Breakout Manchester Review

Have you ever been locked in a room without a key? In fact, there is no key. It’s your job to break out. You can’t use force, you can’t slam open a door or window – you’ve gotta use your brain to find clues and unlock padlocks and work out how you might, just might escape. It’s thrilling and scary and fills you with adrenaline. Oh, and did I mention you only have 60 minutes to get out?

Breakout Manchester is situated right in the centre of town – it is so popular it has two locations, one by Manchester Town Hall and one by the Great Northern, so it’s pretty darn central. If you fancy going along, you need to book in advance to secure your game (there’s a selection of different rooms with different difficulties) and you can play in teams of 2 – 5.

So, as I mentioned, the game is based on you and your team being locked in a room for an hour – and your job is to try and escape. To do this, you need to solve puzzles, find clues and work as a team to make sure you get out of there! There are various themed games you can play depending on levels of difficulty and different occasions. I chose to try the Sabotage room, which is based on going behind enemy territory to stop a missile strike which endangers the safety of the entire world. There are 60 minutes before launch, you need to break into the control centre and stop the launch or the consequence will be catastrophic.

I mean, obviously this is a game. You know it, they know it, I know it. However, in that situation it’s so hard to remember it’s not real. The pressure really is on; there’s even dramatic music and a timer that counts you down from 60 minutes. The last ten minutes even turn red on screen to add some extra fear! It’s one of the most thrilling things I have ever done and I am already addicted, I think; I want to bring back all my friends and family to try it out!

And did we manage to get out…? Not this time!