park and on your left you will see an MTG sign which shows you where to go in.
Let the games begin...
The game begins by a member of the MTG team telling you the 3 rules of the game, which are very simple…1) if something is screwed or glued it doesn’t move, 2) If you unlock a padlock, leave it where you found it and 3) keep the key in the padlock once you have unlocked it. You are also given a walkie-talkie so you can ask for clues if you need them (this was used frequently in our game!).
Once the formalities are out of the way, you are told your mission. For this game, you are told that you are outside Arundel Castle and the Snow Queen is very sad because she is alone in the castle and wants a friend. Your mission is to break out of the castle, into the snowy forest and find all the parts of her frozen friend. You are then asked ‘Do you want to build a snowman?’ so that gives you a clue as to who the frozen friend is! The door is then opened and your 1-hour on the clock begins and you enter the first room – a bedroom in Arundel Castle.
The first room is long and thin, with a small bed at the end, a fabric advent calendar hanging on the wall and some hatches on the left-hand side which are locked. There are no instructions when you enter the room, and there is a lot to take it, ideally we should have taken a few minutes to look at everything, but instead everyone started talking at once, shouting out what they could see! There are lots of puzzles in this room that need completing to find keys and codes to unlock the padlocks on the hatches. Inside the hatches you find further clues which, once solved, enable you to unlock the door by the bed which leads you out of the castle into the frozen forest. Some things in this room we got quite quickly, whereas others we worked out the clue but still didn’t know what to do with the answer! There is one part of the room that requires you to use the magnifying glass to find a code, I’m so pleased we had the kids with us as my eyes would never have seen the answer! We did require some clues when we got stuck and the MTG staff are on hand to give you hints. If not, we’d still be there now!
Outside the castle
Once you leave the bedroom, you are in the castle grounds, which is a larger room with a divider down the middle and there are so many things to look at that we had no idea where to start and what to do first! There is a clue immediately as you leave the bedroom, one of my girls read this out loud, but we had no idea what to do with the information so moved onto what we could understand which was a ball throwing game in a side area. This was great fun and we completed that quite quickly and that opened up a side panel which revealed another clue. Ultimately, you need to unlock the castle door which leads to the frozen forest and to do that, you need to solve puzzles involving letters on shields, un-scrambling words to complete a pulley system, coordinating 3 hooks on chains to release a key for a padlock and using the knight to solve a padlock.
We made it to the frozen forest!
After some serious help via the walkie-talkie we managed to unlock both padlocks that open the door to the frozen forest and there was maximum excitement when we got into this final room. I won’t spoil it by sharing pictures but it is fantastic and great fun for kids. We managed to assemble the body of the snowman, and in this room we had to find the snowman’s arms and head. Once the snowman was complete, the most magical part happened, which made it a really unforgettable experience. Once the immersive part is over, the door opens to show that you have completed the mission and finished the escape room. We were then informed that we completed it in 1hr3mins. Felt like we’d been in there for about 3 hours!!
Our Verdict...5 Stars!
This was genuinely a fantastic experience, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I would say the game is harder than the Grinch Trouble game last year, however, there is so much that kids can help with that it is perfect for families with children of all ages. Last year MTG offered 2 Christmas games, one more family focused and another more challenging for older players, however, they are only offering The Greatest Snowman this year, meaning there are more rooms in the game than last year’s games, and it would still be very challenging for an all adult group, I would have struggled to solve quite a lot of the puzzles, so it’s certainly not only a game for families with children. The good thing is that there is a lot of support as you can ask for as many clues as you like. For me, the biggest challenge was the fact I couldn’t read any of the clues! Top tip, if you wear reading glasses, take them with you!!
Those with additional needs
If anyone in your group has an additional need, I would definitely mention it at the time of booking so that accommodations can be made. They want it to be an experience enjoyed by all, and I can certainly vouch for that. One of my girls is autistic and doesn’t like dark rooms, loud noises and generally anything unexpected, so in the past she has been shown the rooms before we started the game so she knew what to expect. This made a massive difference for her in the past, and I really appreciated it, as it meant she could enjoy playing the game as much as everyone else.
Thank you MTG Escapes for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and one I recommend to anyone looking for something fun to do as a family. The new Escape games costs £16 for adults, 12-18yrs £12, 7-11yrs £10, under 7yrs £5. Note that all teams must have one adult player. The Greatest Snowman is running until Sunday 7th Jan 2024. For more info and to book CLICK HERE.
