Latest reviews of escape rooms in Oxford for up to five players
This was our second experience of an escape room. I'm not sure how it relates to Pandora's box itself since there's no story attached the quest. We figured out the first puzzle within 5mins. We were then confronted with loads of red herrings and real clues. It seems that, whereas other escape rooms bombard you with puzzles, this escape room bombards you with red herrings to keep you in the room longer. It's frustrating because you're not trying to use your brain to work something out, instead you're just staring at a collection of 'could be' clues. We half cheated to get past the first room, which I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be able to do. The second room isn't related to the first at all. They're two separate escape rooms basically. This one had a big easy puzzle that would have taken 15mins to solve if you weren't in a dark strobe lit room, desperately trying to see the numbers on the padlocks and interpret clues in the split second the lights went on. This was not a good escape room.
Angelique
Quite a tough one, but made more interesting by the fact the room appears almost empty on first inspection. Really enjoyable though and definitely recommended! Staff: VERY friendly, helpful, polite and enthusiastic which makes all the difference in my opinion. We were pretty useless and needed a lot of help, however as we were struggling (and no one was booked in the slot after us) the staff gave us as long as we needed (so an extra 40 minutes = 100 minutes in all!) meaning we got out in the end.
Will definitely be back!
Amy
The staff were really friendly, the room was well set up with interesting challenges. We had 1 with us who hadn't done a room before and it was a good introduction to the genre for them. Didn't like hints being given by entering the room as it can ruin the story.
Daniel
We went during the Christmas period with 9 of us and had a thoroughly good time! We didn't manage to get out and I think 9 was a bit too many but we enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it! We tried the star-breaker one which was good and the hints were helpful though we did have to catch him up with what we'd done.
James
Compared to escape rooms in London this is pretty poor and I certainly wouldn't return, basically the "star room" just contains one puzzle to solve and no chance to search or find the room for clues, everything is visible when you enter.
Ed
Arrived 10 minutes before our slot, after a brief instruction we were let loose in the room. We had an hour to get out, and managed to do it in just over 40 minutes. I would rate the pandoras room as quite easy for a group of adults. There was also a lot of parking available as it's a part of an entertainment centre with food, cinema and a bowling alley amongst other things. We really enjoyed the experience and would definitely come back again to do one of the other rooms available!
