Distress signal from an abandoned bunker attracting players to Derbyshire escape room

A distress signal coming from a seemingly abandoned bunker leads to some shock discoveries in a Derbyshire escape room.
Make Your Escape, DerbyMake Your Escape, Derby
Make Your Escape, Derby

The live action game in Derby city centre is the brainchild of Shelly Burton, who stumbled upon the craze on a weekend away with her partner Tim Horwood in Budapest.

Scanning through Tripadvisor’s ‘things to do’ all the top attractions were listed as escape rooms.

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And having played one, she decided to bring the concept to Derby.

After a redundancy, lots of fundraising, research, collaboration with experts from around Europe and a Prince’s Trust initiative, Make Your Escape was born.

The premise of their first room is that you and your friends, in teams of between two and six players, are locked in a room and have 60 minutes to work through puzzles to escape.

There’s a Derbyshire-themed narrative, some nods to science fiction and some ingenious features that have to be experienced, not read about in a newspaper.

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Burton came up with the game and its puzzles herself, incorporating technological and traditional and adding a twist – a choice of ending.

Players’ choices in the final stages of the game will determine the way in which they exit the room, dubbed The Signal.

A second room, Spellbound, will open at the Osmaston Road premises later this summer and the owner is hoping to take a mobile version, The Virus, all over Derbyshire.

She offers corporate team building packages, with a conference room and team analysis available.

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Derbyshire Times writer Graham Smyth has successfully escaped from The Signal.

He said: “Make Your Escape have done a brilliant job of weaving a story throughout the puzzles and riddles in The Signal.

“Having played several others beforehand I had some idea of what to expect, but they have used technology to make their room unique.

“It’s not so difficult as to overly frustrate players, but it is tricky enough to present a challenge.”

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To benefit from an exclusive 10 per cent discount offer on all bookings made between now and the end of August, call 07572542451 or email info@makeyourescapederby.com and quote ESCAPED10.

The offer excludes bookings for Saturdays.

For more information visit www.makeyourescapederby.com.